When Google launched their Chrome browser last week they introduced it via a comic book created by Scott McCloud. Only a few physical copies of the book were created (I’ve asked Google for the exact number). An electronic version was published by Google here
It was a certainty that a few of the comic books would show up on eBay eventually. There are so few of them that an actual market isn’t likely to self-create. But the one that we found has been noticed, and as of this evening was bid up to AU $426, or about US $ 340. The auction ends in three hours, so bid now if you want it (they’ll ship to Australia, Europe, United States, Canada, New Zealand).
We have two copies of the book, and we’re going to sell one for charity. If you want it, comment below with the price you are willing to pay in US$. Highest bidder gets it (use your real email and be prepared to respond quickly), and if you want us to we’ll mention your site in our post on the winner. We’ll donate all the proceeds to Donors Choose, which raises money for schools. I’d do this sale on eBay, but charity auctions are a huge pain because of their verification procedures. Auction ends Monday.
…you got an opening bid for $1, right here - and that’s my max bid as well
I’m willing to drop $20 on it.
I’ll raise it to $100 Mike–just because I love the work you do here on TechCrunch and I wouldn’t mind a plug for my site as well if I happen to win.
now we’re talkin.
What the heck Mike–since you through up a “now we’re talkin”, I’ll raise it to $150. (:
I’ll take you up to $150. Plug away!
Dang it!! Quit replying so fast! Would it be in poor taste if I raised it to $155? I don’t have much more left in my annual TechCrunch fund.
$150-cheapskates. I’m in for $175
Stopped at $ 170
I’m not going to place any bid just yet. I have a feeling that it might fetch more than 1,000 dollars soon!
$185… Go ChromeSpot!
I’ll bid 100 shares of series A preferred stock of my company. We don’t have a valuation yet, but it’s going to be the next google. really.
lol…100 shares. If it doesn’t have a valuation, then its as good as photocopying money. Nice try though.
Hey Mike, when’s the cut-off time? I’d like to raise my bid but I have to agree with the above dude, the price is going to rocket soon enough.
I’ll cut if off on Monday afternoon.
Sounds good, looking forward to seeing how high this thing gets!
10000 lebanese lira.
mnee7 tile3 wa7ad libnene 3al TechCrunch…i thought all lebanese are retards..inshallah we see Start-ups and not just comments
retard bi rassak!
Elmasreyyen ahomma
Chrome is going to be a huge player in the browser market for years to come. I wrote a post about how Chrome will reach 51% market share by 2010: http://www.winningtheweb.com/g.....-share.php
It’d be cool to get the comic book, have WinningtheWeb.com mentioned on TechCrunch, and donate to charity.
I bid $250.
200$… give it to me
255$
Email me at jjhaveri@gmail.com if you need one. I will give it away for $200
The whole web is overvalued - if you’re bidding high for exposure, or the backlink…it ain’t worth that much, honey
You’re probably right, but a 1 month sponsorship on TechCrunch is $12,000 so even a small mention is definitely quite a bit of exposure. The link doesn’t hurt either.
All that is just gravy though. You get a rare item no one else has (think about the value of vintage Marvel comic books) and help out a solid charity.
My guess is that the auction will go for at least 2 grand.
$270USD
Mozilla!
http://cashtutor.blogspot.com
lol I bet that goes for at least a grand.
$300 US, hope you take paypal.
Get Scott McCloud to sign it and I’ll bid $350.
i just realized that there is no time limit to for bidding here. when does it stop?
It says Monday. 4 days to go.
we bid $375.00
Monday afternoon Jonathan.
And all I have to say is this is that “THEIR CAKE IS A LIE!”
For this piece of awesome memorabilia (and some charity), I’m prepared to move the bid up to US$450.00. Will find a special place in our new company offices in Palo Alto.
You know that auction is DUncan Reilly’s don’t you?
http://www.inquisitr.com/2912/.....o-charity/
nope, didn’t know that. good for him.
There hasn’t been 1 bid on the ebay auction in the last 2+ hours, what’s going on. Current price is still $340 …. and that one finishes in 20 mins.
All the good bidding will be done here. Michael is a genius for using this as the forum. You win on eBay and what exposure to you get? Not a whole lot. Win it here and enjoy a post with your name in lights–now that’s a big deal and that’s why you’ll see this auction trounce anything Duncan Riley has going via eBay.
I’m willing to get my hands on that piece of garbage for $0.00.
Heheh. A friend of mine works at Google and she was responsible for the comic and a lot of the marketing for Chrome. She gave me a copy of the comic for my birthday last week, little did I realize it was the most valuable gift I got
Bidder 5 won the Auction on ebay for approximately US $365.63
or should i say, exactly AU $454.99
My bid is already above that by a fair margin! If I win, it will be the first item I would have bought for our new offices in Palo Alto; and quite a story to tell too.
My Bid, $500
I caught the last 16 minutes of the auction and found it quite an exciting start to the day! Good to see the money will be going to good causes.
$700
I would like to offer 1000$
this is mine for sure
Damn you Globus!!
$1100. That is (maybe) my final offer.
If you are open to a suggested project on DonorsChoose, may I humbly recommend http://www.donorschoose.org/do.....p;zone=413 “The Devil and the AP Test.” Thanks!
If it show on this site…. comics.mobi, and prices may go even higher.
What do you think ?
http://www.comics.mobi
Would desperately love to get some exposure to my site.
Although still being in uni I must say, it would be hard to scrape around $1100.
Oh well, http://www.challengemix.com
and I will bid $1105
Everyone else, stop bidding (please)(please)(please)(please)(please)(please)(please)
$1200
I want it
Stop the irrational exuberance…$4.95 is all it’s worth…
how about 100Rs(indian rupees)
In India we can get a Windows OS bundled with MS Office in 100 Rs. ( 2-3$ ), going by that rule i guess 20 Rs ( 0.50 $ ) are more than enough ;).
Fantastic idea Michael, going to empty my penny jar and see what I can come up with.
I missed the opportunity of offering Duncan our Raffle.it service and your approach can’t be bettered so will try and secure this copy and host a raffle ourselves.
I wonder how many times one comic can be sold and how much could be raised in total ..
netapps has the real time stats…
http://marketshare.hitslink.co.....Chrome+0.2
this could be a waste unless Google has guaranteed that this is a limited edition print run. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve printed 10000+ copies that are basically handed out to friends of employees for free and at other promo events. So my take is - stay away from this for now - or until you know EXACTLY how many copies were printed and what the future plan is. If they give away one copy to everyone using adsense - you’re $1000 or whatever is wasted. Or maybe not actually… you can be happy it went to charity. thx Michael.
Its for charity - does it matter?
I take it up to $1450
2 Mukhtar: You r dull
I would like to submit a (real) bid for $1500 USD
If I win, I would like for Mike to sign the TechCrunch t-shirt I won for the picwing challenge I won a few weeks ago., but have yet to receive.
I would also appreciate a link to http://OpenDomain.Org - please note that we are non-profit and donate domains to Open Source (like Drupal.Com and OpenAjax.Org)
Would it be possible to make the website link in the post a follow as opposed to nofollow?
I’d definitely be looking to put in a bid in that case.
Thanks.
Looks like you have a real market forming here. Anyone want to sell me puts on this comic’s value?
As a comic geek and techie, I’ll toss in a bid of $1501 and see where this goes…I’ll surely spend another $200 on the acid-free framing at the local art supply store
If this goes much over $2k, I’m out….
Tex
http://www.hookupdigits.com
(get your free anonymous phone number before that SOMA/Tenderknob/South Beach/Mission binge tonight!)