A guitar player in a band called The Buzzcuts made eBay history this week when he auctioned his ex-wife's wedding dress. Larry Star, who said he had no idea his auction would get so much attention, started the bidding at $1. "I’m selling it hoping to get enough money for maybe a couple of Mariners tickets and some beer," he wrote in the auction, along with an offbeat tale that revealed bitter feelings toward his ex-wife.
People began posting links to the auction on discussion forums and emailing it to friends. Star, a burly tattooed fellow, posed in the auction photos wearing the dress with his face whited out, "not to protect the ex-wife but to protect me from my bar buddies and co-workers finding out about it." He revised the auction periodically to answer questions sent to him by potential bidders and reported he had received three marriage proposals.
The auction gained the attention of the media, with Star appearing on the Today television show and CNBC. eBay's Dean of Education Jim "Griff" Griffith, whose radio show airs on Tuesdays, made a special "breaking news" segment on Wednesday to interview the eBay seller.
According to Griff, the wedding dress auction broke all eBay records for number of views with close to 6 million hits. "I've never seen anything come close to a million," Griff said. Star told Griff he hopes to get an appearance on Leno or Letterman, and is developing a Web site called WeddingDressGuy.com. (Star had revised his listing to include an announcement of the site and the URL TheeBayWeddingDressGuy.com. He later removed it. Sellers are not allowed to include links in their auction descriptions.)
Many media outlets picked up the story, and the counter continues to climb with over 6 million hits on Wednesday evening. During the course of the auction, the price reached exorbitant amounts from nuisance bidding, forcing Star to limit the sale to pre-approved bidders. The auction closed Wednesday with a final selling price of $3,850.
