Over at Ebay you can pay good money for one of those free Google Gmail accounts. As Tyler Cowan notes “..right now supply is limited. Not surprisingly, a market in the accounts has arisen.”
Maybe the buyers think getting one will give them an inside track on getting a share of Google stock; or that they can get a special username that they can then resale at a profit; or bragging rights amongst some alien species; or…well, just why are they spending this money?
I’ll wait until they are readily available and then get one or two for ad hoc needs. They can sit on the shelf with my other freemail accounts for use as needed.