Gloucester eBay seller attracts bid of £500 for copy of Charlie Hebdo magazine
| Posted: January 14, 2015
Charlie Hebdo vigil held in Bristol
A Gloucester eBay user is selling the new and unreleased Charlie Hebdo magazine - featuring the Prophet Muhammad on its front cover.
With nine hours remaining until the item expires, bidding for the copy has already surpassed £500. It soared from its original price of 99p to the £532 it currently stands at.
The seller from Gloucester says in the item's description: "I have a small supply of the Charlie Hebdo magazines available that I can post out Friday 16th January from the UK.
"These are the special edition with Mohammad depicted, that has been released due to the recent tragic events."
Three million copies of Charlie Hebdo’s latest edition are being printed to meet huge public demand in the wake of the killings at the magazine's offices last week.
The edition is being printed in French, Italian and Turkish - and digital versions will also be available in English, Spanish and Arabic.
Magazine wholesalers, Smith News and Menzies Distribution, confirmed they will be supplying the new edition to British readers.
Copies of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will be on sale in Cheltenham.
Forge Newsagent’s in Charlton Kingshas pre-ordered 20 copies of the magazine, which is expected to be in short supply, when it comes out on Wednesday (JAN 14). It is not expected to reach UK shelves until Friday.
Owner Ila Aghera said anyone wanting a copy should reserve one from her shop on Church Street.
She said: “I already stock another French magazine, so I thought people might want to buy a copy of this magazine, especially as it’s coming out after everything that’s happened.
“I asked my supplier if he could get me some and he said it was possible.
“The order will be a one-off, though, and I think people might want it as a souvenir.
“The shop is near several schools, so I ordered Charlie Hebdo in case the teachers wanted to buy a copy to show their pupils.”
The new front cover features the headline 'all is forgiven' over a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad - weeping as he holds a placard reading 'Je Suis Charlie'.
It was drawn by Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, Renald 'Luz' Luzier, who survived the killings because he was late for work that day.
However, prominent Muslims have condemned the cover cartoon of Mohammed as highly offensive – and warned it could provoke more extremist violence.
3 comments
This says a much about EBay's policy as it does the morality of the seller in question. Does the seller have a history of selling this magazine to the UK public, or just taking advantage of the press coverage and cashing in off the back of a horrific event in Paris?
Take a peek for nowt.. http://tinyurl.com/ocr6ktg
It would be nice if the money raised went to charity................... making large amounts of money off the back of such a disaster leaves a bad taste ..............