The proceeds from First Auction's wares, including a Thomas Dolby Web site and Courtney Love's guitar, will go to a San Francisco nonprofit.
The online auction features rock music paraphernalia from Courtney Love, Carlos Santana, Chris Isaak, Alanis Morrisette, Hootie & the Blowfish, the Allman Brothers, Seal, Steve Miller, and Blues Traveler.
These items aren't likely to come close to the $19,250 bid for the cape worn by Christopher Reeve in Superman or the $21,850 that bought a lucky fan an authentic Madonna bustier at a recent Sotheby's celebrity memorabilia auction, but participants can comfort themselves with the fact that the proceeds from the online auction will go to charity.
Although not in the same league as auctions for Judy Garland's ruby slippers in terms of furious bidding, online auction houses are gaining popularity as a way to unload unwanted items as well as bid on, say, Courtney Love's autographed guitar. Another online auctioneer, Onsale, has seen its stock surge from hovering around 5 in May up to 18-1/2 today as its popularity increases.
Hoping to capitalize on the growing success of online auctioneering, Innerlinx Technologies today introduced LiveBid, a service that allows real-time Internet bidding, which competes with live bidding at "real" auctions.