Today, eBay is known for being at the forefront of e-auctions. As a result, a number of high-value items have been sold through the site, this got me thinking, what are the most expensive things that have ever been sold on eBay?!
For the purposes of this article, we are defining “sold” as: Where a bid for an item has been placed, and the item has been paid for.
We feel the need to point this out due to the fact that there have been a number of high-profile scams, with scammers bidding millions of dollars for worthless items, in order to drive up their price even more…
Who knows, maybe you’ll realize you have one of these really expensive things just lying around in your house. Maybe you could sell it and become a millionaire in the process!
15. 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS – $470,000
Cars are one of those things that are either a collectible, or a status symbol. It’s rare to get a car that’s both, but it does happen, the 2018 Porsche 911GT2 RS is one of these cars!
For some, it could be used to show off the amount of money they have, whilst others add it to their collection, with the hope it’ll increase in value in the coming years…
In 2018, an anonymous seller placed a brand new Porsche 911 GT2 RS up for auction. As a rare collector’s item, as well as a power symbol, the price of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS soon skyrocketed.
The auction lasted for a week, with the closing bid coming in at a total of $470,000. This garnered much media attention at the time, with people not believing someone would pay that amount of money for a car on eBay!
14. 2017 Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce – $499,900
With that being said, the same year, eBay also made headlines for a car. This time, a different anonymous seller chose to auction off a 2017 Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 Superveloce on eBay.
Similarly to the Porsche, the Aventador Superveloce is not only a power symbol, but is also a highly sought-after collector’s item. As a result, the Aventador similarly received some rather hefty bids.
By the time bidding had concluded, the Aventador Superveloce had sold for an astonishing $499,900! This received a fair bit of media itself, before being eclipsed by the media attention that surrounded the aforementioned Porsche.
At the time, many believed to be a record, something that was later proven to be false. Also at the time, many people genuinely wondered why someone would pay so much for a car, especially on eBay, rather than through a main dealer!
13. Shoeless Joe Jackson’s Baseball Bat – $577,610
Today, if you ask any baseball fan to name the most iconic baseball players in history, Shoeless Joe Jackson would probably be on that list. Due to this, anything associated with him is extremely valuables to collectors…
In recent years, balls, shoes and jerseys have all sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars through long-established auction houses.
However, in 2001, Shoeless Joe Jackson’s nephew, chose to auction his uncle’s famed Black Betsy bat on eBay.
Despite being sold by the nephew of the famous player, the bat was met with a heathy amount of skepticism, even by eBay themselves. As a result, Joe Jackson’s nephew had the bat authenticated by a bat expert, who authenticated it.
Upon receiving the positive authentication, eBay allowed the bidding to go ahead. Here, the bat sold for the grand total of $577,610 to American businessman Rob Mitchell, who currently displays the bat in his company offices!
12. Lamborghini Aventador Convertible – $659,800
Clearly, 2018 was a good year for selling rather expensive cars. That year saw a number of incredibly expensive cars be sold, including a Porsche and at least two Lamborghinis!
In early 2018, yet another anonymous car collector/dealer placed a Lamborghini Aventador Convertible up for sale. As with the other cars, the Aventador Convertible is both a power symbol and a collector’s item.
Just as with the previous cars, many didn’t actually expect the Aventador Convertible to sell particularly well. Indeed, many thought it would sell for perhaps $450,000 to $500,000 depending on what collectors were willing to pay.
Once again, the Aventador Convertible smashed all expectations, selling for $659,800. Many similarly believed this to be the most expensive car ever sold on eBay. Once again, they were wrong.
11. All Star Comics #8 – $936,223
Today, Wonder Woman is arguably one of the most famous female DC superheroes. In recent years, a number of Wonder Woman movies have been released, often starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot.
As a result, the comic that introduced her, All Star Comics #8, released in 1941, is a very popular collector’s item, with many comic book collectors willing to pay a hefty price for one in good condition.
This was the case in 2011, when a comic book collector placed the highest graded All Star Comics #8 up for sale on eBay. This book, graded by comic grading company CGC, was graded as a 9.4, or in a near-mint condition.
Having originally sold in December 1941 for a total of ten cents, the comic was valued at around $650,000 in 2016. However, this didn’t stop one collector from paying $936,223 to get their hands on Wonder Woman’s first appearance!
10. Honus Wagner Baseball Card – $1.1 Million
Baseball cards on one of those collectibles (much like art) that collectors are willing to shell out what seems like an outrageous sum of money, all for a relatively small “collectible”.
As one of the greatest baseball players of all time, any Honus Wagner card is worth its weight in gold, several times over. For one where only 200 were ever printed, however, this price is even higher!
Indeed, in 2000, one of the remaining 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner cards was auctioned off on eBay. By the time bidding ended, the card had sold for $1.1 million, making it the most ever paid for a baseball card on eBay…
Despite this, it isn’t the most expensive 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner ever sold. That honor goes to the one sold via Goldin Auctions, where the selling price was a staggering $3.12 million!
9. Town of Bridgeville, California – $1.77 Million
Despite there being a myriad of real estate-focused equivalents of eBay, the site is inundated with real estate auctions. Mostly, this is low-end real estate, however, there’s also some rather expensive real estate too!
The town of Bridgeville, California is one of them.
Unlike others towns, Bridgeville is a private town, meaning that only residents can enter it. This makes it perfect for recluses or people who just want to get away from everything else.
In 2006, the Lapple Family (who owned the town at the time) decided to get rid of their quaint little town. Instead of putting it through a regular auction house, they chose to auction it themselves, on eBay.
After garnering much media attention for the move, the Lapple Family eventually sold the town for a staggering $1.77 million! However, the owner Krall, himself chose to sell it just a few years later, selling it for only $1.25 million…
8. Decommissioned Cold War Bunker And House – $2.1 Million
During the Cold War, the military had built hundreds of nuclear silos all across the country. These could be used to launch nuclear weapons at the USSR and their allies, if nuclear war were to ever break out.
However, in 1991, the USSR collapsed, thus hammering in the final nail in the Cold War’s coffin. Due to this, the military had hundreds of silos it no longer needed. So they removed the nukes, and auctioned them off to the general public.
For the most part, these bunkers were bought by private military contractors, to house explosives. With that being said, a few were sold to “regular” people (who went through extensive background checks!)
One of these silos was sold to a team of relators. Here, they built a house on top of the silo, with the silo itself being renovated into a luxury panic room.
Whilst the relators had hoped to make almost $20 million for their ingenuity, the silo/house sold on an eBay auction for only $2.1 million, selling to an anonymous buyer. However, the realtors still made a healthy profit!
7. Town of Albert, Texas – $2.5 Million
In the early 2000’s, insurance broker Bobby Cave acquired the quaint town of Albert, Texas, for $216,000. His stated intention was to capitalize on Albert’s rich history, by renovating the town and turning it into a tourist destination.
Cave stayed true to this promise, renovating the entire town, including the local tavern, tractor shed, dance hall and pavilion. By the end of it, the town of Albert was almost unrecognizable from its former state!
In order to capitalize on his monumental investment, Cave decided to sell Albert to someone who could turn the town into a tourist destination. To do this, he placed it up for auction on eBay.
This move gathered both the Town and Cave himself a lot of media attention, which likely helped to push up the price. By the end of it, the town of Albert sold for the grand total of $2.5 million!
6. 1933 Duesenberg SJ Speedster – $2.6 Million
In 1927, the Duesenberg Motor Company released what it called the Model J. Five years later, the company released an updated version of the car, known as the SJ Speedster, which proved to be rather successful.
However, 1933 was a rather poor year for the company, with them producing only a handful of SJ Speedsters that year. Over time, a large number of these cars have since been lost or scrapped and are thus worthless to collectors.
This also makes those remaining 1933 SJ Speedsters extremely valuable. Today, experts believe that there may be as little as five original 1933 SJ Speedsters left in the world. Probably less.
As such, when one came to auction a few years ago, it was quite popular. However, the first (and only) bid was astonishing: $2.6 million. This bid managed to convince every other wannabe bidders to steer clear of the Speedster!
5. Action Comics #1 – $3.2 Million
Do you remember when I told you earlier that a comic collector paid a grand total of $936,223 for the first appearance of Wonder Woman? Well, Wonder Woman isn’t the only famous superhero that collectors fawn over…
Indeed, many Superman comics are also prized collector’s items. In particular, the first issue featuring Superman, Action Comics #1, is particularly valuable and sought-after by collectors.
In August 2014, Seattle-based comic book dealer, Darren Adams, placed the highest-graded Action Comics #1 (graded by CGC as 9.0) up for sale on eBay. This soon ignited a bidding war, before bidding ended at a staggering $3.2 million!
The winners were New York-based comic dealers/collectors Vincent Zurzolo and Stephen Fishler (owners of Metropolis Collectibles) who became celebrities overnight due to the press coverage that followed the auction.
Even today, the sale of the 9.0 CGC-graded Action Comics #1 remains the highest amount paid for a single comic book, ever! Both on eBay and on other auction sites/houses…
4. 1959 Ferrari 250 GT California – $3.26 Million
Previously, we have seen a number of cars sell for millions of dollars. However, these amounts pale in comparison to the record amount paid for a car on eBay…
In October 2010, the family of a deceased car collector were auctioning off much of their relative’s car collection on eBay. Whilst by no means the only car up for sale, by far the most iconic was the 1959 Ferrari 250 GT California.
At the time, many anticipated that it’d sell for only a million dollars, perhaps a slight bit more. However, the 1959 Ferrari 250 GT California proved to be too good a buy for collectors to pass on!
By the time the virtual hammer went down a little over a week later, the price had risen to a staggering $3,260,100! This makes it by far the most expensive car ever sold on eBay, even well over a decade later!
3. Lunch With Warren Buffett – $4.6 Million
Although he is one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett is famous for his mantra of “giving back to the community”. In recent years, he has donated almost $37 billion to charity, not to mention signing the Giving Pledge!
One of the other charitable things that Warren Buffett does, is host an annual charity lunch. This is a lunch held between Warren Buffett and an often anonymous eBay bidder, helping the GLIDE charity, based in San Francisco.
Due to Buffett’s status as one of, if not the, most successful investors of all-time, these lunches often draw multimillion dollar bids from millionaires and billionaires alike, with the most famous being Mohnish Pabrai’s in 2008.
Despite Pabrai’s bid being the most famous, it only fetched $650,100. Over a decade later, in 2019, TRON founder Justin Sun, paid an astonishing $4.6 million for a meal with the Oracle of Omaha!
2. Gulfstream II – $4.9 Million
For practically every millionaire, the business jet is not just a luxury method of transport, but also an indispensable business tool too. Thanks to the rise of the internet, there have been a series of private jet equivalents of Auto Trader…
Most often, these sites are used by private jet brokerage firms to sell multimillion dollar business jets, whilst taking a small cut of the aircraft’s selling price.
In 2001, Texas-based private jet charter airline Tyler Jet, chose to list one of their aging Gulfstream GIIs on eBay in lieu of these private jet versions of Auto Trader.
Whilst initially met with some skepticism, Tyler Jet confirmed it was a legit sale. With this, a number of smaller private jet charter airlines began to bid exorbitant amounts of money to get their hands of this 12-passenger luxury jet!
In the end, Tyler Jet sold the GII to an African charter airline, for a total of $4.9 million. This remains the most expensive private jet ever sold on eBay to this day, over twenty years later.
1. Gigayacht – $168 Million
However, it isn’t just us regular people and the occasional millionaire who use eBay. Sometimes, even billionaires get in on the action, using eBay to buy incredibly expensive luxuries!
Among these luxuries are yachts. In 2006, Florida-based yacht brokerage firm, 4Yacht, placed a 405-feet-long, ten level, Gigayacht, up for sale on eBay.
This yacht was designed by the legendary Frank Mulder, and was designed to be the world’s most expensive yacht ever. The Gigayacht’s amenities include a spa, gym swimming pool, helipad and a state-of-the-art office among others.
When it was listed, the Gigayacht had a starting price of just $6.50, however, it soon ballooned to well over $80 million, with Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, placing the winning bid.
However, this wasn’t all of it. This $80 million was just the deposit. By the time Abramovich had paid for the yacht in full, the yacht had cost him $168 million in total, making it the most expensive thing ever sold on eBay!
Which of the most expensive items ever sold on eBay would you most like to own? Tell me in the comments!
