Overpriced Elmos Didn't Tickle Many

Now that the holidays are finally over and calm is being restored upon Earth, we can take some solace in knowing that most of the people who tried to hawk Tickle Me Elmo before Christmas were unable to peddle the popular doll.

Consider: In 112 ads that ran in the Dec. 22 Seattle Times, one asked $1,500 for the doll, which cost about $25 in most stores. Five people advertised Elmo for $1,000 each. And 31 were willing to part with the giggling Sesame Street character for a mere $500.

The other 75 sellers were offering rates between $125 and $800, for a red-haired doll that was deemed THE Christmas toy of 1996.

It was so popular that Tickle Me Elmo became Stick-It-to-Me Elmo. The gouging was unholy. Why, even the Mariners seemed reasonable in comparison.

For example, one Renton family resorted to this in its ad: "Tickle Me Elmo - For Ransom, $550 in Unmarked Bills."

Any luck?

The police called - or, rather, someone impersonating police.

"He said he'd arrest my husband for extortion," Brenda Piele says of the crackpot caller - one of several people who responded but were unwilling to pay the ransom.

Les Piele bought the doll from a friend for $150. He thought he'd have an easy time selling it after placing a $22 ad in the paper.

"Now, we have ourselves a $172 Elmo doll," says Brenda Piele, whose two kids are grown. "Maybe someday we'll have grandkids."

They were not the only ones left holding the doll. Teresa Pehling canceled her ad after two days because so many people called and chewed her out for daring to ask $1,000 for the doll.

" `I can't believe you'd do that to your child - you're just a jerk,' " one caller told Pehling of Lynnwood. She got so tired of the harassment that she started telling people that it was all a mistake - the newspaper's - because it had erroneously printed her number in the ad.

She sighed.

"I never really wanted to sell it," she said. "My husband saw a different ad for $2,000, and we figured if some fool wanted to buy it, we'd take $1,000 and go buy other Christmas presents."

Husbands and boyfriends seemed to be the most frequent perpetrators. Stephanie Stouffer of Yakima called her boyfriend "rather stupid" for attempting to get $750 for the doll in a Seattle ad. She had "tons of offers" when she advertised it for only $125 in the Yakima Herald-Republic - and sold it right away, to a man who said he was going to try to hawk it for even more.

But the sale was made only after Stouffer tried to reach superstar Madonna, who was rumored to be offering $10,000 for the doll, presumably for her baby.

"We tried to get in touch with her in California," Stouffer said, "but they said she was in London."

Two 16-year-old Tukwila girls tried to get in on the action. LaTroya Washington and a friend placed an ad asking for $450. They didn't find a buyer but heard from a "really rude" woman who yelled at them for trying to cash in on Elmo.

Perhaps it was the same person who called a Spokane woman who had asked $800 for the doll.

"I got a lot of harassing calls," said the Spokane woman, who would identify herself only as Suzanne. "Some said really rude, cruel things, like, `I hope you get coal for Christmas.' "

Now, she feels rotten about the whole thing, "like an awful person."

"I had mixed feelings in the first place. But if someone out there wanted it and had the bucks to blow, maybe they could help us out."

After all, Suzanne has three kids, and the youngest one didn't even know who or what Elmo was. Why not cash in on the Christmas craze?

Indeed, that sentiment seemed to be running wild in the days leading up to Dec. 25. One person ran an ad saying Elmo, for $500, would be "delivered in a BMW limo." Brian Travis of Kent ran an Elmo ad with this pitch: "Tickle Me Elmo - In box. Not greedy. $175."

Did it work?

"Nope," he says. Instead, the "not greedy" claim prompted one caller to ask him to donate it to a church. Then Travis discovered that the caller really wanted it for his own child.

About the only person who successfully peddled poor Elmo was Diane Wyvel of Northgate. After her mother-in-law bought one for her son, Wyvel decided to sell her Elmo doll. She did a little research (calling other ads and determining that few were selling above $200,) and placed the following ad: "I have Elmo. Still in box. $185."

It sold in about two days, to a man who said he was buying it for his 37-year-old girlfriend.

"It was the only thing she wanted for Christmas," the man told Wyvel, who handed it over with a shrug.