Talking about selling your husband on eBay as a joke raised the possibility that people had tried to sell others on the Internet in perhaps a more serious manner.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given our modern morality it was evident quite quickly that they had. This blog had previously picked up on the apparent sale of a black male as a slave (which may of course simply have been a spoof), and usually it's simply disguised as "workers", as is the case with the 'maids' sold in Asia and the Middle East.
However there have been more obvious examples, such as the man caught trying to sell his latest child ....
So rather than discussing these sad examples of humanities willingness to break any taboos (or maybe even how desperate parents can be to give their children a future?), I would rather look at the lighter aspect of this Internet phenomena.
One man for example tried to sell himself as a joke to get another job (yes he breached eBay rules), while another man actually sold his entire life via everything he owned in the world (but was plagued by hoaxer bids). Yet another more jokey sale was a man offering up his wife based upon her cooking prowess ....
But perhaps my favourite was one man's attempt to sell his Soul. This is something I am not sure I could do (just in case!).
The man was apparently fed up with his life so offered the “used” item for a starting bid of £25,000.50 or a buy it now price of £700,000. It had 200 people watching it, and emails of enquiry but no actual bidders.
The listing had stated “I leave it to you, the denizens of Earth, to purchase my actual soul and in return allow me to acquire some tasty capital".
The sale included a legal contract entitling the new soul’s owner to a percentage of Mr Knoxx’s income for the rest of his life, with a guaranteed minimum of £1,000 per year. Another clause entitled the owner to 10% of any intellectual works of his failed pop group. He also pledged to write a full account of the soul’s life within three years and the owner of his soul would also be entitled to 10% of his estate in his will. Other clauses in the contract included sending the owner an annual report of his soul, and a birthday card on Mr Knoxx’s birthday, as well as a promise to plant three trees a year. A final clause also stated Mr Knoxx could buy back his soul for £100,000,000.
Now I don't know why but eBay banned this. Which raises some interesting questions about the Internet giants views on life after death. Did they ban this sale because it was essentially a fraud .... because they thought souls didn't exist?
Or did they ban it because they believed it was essentially stopping the man selling his immortal future away by getting rid of his soul?
When asked they apparently said it breached their rules which prohibit the sale of anything that is not physical. That apparently includes ghosts, souls and spirits as well as more prosaic services such as plumbing.
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| Selling Your Life on eBay Has Hazards ..... |
Perhaps unsurprisingly given our modern morality it was evident quite quickly that they had. This blog had previously picked up on the apparent sale of a black male as a slave (which may of course simply have been a spoof), and usually it's simply disguised as "workers", as is the case with the 'maids' sold in Asia and the Middle East.
However there have been more obvious examples, such as the man caught trying to sell his latest child ....
So rather than discussing these sad examples of humanities willingness to break any taboos (or maybe even how desperate parents can be to give their children a future?), I would rather look at the lighter aspect of this Internet phenomena.
One man for example tried to sell himself as a joke to get another job (yes he breached eBay rules), while another man actually sold his entire life via everything he owned in the world (but was plagued by hoaxer bids). Yet another more jokey sale was a man offering up his wife based upon her cooking prowess ....
But perhaps my favourite was one man's attempt to sell his Soul. This is something I am not sure I could do (just in case!).
 |
| Soul Searching Option .... Or Easy Money? |
The man was apparently fed up with his life so offered the “used” item for a starting bid of £25,000.50 or a buy it now price of £700,000. It had 200 people watching it, and emails of enquiry but no actual bidders.
The listing had stated “I leave it to you, the denizens of Earth, to purchase my actual soul and in return allow me to acquire some tasty capital".
The sale included a legal contract entitling the new soul’s owner to a percentage of Mr Knoxx’s income for the rest of his life, with a guaranteed minimum of £1,000 per year. Another clause entitled the owner to 10% of any intellectual works of his failed pop group. He also pledged to write a full account of the soul’s life within three years and the owner of his soul would also be entitled to 10% of his estate in his will. Other clauses in the contract included sending the owner an annual report of his soul, and a birthday card on Mr Knoxx’s birthday, as well as a promise to plant three trees a year. A final clause also stated Mr Knoxx could buy back his soul for £100,000,000.
Now I don't know why but eBay banned this. Which raises some interesting questions about the Internet giants views on life after death. Did they ban this sale because it was essentially a fraud .... because they thought souls didn't exist?
Or did they ban it because they believed it was essentially stopping the man selling his immortal future away by getting rid of his soul?
When asked they apparently said it breached their rules which prohibit the sale of anything that is not physical. That apparently includes ghosts, souls and spirits as well as more prosaic services such as plumbing.
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