Bid on the Bizarre

There are often items on eBay that make you raise your eyebrows. It could be because the item is tacky, in rough condition, or is a little odd. A used Speedo, one boot, or misshapen potato chips seem a little bit crazy. This list features items that are more than a little odd, they are downright bizarre. Who knew you could even sell these things on eBay?

A medieval Tuscan village was put up on eBay last month. It is about 800 years old but it has been abandoned since the 1960s. Pratariccia, which is located in rolling hills 25 miles east of Florence, consists of about 25 rundown buildings. The real estate company handling the sale advertised the property as “perfect for resorts and retirement communities.” By the way, the village is still available on eBay’s Italian site, if you’ve been looking for the perfect little decrepit town and you have $3.1 million to spare.

It’s not the first town to be sold. Bridgeville, North Carolina, was sold on eBay in 2002 and 2006, but the deal fell through both times. Albert, Texas, a 13-acre unpopulated town sold for $3.8 million to an Italian buyer on eBay in 2007, but it seems like that sale fell through as well. Albert’s website says that the town was put up for sale in 2007 and was sold to the Easley family in 2009. With this kind of track record of eBay town sales falling through, there isn’t a lot of hope for the Tuscan village. The press coverage is great advertising though.

Another item that doesn’t sell is souls, but that’s because eBay won’t allow it. Lori N., a freelance writer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, listed her soul on eBay with a starting bid of $2,000. The woman admits that she has fallen on hard times after suffering serious injuries in a 2007 car crash. Lori isn’t the first person to attempt to sell a soul on the auction site; last February, a University of Washington student tried to sell his soul for $400 (what a deal compared to the $2,000 Lori was looking for). Like Lori’s listing, this one was taken down and the student’s account was suspended.

Why just sell a soul? Ten-year-old Zoe Pemberton put her 61-year-old grandmother up for sale. Bids reached $20,000 before the auction was shut down. You see, eBay doesn’t “allow humans, the human body, or any human body parts or products to be listed on eBay, with two exceptions. Sellers can list items containing human scalp hair, and skulls and skeletons intended for medical use.” I guess no one told the man who tried to sell his liver on the site. Bidding reached $5.7 million before eBay removed the auction. How someone managed to sell their extracted wisdom teeth  for $20is unknown, maybe they were going to be used for scientific purposes? While souls are off-limits, one woman found a loophole to sell her late father’s ghost: she sold his old walking cane, “ghost included.” Golden Palace, an online casino that buys a lot of odd stuff, bought the cane and ghost for $65,000. No word on how the new owners are getting along with the ghost.

If you can’t sell a soul, you would think that virginity would be on the no-no list too. Not so. Carys Copestakes put her virginity on the site with a starting bid of $10,000. The sale went through, but the buyer, reported by Oddee to be a businessman, didn’t take her virginity. He just wanted to give her the money when he heard of her situation (she wanted to pay off her college tuition).

Melissa Heuschkel put naming rights to her unborn child up for sale back in 2005. Golden Palace snapped this advertising opportunity up, so Golden Palace Benedetto was born April 30, 2005. Her mother planned to nickname her Goldie.

These towns, souls, body parts, and naming rights make a grilled cheese with the Virgin Mary’s image look like a reasonable thing to buy on eBay. Suddenly, Justin Timberlake’s half-eaten French toast and Britney Spears’ used gum look a little bit more normal.