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15 Yr Old Riding a Gmail Boom

Sun Baked

Sun Baked

macrumors G5
Original poster
May 19, 2002
14,945
165
Trader, 15, Riding a Gmail Boom

By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 6, 2004; Page F01

Pierce Spencer may not quite be this year's version of the Internet millionaire, but he's got the right instincts and he's still young enough...

...It's one of those Internet schemes, reminiscent of the days of the dot-com boom, where money is generated seemingly from nothing: Pierce buys e-mail accounts and sells them on eBay, a business he has so far managed mostly during his lunch hour, between exams and after school.

He has Google to thank: An upcoming free e-mail service from the popular search engine has people so eager to get an account before all the catchy e-mail account names are swept up that they're willing to pay for one of the relatively few test accounts available today. Pierce's biggest customer so far paid $102.50 for an account.

Pierce is merely the middleman. When a friend bragged to him about having a "Gmail" account a few weeks ago, Pierce hadn't heard of Google's e-mail service. Then he checked eBay and discovered a booming business. Though most auctions were offering accounts individually, one seller was selling off multiple accounts, for a little under $30 apiece. Pierce snapped up the accounts and resold them on the auction site, in auctions that generally closed at around $60 each.

"I was freaking out because I was expecting a $3 profit per account," said Pierce, who has made more than $1,000 and is saving up for his first car (he has his eye on an Audi)...
Click to expand...
 
Um... the words 'not' and 'fair' come to mind! I try everything to make a little money from the net, nada so far really! Just you lot wait until my app comes out (sure.. it's in the pipeline)... (or is that pipedream?)
 
Isnt that a bit illegal. I dont care how old you are. You are selling something that was meant to be free. I dont see how that is legal
 
The MOST stupid thing is the people paying for it. Most hosting companies offer email service for like, 10 bucks a year where you pick the name and address.

In other words, you could get 'Starin@ya.com' for 10 bucks a year, instead of something dumb like neatoaddress@google.com for $102.50.

STUPID.
 
whats sadder......

that people will pay for such things? like paying real money for Diablo II items (thats sad)

or that none of us thought of it first?

what it does tell me is that I should buy Google shares when they float (please don't tell me they have already, i may miss the IPO, being in Australia and all)

such is i s'pose :rolleyes:
 
agreenster said:
The MOST stupid thing is the people paying for it. Most hosting companies offer email service for like, 10 bucks a year where you pick the name and address.

In other words, you could get 'Starin@ya.com' for 10 bucks a year, instead of something dumb like neatoaddress@google.com for $102.50.

STUPID.
Click to expand...

Actually its @gmail.com not google, but I wont hold that against u :p
 
My best friend works for Google where all employees have been given around 50 GMail accounts that they can distribute to friends. A notice was sent out a few weeks ago stating that anyone from the company caught selling these accounts on eBay would be fired immediately. Needless to say this has put the fear into a certain percentage of employees.

People pay because people want to snatch up the "cool" names before the unwashed masses get a chance. Whatever - people are dumb.
 
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