December 16, 2009
Op Ed By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
Ebay has long been home to a variety of wacky and weird auctions, many of which have involved some sort of celebrity. Now a pseudo celebrity of sorts just wrapped up an auction where the proceeds went to charity. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, was the heroic pilot of US Airways Airbus A320, which successfully crashed in New York’s Hudson River in January after it hit a flock of birds upon takeoff. This news story was all over when it occurred as everyone was so impressed with the quick thinking of Sullenberger which saved the lives of everyone on the flight that day in January. That is why this story is making such big waves as his pseudo celebrity status allowed him to auction off a pilot’s cap on Ebay which he signed. This was not the exact cap that was worn the day of the crash, but still the auction generated a lot of buzz and attention from the media as well as buyers.
The winning bidder paid $5,800 for the signed cap, which will be split between Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, where Sullenberger’s two daughters attend, and Futures Elementary and Community United Elementary schools in Oakland. This is a very generous donation from the Captain and his wife, and they are extremely happy that the money is going to these schools, which they feel are in need. There are only a couple weeks left in the year so we might not see many odd Ebay auctions, but 2010 should bring a new wave of unique auctions for us to view and participate in.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
