Rampant profiteering off of the back of the back of the 2012 Olympics got underway yesterday with the appearance of ‘used’ Olympic torches on Ebay for Thousands of pounds.
So far, 30 of the 8,000 runners taking part in the Olympic 2012 torch relay; have been trying to flog their torches on Ebay, for upwards of £100,000 a piece!
The torches which cost a reported £495 to make, were purchased by the torchbearers themselves for £215 each, after their run.
One of the torches was apparently sold for £153,000 by an Ebay user called ‘Salvadorpete’ on Ebay with the money to goto a charity,although the seller has yet to receive the money. Another torch, listed for £100,000 has yet to attract a bid.
In these times of austerity, its not surprising people are looking to cash in early on the hype surrounding the upcoming games. It is unlikely the torches will retain anything like this value at the games finish.
More amusing is the spate of Ebay listings pruporting to sell nothing more than an “photograph”of an official torch, one listed for £50,000! Or a cornetto ice cream cone, listed as ‘an official cornetto cone of the Olympic games’. Ha!
Now back to my Ebay account Savadorpete for some more torch purchasing, snigger!