Apparently all that glitters is gold, if you’re clever enough to tap into the darkest impulses of man.
ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com is a service that does exactly what it sounds like it does: anonymously deliver an envelope chock-full of glitter to someone you hate (or who just really likes glitter, possibly), poised to explode when opened and ruin their day, and their near future.
It’s truly a product for these turbulent, untrustworthy times.
The concept is amusing, and so is the website itself, which offers an excellent FAQ section including. Example: “Q: My recipient got glitter in both eyeballs, is now blind & would like to file charges. Help?” “A: Heh.”
Just like the envelopes it delivers, interest in the service has been explosive. The service launched on January 12, and in the first 24 hours saw more than 2,500,000 visitors, more than 400,000 social media mentions, and took in just over $20,000 in sales off about 200 orders.
Pretty much every tech site picked up on the phenomenon, and news of the service then spread to more mainstream sources, such as Slate, ABC News, The Guardian, TIME and even The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
The 22-year-old entrepreneur/evil genius Mathew Carpenter, said the popularity for his “side-project” (his main focus is SEO) caught him off guard. He quickly posted on Product Hunt, where he announced the site, pleading with people to stop ordering, as he was sick of dealing with it.
He decided to take down the order form and put the site up for sale on website marketplace Flippa (which, full disclosure, is part of the SitePoint Group).
This is the most popular auction ever placed on Flippa. At the time of writing the is $70,100, from 333 total bidders. More than 100,000 people have viewed the auction page in the last 48 hours. For context, the previous all-time most-popular auction received just 247 bids.
Given it’s a hugely popular site which took $20,000 in sales in the one day it was operating, the bids probably aren’t unreasonable.
Check out the Flippa listing and place a bid, otherwise go to literally any news website to read more.
While you’re reading, have a think about whether you may have offended anyone recently. Checked the mail yet? Be careful.
Adam RobertsAdam is SitePoint's head of newsletters, who mainly writes Versioning, a daily newsletter covering everything new and interesting in the world of web development. He has a beard and will talk to you about beer and Star Wars, if you let him.
