The US Town That Was Sold on eBay

In the world of online shopping, listings include anything from vintage baseball cards and secondhand cars to slightly overpriced toaster ovens. But an entire American town? In the early 2000s, a real California town appeared on eBay, turning the world’s largest auction site into the stage for one of the most unusual real estate sales in history.

The listing sparked headlines across the country, attracting curiosity-seekers, serious investors, and more than a little disbelief. This wasn’t a publicity stunt. It was a real transaction, complete with property deeds, businesses, and the promise of an unusual kind of ownership: buying a place where people lived and worked.

So how did this happen? What town was it, and what became of it after the digital gavel came down? Dig into the fascinating story of the town that went under the hammer of eBay.

A Town on the Auction Block

Bridgeville, California, is a tiny town with a personality all its own. Spread across 83 acres in the forested hills of Humboldt County, it includes a handful of homes, a café, rental cabins, a post office, and even a small cemetery. With a population of around 25 people in the early 2000s, the town had a quiet, rustic charm that made it stand out among northern California communities.

Despite its appeal, Bridgeville was difficult to sell. Remote, costly to maintain, and unlike typical real estate, the town struggled to find a buyer through conventional channels. In 2002, the owners took a bold step and listed Bridgeville on eBay.

The idea of buying an entire town online immediately captured the public’s imagination. Media outlets around the world covered the listing, late-night comedians joked about bargain hunting for towns, and thousands of people clicked in just to see if someone would really bid. The auction turned the small community into a global sensation overnight.

The First eBay Town

Bridgeville ultimately sold for $1.77 million to a Southern California buyer, but that deal collapsed when the bidder backed out. Not long after, businessman Bruce Krall stepped in and purchased the town for $700,000. He talked of restoring the buildings and revitalizing the community, but the challenges of maintaining infrastructure in such a remote place soon caught up with him.

In 2006, Krall listed Bridgeville again, this time for $1.75 million. The unusual sale included eight houses, the post office, and even three cows. That August, 25-year-old Los Angeles entertainment manager and college student Daniel Thomas La Paille bought the town for $1.25 million, with financial help from his mother and grandmother.

La Paille spoke of creating an environmentally conscious, tight-knit community in Bridgeville. But he passed just months later. The town returned to the market in mid-2007 with an asking price of $1.3 million.

New Bids, Uncertain Future

Over the following years, Bridgeville’s ownership continued to shift. In 2013, Santa Monica hotel executive and entrepreneur Steve Farzam offered $900,000 to buy the town from La Paille’s mother. Farzam reportedly wanted to establish a private police force in Bridgeville, but county officials made it clear that law enforcement would remain under the sheriff’s jurisdiction. When that condition was denied, the deal fell apart.

Since then, Bridgeville has remained one of California’s strangest real estate stories. Its claim as the first town ever sold on eBay cemented its place in internet history, while its repeated resales revealed the reality of trying to own, maintain, and reinvent an entire community.

Why Sell a Town on eBay?

Bridgeville ended up on eBay not because the owners simply wanted attention, but because traditional methods of selling the town had failed. The property was remote, expensive, and difficult to market through conventional real estate channels. After years on the market with no success, eBay offered a platform to reach a far larger audience than local or regional listings could.

• Global reach: Listing Bridgeville online gave the town exposure to potential buyers across the country and even internationally, far beyond Humboldt County.
• Media attention: The novelty of an entire town for sale on a digital auction site guaranteed widespread news coverage, from major newspapers to television segments.
• Early digital era: In 2002, eBay was still a symbol of the internet’s untapped potential for commerce, making Bridgeville’s sale a reflection of the era’s experimental spirit.

The move demonstrated that even a town could enter the online marketplace, highlighting both the possibilities and challenges of selling unconventional properties in a new digital age.

Other Towns on the Market

While Bridgeville remains the most famous example of a town sold online, it is not the only community in the US to change hands in unusual ways.

• Swett, South Dakota: This former tavern stop with a handful of residents went up for sale in 2014 for $400,000.

• Buford, Wyoming: Once billed as “the smallest town in America” with a population of one, Buford sold in 2012 for $900,000.

• Albert, Texas: A small Hill Country community with a population of just a few, Albert has been privately owned and sold multiple times, including a high-profile sale in the early 2000s that drew national attention.

These sales highlight a certain American fascination with small towns, independence, and the dream of owning a place to call your own, even if it comes with more responsibilities than most expect.

What Bridgeville Represents

Bridgeville’s story captures a moment in American history when the internet was changing everything. It’s part real estate tale, part cultural snapshot, and part reminder that sometimes the strangest ideas, like selling a town online, actually work.

It also highlights the difficulties of rural communities across the country. Many small towns face dwindling populations, aging infrastructure, and limited economic opportunities. While the sale of Bridgeville was unique, the challenges it revealed are familiar to thousands of other places.

The Legacy of the eBay Town

Today, Bridgeville still exists, though its population numbers only a few dozen and its homes and businesses remain in private hands. Its moment in the spotlight has long passed, yet the town’s unusual sale lingers as one of the most memorable chapters in early internet history. What began as a real estate listing turned into a cultural phenomenon, sparking headlines, late-night jokes, and real questions about what it means to “own” a town.

Bridgeville’s story stands as part cautionary tale and part digital folklore, a reminder that in the age of online marketplaces, even the most unlikely transactions can become reality. For a brief moment, this tiny California community proved that in America, you really can put a town in your shopping cart.