'Ship Your Enemies Glitter' founder sells company after begging users to 'stop'

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/16/ship-your-enemies-glitter-founder-sells-company

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The founder of Ship Your Enemies Glitter, an Australian website that lets anyone in the world ship their enemies bags of glitter – the most irritating party product yet invented – has put his company up for sale, after begging potential customers to stop using his website.

Mathew Carpenter’s creation is up for auction on startup marketplace Flippa, with a starting bid of just $1, boasting of the site’s “$20,000+ in sales and 2.5m visits in four days”.

But, he says, the site was a joke that got out of hand. “I launched this website as a bit of a joke not expecting this level of attention. Heck, I launched this website while I was on holiday!

“For the past few days it has been stressful dealing with all of the media attention and even more so because this was only intended to be a small side project. It’s taken on a life of its own, and I want to watch it continue to grow under a new owner.”

The sale comes days after Carpenter, 22, took to start-up website Product Hunt, where his creation had racked up almost a thousand votes, to ask potential users to just not.

“Hi guys, I’m the founder of this website. Please stop buying this horrible glitter product — I’m sick of dealing with it. Sincerely, Mat.”

Since schadenfreude is the internet’s mother tongue, the replies were less than sympathetic. “You have made your glitter-coated bed and I’m afraid you will have to lie in it,” read one.

It’s certainly a lucrative business. Carpenter’s details the profit margin for potential buyers: “Each purchase is worth $9.99AUD. I’ve calculated that the total cost of shipping an envelope filled with the glitter & the A4 letter to most places in the world from Australia ranges anywhere from $2-$4. That leaves $5.99 to $7.99 profit on each order.”

“Somewhat overwhelmed… I decided to take the ability to order down, despite receiving thousands of emails & tweets from people wanting to purchase.”

For what it’s worth, Carpenter is willing to sign a three-year non-compete clause with any potential buyer, meaning that if a follow-up website – say, ShipYourEnemiesConfetti.com – does get made, it won’t come from him.