selling random one dollar bills on ebay

I came across a seller today who is selling $1 bills. Not special bills. The description is “random one dollar bill” and the picture is just a wrinkled old bill. Checking the feedback I see that he has sold maybe a hundred in the last several months, getting $1.00 to $1.26 for them. And shipping is free.

So what is the deal here? Is he laundering money? It doesn’t seem very efficient. And why are people buying them? Several people bought more than one. I tried goggling to see if this is some kind of scam but came up with nothing. I can’t figure it out. Anyone know what is going on?

I don’t actually know anything about this, but is sounds like a stupidity test. And if he’s selling them for more than 99 cents, then humanity is failing.

Would it make sense for someone to be doing this to try to get good feedback and a good reputation as a seller before he starts selling other stuff “for real”?

He also sells rings which is how I came across this. He’s been around since 2016 and only has about 25 items listed right now. It looks like his rings sell for $300-$500 and he has good feedback. High priced rings and dollar bills. Very strange.

Well, he’s losing money, since you can’t ship the bill for less than 49¢
And, the buyer is losing money, too, if they pay more than $1.

It’s a lose-lose transaction. Cool!

I’m reminded of a joke the punchline of which is, “Hey, it’s a lot easier than farming”.

I don’t understand it either. This guy is selling old $20 bills for $28. They’re used and not top grade.
I still occasionally get the old style bill in change from stores.

He’s sold 734 of them? With a $8 profit on every bill?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-FEDERAL-RESERVE-TWENTY-DOLLAR-BILL-OLD-CURRENCY-SMALL-HEADS-20-1980s/232787929504?hash=item36333de9a0:g:EvsAAOSwWwVa1gtS

Maybe time travelers need old money? LOL You can’t hand out incorrectly dated bills in 1988. :wink:

Yeah, that doesn’t make sense either but at least that guy is making money.

Maybe time travelers it is. :slight_smile:

And in my research on this :smiley: I’ve also found out that people will pay a lot for a bill with a “special” serial number. Like a birthday or some significant sequence.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-1-ONE-DOLLAR-NOTE-BILL-FANCY-SERIAL-NUMBER-SIX-0-s-10000004-USA/352632568730?hash=item521a89fb9a:g:fbUAAOSwijdcoqqy

I should start paying more attention to my money.

Could people be buying them to use up coupons or promo credit that are about to expire? If you’re have a free $10 to spend that is going to expire today, trading it for $7 or 8 in cash might be a better choice than just letting it go.

^ That probably happens in cases where buyers are buying money for less than face value, but the OP is seeing feedback showing buyers buying money for more than face value.

That question (selling 20s) was was tackled in this thread. No idea if the same answers work with our dollar bill situation here.

No, if a person has a gift card that expires today, he/she goes on eBay to convert it to cash by paying a premium for the exchange. Have an expiring $100 card? Either lose the entire $100, or buy $80 worth of cash.

I thought gift cards don’t expire.

Welcome to Modern Economics! I wish I still had the money I wasted on Business School. :frowning:

Maybe props people are buying them for movie sets and stage plays.

Gift cards can expire after five years and also they issuer can charge an inactivity fee after 12 months. This is the federal law. Some states have tougher standards.

For instance, in California, for example, it’s against the law for store gift certificates and gift cards to have an expiration date or dormancy fees (except under certain circumstances), and if the balance on the card is less than $10, you can redeem it for cash.

As for the original questions, certain types of dollar bills are considered by some to be “lucky” and sell.

For instance those with long repeats in serial numbers like 696969 or those which are consecutive 45678 and so on.

Old bills with sequential order such as: …xx0, (next bill) …xx1, (next bill), …xx2

Those types of bills have no real collector value but sell to certain people who like those types of things.

There used to be a YouTube channel where the person would do things to try to get people to waste their money and this was one “stunt” he used.

You are actually ignoring the “original questions” in the OP.

mmm

EBay regularly sends me emails offering $X off my next purchase (where X= 5 or 10, IIRC). I’d come out ahead using my $5 off coupon to buy five of his dollar bills for $1.15 a piece, and he could send all five in one envelope with one stamp.

Well, now I know what I’m going to do with my 5.86 EBay-bucks which are expiring this weekend.