A lot of Jamaican currency has found its way on to the popular Internet auction site of eBay, the US giant.
The auction of a "Lot of Jamaican paper money", as it is described on the site, should close by the weekend. The seller is goodwishes.com and is said to be from money retained after a recent trip to the island. At face value the money would be worth just $140 or the equivalent of US$3.31.
The current bid was US$6.52 when the Financial Gleaner checked on Wednesday and the sale has a reserve price of US$7.02 plus US$1.00 shipping.
Despite claims that the money was gained from a recent trip to the island, some of the cash up for sale is no longer in circulation. Along with a $100, $10 and $20 bill, there is also the no-longer-in circulation $5, a couple of $2 bills and a solitary $1 bill.
eBay has become a net star by allowing potential buyers and sellers to make transactions and auction goods on line. It does not verify the veracity of the goods up for auction and all queries are pointed to the seller, which failed in this case to respond to an e-mail from the Financial Gleaner.
The auction was highlighted by reader Gwendolyn Jackson, a regular eBay user. She said she had written to the company about the sale but no action had been taken.
A Bank of Jamaica spokeswoman said she could not understand why someone would pay above face value for local currency when it was freely available here. She said the Central Bank would sell cash to whoever wanted it. She was unaware of the auction but pointed out that there were no currency controls or restriction stopping the free flow of currency in and out of the country.
