I connected to eBay and then in the search window I entered (without the quotes) "kirbys dreamland."  eBay did not find any matches.  I figured that I must have incorrectly spelled the name of the game, so I tried searching for (without the quotes)  "kirbys dream land."  Still no luck as the search did not return a single match.  Then I added the possessive apostrophe to the name Kirby, and tried searching for (without the quotes)  "kirby's dreamland."  Bingo.  eBay found several matches.  In order to develop an estimate, I clicked on the "Search Completed Items" link and was able to view a recent history of transactions that had occurred for this item.  Reading through the history -- where the selling price range for only the game was $19-$31 -- I estimated a selling price of $20-$25 with the slight possibility of getting more than $25.

Michael decided that he wanted to try and sell the game on eBay and that he wanted me to help him list it for auction.  I told him that I would help him list the game on eBay after I made sure that his mother understood the important details related to listing and selling an item on eBay and that she gave him approval to do this.  He said, she said yes, but I will talk to her directly before I help him list the item for auction on eBay.

I may need to modify my selling price range estimate because as I was cruising eBay later in the evening, I accidentally stumbled upon a different set of Kirby's Dream Land auctions where the game had been selling for less than what I had observed earlier.  This is very interesting.  When I first found the game on eBay, I used the search "kirby's dreamland" -- note that there is no space between the letters "m" and "l" in "dreamland."  In a subsequent search, I entered "kirby's dream land" in the eBay search window -- note the space between the words "dream" and "land."  When checking the completed auction results for "kirby's dream land" -- by clicking on the link "Search Completed Items" -- I observed that the game listed under this spelling had several instances where it had sold for under $20.  Is that not cool or what? 

I will brief the budding entrepreneur on this difference and let him make the call.  Without any in depth analysis, I'd list it under "kirby's dreamland."  Being even more clever, perhaps, I'd consider listing the game with the spelling "kirby's dreamland kirby's dream land."  In this way, you would attract all potential bidders who would search for the auction under either spelling variation.  I believe that those who would enter "kirby's dreamland" in the search field would see only the completed auctions for that spelling variation (were they to look for selling history); and similarly, those who would enter "kirby's dream land" in the search field would see only the completed auctions for that spelling variation (were they to look for selling history).  Fascinating, eh?  Some other auction details for him to consider will be opening bid, when he wants to start the auction and when he wants the auction to end.  Other options exist, however, I do not believe that they are relevant to his situation (e.g., whether to set a reserve price).
 

Luis Castillo RBI Watch (Through July 30, 2000)

Number of Hits......Batting Average......Number of RBI......Runs Scored
......121.......................364............................7........................72

Luis went 2-5 and left four men on base (i.e., in total, four men, who were on base when Luis batted, did not score as a result of his at bats).