The Tea Party on Auctioning Teaparty.com to Ideological Foes for $500K Minimum

Courtesy of the Tea Party

When Stuart Chatwood, bassist/keyboardist/webmaster for Canadian rockers the Tea Party, registered the band's domain name back in 1993 -- so deep into the past that Google didn't exist -- there's no way he could have foreseen the controversy that now surrounds www.TeaParty.com.

Nowadays sought-after domain names can sell for small fortunes -- and Chatwood and his newly reunited band are sitting on a potential goldmine as America's Tea Party movement tries to acquire the URL. The band's asking price: a minimum bid of US$500,000.

"Since we separated I've had a very successful solo career so I'm quite comfortable financially," frontman Jeff Martin tells Spinner, insisting the decision to sell off the site isn't a cash grab despite, of course, hiring online broker Sedo to field potential offers.