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Collectors Buy Zimbabwe's 100 Billion Notes on eBay for $80

aol.com.au — Amid Zimbabwe's mind-boggling hyper inflation, a new 100 billion dollar bank note has more value as a novelty item on eBay than on the streets of the capital. The note, launched this week, is worth enough to buy a loaf of bread - if you can find one on Zimbabwe's depleted store shelves. Meanwhile on eBay, the bill was on offer for nearly US$80.

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  • jjgames, on 07/23/2008, -1/+42Mugabe will probably start selling his currency on ebay so he can fund his crooked government.
    • EgaoNoGenki, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1Thanks to new economic sanctions, he can't. You don't see Cubans selling their cigars on feePay either too, you know?
    • IKORKYI, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Forgive me for I am not an economist. The Japanese deal in rediculously high magnitude currency (to me.) Why is it that its not a big deal for them to spend 50 million yen on something like a coffee mug (exageration). Is it because people get paid proprotionally?

      i.e. Zimbabwe citizen makes 10 a day and needs to buy food for 10 million
      • opticwind, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1While the Japanese use a yen currency system, it's actually more accurate to compare hyaku-en to dollars. Yen are the standard equivalency to pennies here, so it's more fitting to compare dollars to hyaku-en (100 yen). I've lived here for awhile and the conversion's pretty easy.
  • skewl, on 07/23/2008, -5/+32Soon it will be cheaper to start a fire with their banknotes than with a lighter..
  • ironeus, on 08/01/2008, -1/+25that is EXTREME inflation! so many ZEROs on that bill you may as well not even print the "1".
    • person425, on 07/24/2008, -1/+18The sad thing is that 100B won't even buy you a loaf of bread there (seriously).

      They think they have a cash shortage because no one has enough cash to buy anything, so they "fix" the problem by printing more cash, which causes more inflation. A kid in their 20s with an associates degree in economics from a community college could run their economy better than them.
      • Paulish, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1The free market could run the economy better than anyone, because EVERYONE is running it.
    • novenator, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4maybe they will do what the Turks did, just drop the last 6 zeros (an old 1 million note now equals 1)
  • wattzz, on 07/23/2008, -1/+26soon they will introduce a note worth eleventy billion dollars!
  • u8muhrice, on 07/23/2008, -10/+080 : 100,000,000 gotta love Zimbabwe's inflation rates!
  • michaelwong38, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7superfragisticgajillion dollars
    • tdeveny, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Don't be ridiculous..you couldn't make change for that!
  • juliebubb, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8Totally bizarre...and we think inflation is bad in Ireland!
    • Owwmykneecap, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3omg 4% doom...

      thats what we been hearing for the last month.
    • 1randomguyO8, on 07/24/2008, -0/+14.5% here in Aus..which sucks ass..
  • megamod, on 07/23/2008, -1/+18they should just take out 6 zeroes and tell everyone that from now on it's implied that the bill's value is = bill * 10^6.unless they want a bill that looks like:

    | 1000000000 |
    | 0000000000 |
    | 0000000000 |
    • Lunarbunny, on 07/24/2008, -5/+1See: Turkish Lira, Yeni (New) Turkish Lira
  • jmpeagle, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8they'll have a trillion dollar bill by the end of the year given the 10,000% rates of inflation
    • Visual77, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9Actually, the inflation is estimated anywhere from 5,000,000% to 15,000,000%, depending on who you ask.
    • EgaoNoGenki, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2That's 20% a MINUTE.
      • jamesglanville, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1No its not, at 20% a minute the currency would halve in value every 4 minutes. After one hour $40000 would be worth $1. Even Zimbabwe is not that extreme..
      • EgaoNoGenki, on 07/26/2008, -1/+120% a minute * 60 = 1,200% an hour * 24 = 28,800% a day * 365 = 10,512,000% a year.
  • AmyVernon, on 07/23/2008, -3/+29it's time to revalue your money when you have a $1billion bill...
    • zbor, on 07/24/2008, -1/+17Uh, that's one way of looking at it. Another is that it's perhaps time to stop inflating your currency.
    • kettlechips, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4When I was in Harare two years ago, they had just switched to the new Zimbabwe Dollar which was worth 2000 old Zimbabwe Dollars. Evidently the benefits didn't last very long.
    • person425, on 07/24/2008, -5/+1Even worse, it looks like the current exchange rate for USD:ZWD is only 1:3,545,897.50 So currently it would take about 28,201 USD to buy a single loaf of bread.
      • deadlift, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5Please forgive me if you were born with mental retardation, but 1 USD is equal to 18,681,527,512.36 ZWD.
  • diggrnumber1, on 07/23/2008, -4/+3They could make a business out of selling these ridiculous banknotes. maybe it could help raise real money for the government, rather than just decreasing the value of their current money. I might buy one.
  • media2me, on 07/23/2008, -8/+1Dugg!
  • diggrnumber1, on 07/23/2008, -2/+15Just waiting for the $1 trillion bill.
  • UberC, on 07/24/2008, -1/+72You could pay off Dr. Evil with that
  • Samsauce, on 07/24/2008, -7/+3Akunamatta.
  • gravityboard, on 07/24/2008, -9/+1I was torn between wanting to digg this for being a cool story and not wanting to digg something from AOL.
  • dboone74, on 07/24/2008, -0/+32They could just start using scientific notation on their bills.
  • mistafreeze, on 07/24/2008, -2/+36In Zimbabwe a 100 Billion = a Loaf of Bread.
    In American 80$ = A tank of gas.
    • VigilanteP, on 07/24/2008, -10/+2What the hell kind of car do you drive that requires $80 to fill it up?
      • zzz@tkz, on 07/24/2008, -0/+8Battle tank.
      • redxninja, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3The H2?
      • Evazan21, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2Is a n18 gallon tank really that uncommen?
      • NuclearIsShit, on 07/24/2008, -1/+4My f-150 cost that much to fill up here in Canada.
      • greenlight2001, on 07/24/2008, -1/+118-20 gallon tank? Pretty common on vehicle today.
      • itsme92, on 07/24/2008, -1/+0BMW 740iL
        the milage isn't bad, but it takes premium and the tank is 20 gallons
    • saxmaster, on 07/24/2008, -0/+36What the hell kind of car do Zimbabweans drive that requires a loaf of bread?
    • tdeveny, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3YeastUV
  • TStanNY, on 07/24/2008, -1/+22At least the guy is a billionaire now
  • iMyst, on 07/24/2008, -6/+51. Get a 100 Billion note
    2. Wait for the country to get bought up by Google and subsequently fixed by means of step 3
    3. ???
    4. Profit (by using the note)
    • Hawk2007, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2The problem with this currency is that I doubt it will be recognized whenever the current problems with the leadership are righted (as in overthrown).
    • ExRe, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1The currency expires after a certain number of days.
  • zarcu, on 07/24/2008, -1/+21***** Quadrillionaires.
  • Qtip42, on 07/24/2008, -15/+6Right so that's like 100,000,000,000 US dollars right? .........THATS WHERE WE'RE HEADED FOLKS!
    • Hawk2007, on 07/24/2008, -1/+6ummm.... far from it.
      • sysop073, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1Closer every day
      • vinod1978, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1Ummm...not as far as you think. Have you looked at the prices of milk, tomatoes, or even - GAS? Our dollar has lost almost 60% of its value in the past 8 years (if you look at it compared to the Euro). Vietnam caused Nixon to remove the dollar's attachment to Gold. If the Iraq war is not stopped soon it might cause the removal of the dollar as a form of currency. (ok, I'm exaggerating - but you get my point).
  • drmattbarney, on 07/24/2008, -8/+7Looks like a Federal Reserve Note circa 2020, with the Fed printing dollars like Zimbabwe. Will Bush, or FDR be the dead president on the US Billion note?
  • PainToad, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2I'll sell you some Toilet Paper for $80, its worth the same...
    • zarcu, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1Over there toilet paper would be over nine thousand.
    • Pixelpaws, on 07/27/2008, -0/+1They've already established that using old bank notes is cheaper than going out to buy toilet paper.
  • Scottypants, on 07/24/2008, -2/+6Anybody see the pie eating contest photo on the right side of the article under "Top News Photos"?

    http://o.aolcdn.com/www.aol.com.au/cppops/features ...

    Oh, the irony...
  • Konrad9, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Son of a.
    I want to buy one of these but there's no way I'm spending that much.
  • nizzy1115, on 07/24/2008, -0/+19I kinda want one too.
  • kettlechips, on 07/24/2008, -0/+7If they keep printing this kind of money, of course inflation will be insane.
  • redxninja, on 07/24/2008, -0/+13I always dream of wiping my ass with money.
  • MrTito, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10I think I might buy one of these. Maybe their economy will turn around...
    • winampman2, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5The notes expire at the end of the year, so you'd have to spend it by Dec 31. Their economy wont be any better.
  • NuclearIsShit, on 07/24/2008, -0/+17They should hang Mugabe
  • RichardedHarris, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3I tried this trick on my little brother once. I had him convinced that 5 pennies were worth more than a dime. Sucker.
    • vinod1978, on 07/24/2008, -2/+4Apparently, someone played the same trick on Bush. He still thinks having $3 trillion dollars of debt is better then having $1 billion of revenue.
      • Digitalicious, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2The thing about American debt is that we're not printing more money to pay it off.

        Debt =! Inflation
  • yesimahuman, on 07/24/2008, -1/+7Maybe it will improve everyones math skillz!
    • 1randomguyO8, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1So they can get great jobs in their great country and make lots of money?
  • picturestorm, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1A fun story that turns into a harsh reality.
  • texas85, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1well at least everyone is a billionaire there.
  • Koush, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9I pity those who have to work out the change after someone buys items in Zimbabwe.
  • dogarms, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Let me get this straight; right now, if a Zimbabwean wanted to buy a $100 billion note on eBay, it would cost them $1.5 trillion dollars? Ouch.

    Now there's a fantastic way to get the economy back on track. Sell their worthless novelty money on eBay!
  • ignisatra, on 07/24/2008, -5/+4Sounds like where the US is heading soon...

    http://digg.com/world_news/YOU_JUST_GOT_SCREWED_an ...
  • salvisa, on 07/24/2008, -0/+16Did anybody else notice that 100 billion Z-Dollars was officially worth $5 in paragraph 10 but by the time you get to paragraph 17, it's only worth $4?
  • amirivija, on 07/24/2008, -0/+0Soon they will start using exponents as the numbers wont fit on the notes
  • KhanneaNL, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5Next - US dollar in the same place, payable with Euro.
    • lajaw, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1and the Euro is next. Both are fiat currencies.
  • teddyrux, on 07/24/2008, -2/+10I don't know who actually read that article from start to finish, but what began as an adventure on ebay became a haunting tragedy. Their economy is in shambles. Everybody is effectively poor; It's horrible!

    It's pathetic that the only way an article about Zimbabwe's failing economy gets onto the front page is when some insensitive douchebag buys one of their hyper-inflated bank notes on ebay as a joke.

    Digg me down, this comment isn't funny or clever.
    • vinod1978, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2@teddyruxt - "It's pathetic that the only way an article about Zimbabwe's failing economy gets onto the front page is when some insensitive douchebag buys one of their hyper-inflated bank notes on ebay as a joke."

      With all of the economic issues facing the United States, who really cares about Zimbabwe's economic issues when it affects 13 million people. There are a lot more people in the United States that care about their own country's economic issues (myself included), so of course this post is probably the only way anyone could get me read about Zimbabwe's economic issues.
    • 1randomguyO8, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Its their fault.
      • qwertydvorak, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3apparently they thought all their problems were Whitey's fault. poetic justice ?
  • romygrr8, on 07/24/2008, -5/+5this is madness!!!!!!!


    T-H-I-S.....IS......Z-I-M-B-A-B-W-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • BertEatsDirt, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2$80? They got ripped off! Could've pay $5 and got a Z$100bil note.
  • DigitAl56K, on 07/24/2008, -2/+2You'd need eight of those in USD to cover the value the Fed is about to devalue the dollar with in response to the credit crisis.
  • lupicite, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1Man.. I must be tired...

    I read the line:
    "Zimbabweans were slightly unhappier than Armenians and Moldovans, also victims poverty and "the legacies of authoritarian rule," the researchers said."

    and didn't see Armenians, but Americans...
  • liuite, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2Mugabe will be remembered as the "100 Billion Dollar Man" with no bionic transplants, only an ego large enough to fill Africa.
  • dpoon, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Dear Sir,

    Please provide your bank account information so that I can wire the funds to you.
  • Frost9999, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2Fantastic if you have a mortgage to pay off. Just wait a few weeks and pay it with a single bill because your one million dollar mortgage is now your kids pocket money.
  • amed, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2the guy selling the bills on ebay is a genius
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