11/27/07

Westchester County is selling tchotchkes on EBay

Off beat EBay story. AP Reports:
NY County Sells Jewish Novelties on EBay
Tuesday November 27, 6:18 pm ET
New York's Westchester County Selling Abandoned Jewish-Themed Novelties on EBay

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Westchester County is selling tchotchkes. By the trailer load.

Just in time for next week's start of Hanukkah, the county is using the eBay auction site to dispose of thousands of items, mostly Jewish-themed novelties, that were abandoned in two storage trailers on county property.

On Monday, someone bought 100 rolls of Hanukkah wrapping paper for $46.

"We have used our eBay site to auction off lots of unusual surplus items over the past couple of years," county Executive Andy Spano said, "but these have to be our most unusual sales."

Up for bidding on Tuesday was a large supply of Passover games and toys, including 108 jigsaw puzzles, 28 collections of rubber stamps and 28 "All About Passover" books. There also was a large supply of mugs, including 140 that measure 8 ounces and have "Shalom" written on them.

Offerings will appear on the site for several weeks, the county said.

A nearby company once owned the trailers and paid rent to park them on county property, police said. The business was sold several years ago, but the trailers apparently were not included in the sale. The current and former owners have waived any rights to the merchandise, and by law the county cannot give it away or throw it out if it can be sold.

Westchester eBay page: http://westchestergov.com/finance/ebay.htm

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