9 Of The Most Expensive Items Listed & Sold On eBay

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In the past, there have been some absolutely crazy items sold on eBay (a potato chip shaped like Beyonce’s face comes to mind…)

However, this was mostly in the days when they weren’t many other online alternatives.

Now, however, many unusual items are sent to auction houses or other places to be sold for top dollar. Add in the fact that there are literally tens of millions of items sold on eBay every year and finding the most expensive items on eBay becomes a very difficult question to answer.

Since eBay doesn’t tell us (and they don’t support searching all sold listings at once) we can’t actually see what the most expensive items sold on eBay recently have been.

We can, however, find some stupidly expensive things that have sold and/or are currently listed.

This list includes those types of things. I didn’t include houses for sale on eBay (because boring) but I did include a few things that will raise your eyebrows. So, in short, these are items that are unusual and sold on auction with lots of interest.

So here we go, the most expensive items sold on eBay recently! Sort of.

we focused on used items. unusual. not just high dollar.

The Most Expensive (Unusual) Items Sold Recently On eBay

1. Original Apple-1 Computer from 1976 – $340,100.00

Being an Apple fan has always been expensive but who could have guessed that being a nerdy Apple fan could set you back over $300,000?

Several of these Apple 1 computers (“several” meaning around 5) and typically go for around a quarter-million dollars.

The fact that this one has been completely restored with period-correct components (and Woz’s signature) meant that it is one of the most expensive items to be sold on eBay lately.

Who bid on it? Well, they’re anonymous but I wouldn’t be surprised if his name starts will Bill and ends with Gates. He’s got to start somewhere in figuring out Apple’s secrets after all.

2. 65 Million Year Old Mosasaurs Skeleton – $60,000.00

eBay isn’t really known for its luxury items but this one falls firmly into that category. It is a 65 million-year-old water dinosaur fossil dug out of the phosphate beds of Sidi Daoui in Morocco.

The thing that makes this museum-quality piece unique (and therefore worthy of eBay) is that it is “house-sized”, meaning that it’s meant for a home office or study.

As mounted, the skeleton is 78″x42″x22″, just the right size to go on top of a shelf in your oversized luxury home office. What’s more, they will have experts personally hand-deliver it to you and install it in your home. All on your dime of course.

3. WW2 Walt Disney Propogana Print Book – $300,000.00+

Disney stuff has always sold well on eBay but this might just be the rarest Disney publication in the entire world.

Here’s the story:

The Omaha Nebraska Technical High School was promoting the sales of war bonds during WWII. Donald Duck Slaps A Jap was one of the items you could buy. The teacher was working with Disney Productions to license their characters for use in the flip book and Walt Disney personally signed off on it. It is unknown if the publication was created at Disney productions or the Omaha Tech School but the rarity of the book combined with Walt Disney’s signature makes it a true one-of-a-kind collectible.

As it sold on Best Offer, we can’t figure out the exact price it sold for. However, based on my sort results it’s north of $300,000.

4. Post WW2 8MM Film Footage Of Japan – $75,000.00

This is one of the items on the list that I sincerely hope was purchased by a museum and not a scalper or private collector.

This includes several rolls of incredibly rare footage showing all aspects of the rebuilding of Japan after WW2.

Starting directly after the bombings, these rolls of film show everything from rebuilding the rubble, festivals, fishing, visiting U.S. dignitaries, and much more.

As nothing else like this exists, we can only hope that we will see this footage one day in a documentary.

It’s hard to put a price on something without anything similar having sold, but this is one that I wouldn’t have put on auction. I think it could have sold for much more on a BIN with a best offer option. But that’s just me, I’ve never found or sold something nearly this good.

5. Ancient Tula Hidalgo Alien Carving – $73,380.00

If you’ve ever seen the Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I’m truely sorry.

However, the interesting thing about the movie is that the premise is not entirely made up.

There is a brief period in South American art that deviates sharply from previous pieces and the artists start depicting aliens with elongated heads. These pieces (sometimes coupled with what looks like UFOs) make this one of the most expensive and unusual eBay sales.

This piece incorporates gold leaf and has a green glow under black light.

Whether the maker had an alien model for him or not I sure wish I had dug up this little guy to sell on eBay.

6. 1936-37 Martin D-28 Sunburst Guitar – $261,218.00

This is a great example of knowing when to sell an item on auction. This extremely rare guitar was thought to have a market value of around $150,000. However, all you need for an item to sell for a ton of money on eBay are two dedicated and wealthy bidders.

No doubt this ended up in a musician’s private collection somewhere.

7. 1840 Edition Of The Book Of Mormon – $45,000

There are lots of expensive books sold on eBay but is one is the highest priced one in the last several months, beating out all other books including bibles up to 300 years old.

This third edition of the Book of Mormon has been expertly repaired and is thought to have belonged to a prominent Quaker family in Pensylvania.

Copies of the Book of Mormon are generally great sellers on eBay as many collectors consider it the cornerstone of America’s most important religious movement.

8. 50s Deadstock Levis 501XX – $30,100.00

If it blows your mind that someone would pay over $30,000 for a pair of Levi’s, just know that these are not even the most expensive pair ever sold. The oldest known pair of Levi’s (a 125-year-old pair found in a mine) sold recently for just shy of $100,000. Since then, a pair of 501s sold for around $60,000.

Comparatively, this deastock pair seems like a deal.

9. 2013 New York Lego Yoga Mini Figure – $9,999.00

As far as Lego minifigs go this is one of the rarest and possibly the most expensive one sold on eBay recently.

There were only 1,000 of these made and these were given out only at a Toys R Us even in Times Square in 2013 to people who purchased the 9493 X-Wing set.

While many people are selling fake versions of this one on eBay this one is still in the package and comes from a known Lego collector which meant that people were willing to pay top dollar to avoid any of the common eBay scams.

The Problem With Sales Prices On eBay (They’re Fake…)

Here’s the problem with eBay, you can find tons of items that sold for more than those in the above list.

The “most expensive items sold on eBay” list is kind of ruined by the types of sales that have overtaken the platform.

Take a look at this to understand what I mean:

No, that single box or cookies or jar of SlimFast did not sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, if they’re not real, what’s with all the insane prices on eBay?

Well, there are three main reasons why you see hugely inflated prices on eBay that don’t really make sense.

  • Money Laundering. Many of the high-priced eBay sales are straight-up money laundering. People who make money from illegal means need a way to show how they’re getting all their money. So they start selling themselves $200,000 bottles of SlimFast on eBay and *boom* clean money.
  • People Inflating Their Sales. I’m sure you’ve seen the YouTube gurus that show you a chart “proving” they’ve had a million dollars in sales in the past thirty days. Too bad $990,000 of those sales was their friend fake-buying their fake listings for “social proof.” Several reseller influencers on Instagram have actually been caught doing this to maintain their successful facade when eBay sales are slow. Tsk Tsk.
  • Items Sold On Best Offer. Many sellers have the habit of overpricing their items and then just adding Best Offer as an option. Some people take this to the extreme, listing jeans for $100,000 or more and just waiting for people to send them a reasonable offer (which might be $40). While this doesn’t change their sales numbers it does make it difficult for other sellers who try to figure out how much an item sold for on best offer.

Items such as Disney VHS tapes and Beanie Babies have also been caught up in this trap. People see some fake sold listings and are under the impression that they have an item worth a ton of money.

Unfortunately, things are only worth what you can get someone to pay which isn’t much on eBay these days.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you got some entertainment value out of the list and learned a little bit more about the way that eBay works! Since eBay doesn’t make their own list like this we just had to do our best and guess about the types of things that should be on it.

As a full-time eBay seller lists like this are a bit inspiring and depressing at the same time. I’ve managed to turn $100 into $1,000 within a day several times but seeing lists of the most expensive items found at thrift stores or sold on eBay lets me know that I have a long way to go!

If you want to get started selling on eBay, check out some of the top-selling items that you can easily find at your local Goodwill. Best of luck!

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