If you had a really easy to remember or cleverly arranged number in the 212 area code in Manhattan, how much business do you think it would bring in?
Over five years? Ten years? Maybe a few grand, best case scenario? Well, a dude named Carmen (is that like a Latino boy named Sue?) is selling a 212 number for a million dollars on eBay. The number is given as 5xx-9000, I guess so people don’t go calling Mr. Carmen to voice their disbelief of the high price tag.
Carmen tells the NYDN that he is hawking the digits to pay for the care of his elderly, dementia-stricken mom. His target market? Area code snobs that have just moved to the city and don’t want to look like total noobs. He says:
“Individuals come because they don’t want to get stuck with a 347 or 646 from the phone company, which makes them look like they are new to the city,” he said. “Then you have corporations or businesses that come to us because they have a reputation and they want to stand out. They don’t want to look like they just set up shop.”
Verizon and AT&T say that fresh 212s still pop up from time to time when people surrender them. If you’re reading this and interested in bidding on an exclusive New York City number, I’ve got a 718 I will let you steal for just $25,000.
Update: Carmen’s attention-grabbing auction appears to have been removed.
