Phantom Buyer Purchasing Aaron Hernandez Jerseys on eBay
By Stu White
One of the hottest selling items on eBay the past few days has been Aaron Hernandez jerseys. Hernandez, who is currently being held in custody under the suspicion of murdering Odin Lloyd and potentially being involved in the murder for two other people, was dismissed by the New England Patriots last week. The franchise created an exchange for fans who wanted to trade in their Hernandez jerseys, but clearly some people felt the items would be popular online.
The jerseys are selling for up to $3,000, which is absurd. However, according to Yahoo! Sports, at least one mysterious eBay buyer is taking action and buying up all the available Hernandez jerseys he can, completing his transactions with a dismissive and scolding letter to the sellers.
The buyer has supposedly already purchased 15 jerseys for what is reported to be over $250 per jersey, but there’s doubt that he’s actually paying full price. One Hernandez-jersey seller said he received an email from the mysterious purchaser:
"I don’t think that I will be getting paid. The person emailed me stating I should ‘burn the jersey and stop seeking money for that morons (sic) actions’. Looks like the person has some kind of social agenda."
Another seller admitted anonymously that the buyer has developed a reputation of not paying. Although eBay doesn’t have the legal power to enforce payments, a refusal to pay could lead to an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.