Sale of ‘867-5309’ Pulls in Almost $200K on eBay

If Jenny wants her number back, she’s going to have to cough up some serious cash.

A New Jersey disc jockey could be walking away with $186,853.09 after the conclusion of an auction on eBay for the telephone number immortalized in the 1980’s classic “867-5309/Jenny”.

The winning buyer, an anonymous eBay user with a “Power Seller” rating, only made two bids on the number, which is attached to a Vonage Voice-over-IP line.

The seller, Spencer Potter, a disc jockey from Weehawken, New Jersey, has claimed that the New York-area number is one of the last working versions of the number available in the U.S. Because of the popularity of the song, released in 1981 by the band Tommy Tutone, many area codes no longer support the number.

Potter and eBay spokespeople did not return requests for comment on the sale or on the identity of the buyer.

Potter said in interviews that he put the number up for sale when he decided to sell his business and move to New York. The sale turned him instantly into a celebrity, drawing coverage from the New York Times, CNN and other media around the world.

Potter told the Times last month that he hoped to make enough off the sale of the number to spend two months backpacking in Europe. If he collects the winning bid, he may want to raise his sights just a little.

The eBay sale also included Potter’s DJ business, which is essentially just the phone number itself and the company name, A Blast Entertainment.