Most of you might reconize me as the kid who sold the $1700 PS3 for one dollar. If you don’t then you can check out the videos below.

The publicity for the ordeal got bigger than I expected. First my local newspaper somehow picked up my auction, so they asked me to do a story on it. After the story was published, the local TV News picked it up and also wanted to do the story. After airing it locally, Global picked it up and then broadcast it nationwide across Canada. CNN wanted a piece of the action so they aired it across the States. Other publicity included making front page of digg, little article in a gaming magazine, and radio interviews.

After this was said and done I managed to make $1000 off the advertising on the site. $1000 doesn’t seem much, but remember most of it was earned in 4 days (Dec 18-22).  With the $1000, I was happily to donate it to a local Charity.

Early January, I received the one dollar bill in the mail from the lucky winner.

I framed it and had another idea to auction it off on eBay. I called it “the lucky one dollar” and hoped to raise another couple hundred dollars for Charity. And I did! I managed to sell the lucky one dollar bill for about $201 US. I donated the $250 CAD to the Cambodian Support Group (same organization that has helped sponsored my family and I to Canada).

During the whole journey I have received many comments and questions. I will list a few that was asked frequently.

 You must be rich making revenues off the ads on the site.
First off, the site didn’t even come close to earn $1700 (amount I paid for the PS3). The site still receives little traffic but is not making more than a dollar/day. And as stated in the video, I donated the money to Charity.

You only did it for your 15 minute of fame and nobody really gives $1700 away!
When I was planning the idea, I knew I would need to get some publicity inorder for it to raise money for Charity. I’m I really that nice of a person to give away $1700? Well you would have to get to me and then you will find out the kind of person I really am.

Why didn’t you just donate $1700 to a charity instead of giving away a $1700 PS3 ?
My motive for giving away my $1700 PS3 system for $1 was in hope to inspire others to do the same for the holiday season. Did it work? Yes it did! I have received hundreds of email from people letting me know that I have inspired them to give also. Getting emails like that tells me that my mission was accomplished!

What are you planning for your next encore?
My next project will be a lot bigger and better. What will it be? That’s something I can not tell you. For one thing, I know it’s an original idea and has never been done before. But all I can say is that it does not involve giving away money or a ps3, but more of it will be donating my time. So keep your eyes and ears open this Christmas!

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