Slashdot Mirror
Man Selling His Life On eBay
A number of readers have sent in the story of the guy in Perth, Australia who is selling his life on eBay. 100 days before the auction opened, he put up a site detailing all that was on offer: house, car, jet ski, friends, job, and so forth. (No wife.) The auction has five days to run and the bidding is up over $300K, supposedly from qualified bidders. The seller says: "Upon completion and settlement I will walk out of my home for the last time in just the clothes I am wearing, and carrying only my wallet and passport."
Is his identity for sale? Otherwise all he is selling is a bunch of stuff. Not "His Life". It would be more interesting if you could actually buy his identity and completely assume his life. Of course, you couldn't do that completely. His friends probably aren't going to buy into it. And also, what of the government?
If he can't tell everyone the reason why his wife left him, then he is obviously not ready to give his life away. He is still holding on to the idea of privacy, when in fact he is giving that away. Could you imagine selling all the pictures, memorabilia, etc. that you have.
Obviously not including Identity if he plans to take his wallet and Passport with him. So it's just the stuff. Better be worth the $300K.
because he got divorced, and "everything" reminds him of her and hes just so miserable. The divorce was the catalyst for the whole thing.
You mad
No wife? No kidding.
Here's your chance to finally get a life! Gentlemen, place your bids!
My blog
I hope he wrote his contract out properly. otherwise he's going to be the fall guy for some major crime sometime in the next 6 months.
I can take out a $400k mortgage, and finally have a life like they all tell me to!
-- My Sig is a P228.
I wanted to sell my life too, but then I remembered I didn't have one. :(
...his debts are included? A 90% mortgage would make the house less attractive.
Link to the story here = http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23908397-948,00.html
awkward turtle.
Still, it's quite a courageous move - he had no guarantee of a good price. Was there a reserve price in this auction?
Paul "Say no to feeping creaturism"
Man, he could have at least thrown in a PS2...what a cheap bastard.
I'd probably wind up having to pay the auction winner to take it off my hands.
How do you sell your job, exactly? No really, I want to know.
That's not Picasso, that's Kandinsky!
It's a sick sad world, and I don't need slashdot to remind me. This is why I don't follow "real" news in the first place. The so called ignorance, as I see it is quite healthy for my state of mind.
Honestly, this is the most fantastic Slashdot story that I've seen in a really long time. Unusual, sure. But I think that this is the perfect place to post this.
I've always dreamed of doing something like this. Starting over, giving everything up. And I'm right positive that I'm not the only one on Slashdot to have those dreams.
This guy has balls of steel. And I wish him the best.
This puts a new meaning to the word "Net Worth". Although this will set a precendent. I am pretty sure you can sell the "things" you own but you can't sell your whole life. Why would his boss hire the guy who takes his "identity". Obviously the buyer is a guy with completely different skillsets. Obviously this guy does some sort of skilled job that requires some sort of degree if he can afford a house, a car, and a jet ski. I mean a construction worker and a cashier is not going to own his own jet ski.
This just seems like its not going to pan out. Ebay is probobly going to pull it because you can't "enforce" the sale of an identity even if there is a contract. It has nothing to do with that. The buyer isn't going to get the guys social security number and he will have to pay taxes for EVERYTHING. Considering if hes selling "things" to you than you have give the government a percent. Even though this is ebay if you sell real estate or a car on ebay than you have to pay taxes or else you can't get a legal title.
Obviously this guy is doing this because his wife left him and he feels he has nothng left. But this is a rather brash thing. Its not as simple as give me half a million dollars and heres my life. While he goes and moves to romania or something.
Although this does put a new twist on the term "bought friend"
.... I wonder what the ebay fees on this auction will be :-|
All my life for sale is a book by John Freyer who managed to list most of his worldly possessions (even his Christmas presents) on eBay.
i have to pay 300K to get a house AND i have to work two weeks as a rug store sales assistant. What a sweet deal.
People sell their WOW accounts all the time.
... He's selling all of the things in the list, it's no different than someone selling the contents of a large lot of goods. Now if he were actually selling himself as part of it, or even his identity (which he clearly isn't if he's walking out with ID and Passport) then we'd have a story. Otherwise we just have a random pile of expensive crap for sale and /. just advertised it.
He'd make a really great fall guy considering that this story has been on almost every major news network on the planet, and has been posted repeatedly all over the Internet...
"You could live a better life, if you had a better mind and a better body."
... I will have the certificate of deposit valued at 10,0000,0000$.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I'd have thought that anyone with $300K to spare probably doesn't need a job selling rugs.
This guy is not only selling his house, but his friends, job, etc. as well. Once sold, he says that he'll leave them all behind. They must really suck. Not much of an endorsement...
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
I haven't bought any recently, but I used to get them three for a quarter.
the winning bidder wants to have it sent to his brother in Nigeria.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I wonder if there is a defective merchandise clause to the transaction? How are you supposed to know that he didn't treat friends and co-workers miserably before he left? What if his friends suck? And a house in need of disrepair (e.g. a carpenter's dream or a real fixer-upper)? If the ex is still available and hot, can you reconcile the relationship without getting the hook for the alimony? These would certainly add to a defective merchandise argument.
I've taken back bad clothes, stuff that doesn't fit after washing, electronics that don't work, products that don't work as advertised. I'd at least want to make sure that after spending $300,000 that if his life really did suck before the divorce that you can approach the guy and say "Look, this isn't working out. I think you should give me my money back. And, no charging a 5% re-stocking fee is not fair."
You can buy a house and a jet ski and all the other stuff anywhere, but friends? Whoa!
I can't wait to show them my complete Star Wars Action Figures collection!
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
... his large, mob-involved gambling debts.
We're going to find out that the Mafia has a hit out on him or he's supposed to be in an arranged marriage to a cannibal princess or something. The lovable everyman who buys this guy's life will now be in a madcap race to escape the consequences, probably falling in love with a girl-next-door Hollywood starlet in the process.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
[quote]and so forth. (No wife.)[/quote] That's why he's getting so much.
Nothing is new - Michael Landy's "Break Down" art-performance included demolition of all his belongings (no $ to retain!), including documents, previuos works, photos and a car.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Oh come on people, the guy lives in PERTH. Surely nobody is bidding on that.
What if he loses his wallet?
Or gets mugged? With all this publicity, people might want to steal the wallet that contains the large sums of money he's getting from this.
Yes, I realize he won't be carrying it in cash, but without his ID and bank cards/credit cards, he'd be screwed.
Er...and $300K in cash. There is that.
P.S. Don't get mugged.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(Trying to figure out why I think it is so funny but it just cracks me up...) Meh. He's selling his current living conditions. He'll continue to live; if he's happy, he's still "winning," just like any of us. I'm not losing just because someone has more stuff than me (see George Carlin on that). BTW- It will be hard to see George since this weekend...
Not only is this story over 2 months old but it isn't even original! This Guy did it over a year ago while the current guys story was featured on ABC back in March.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
You'd better fly over and check it out. Make sure his friends aren't all loud talkers with BO who like to "get nekkid" at parties.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
PS1? Dude, come on....
You are not your job.
You are not how much you have in the bank.
You are not the contents of your wallet.
You are not your fucking Khakis.
You're not your family, and you're not who you tell yourself.... You're not your name.... You're not your problems.... You're not your age.... You are not your hopes.
You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.
You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of
the world.
could it be...
SATAN!
/church-lady-voice
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
that his boss and friends support the idea. I imagine him asking, "Is no-one going to say 'please don't go'?"
Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
Isn't it sweet? Opt-in and all. Just like it was back in Rome and Athens.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
It's over 300k australian $ so it is a little less than american money 1 AUD = 0.957650 USD
Good karma sticks to me like velcro on a piece of plexiglass.
Move along, citizen.
i think we should try to customize our lifestyles according to our preferences. who says that you need to own a car, for example ? if one doesnt have the need for a car to commute or do traveling or shopping, s/he shouldnt buy one because everyone else has one and community thinks that owning car is a must.
not owning a car would release the person from many obligations.
same goes for furniture, other house belongings. we should minimize our belongings to the things we really need to have and like to have, but, we should try that what we have in that style are the best that we can have according to our needs or enjoyment.
this should maximize our benefit from possessions whereas minimizing our overhead.
Read radical news here
How bored do you have to get?
What if the guy has a bunch of sub prime loans, and is under water on them. People can legally buy debt, so will they incur this as well? I've had my student loans sold to several different banks without my knowing, so why not sell your debt?
..........FULL STOP.
It seems like you really are getting everything, and whatever arrangement he has with his ex has been resolved. But keep in mind, he gets to keep one set of clothes. So why is that important? Well, he has taken out loans against everything to buy a diamond studded suit!*
*I dunno if this is true, but it would be a clever way to liquidate all your assets while hocked to the gills, and have someone else have to pay back the loans.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I wonder if I could sell my life. Let's see... I currently live in the basement of my ex-girlfriend's grandparents' house, doing web design and sysadminning for $100/week... I bet I could get all of five or six bucks for that. Anyone want to make the trade?
I often hear people complain about how "materialistic" we've all become, and how much happier we're supposed to be if we learn to reject some of this.
Isn't that the same promise the Catholic religion has been hawking for the last 2,000 years or so?
No, your possessions don't literally equate to your "life" ... but at the same time, I think they can (even SHOULD) help define a person. Looking at myself, I realize that my purchases directly reflect the things I enjoy doing in life. For example, I own several computer systems. Well, that's been my main "hobby interest" for close to 20 years now, and it led me to my career choice. Computers are the key to what makes me a "productive citizen", earning a regular paycheck. I also have a decent-sized music collection, and even some musical instruments (electric guitar, synthesizer, etc.). Sure, they're not necessities in life, but they're enjoyable distractions for me, and reflect on my interest in music in general.
The people who worry me the MOST are the ones who don't seem to have any clear "hobbies" or interests that involve ownership of property! I've had friends like this, who seem like they're wandering aimlessly through life - spending their money on "intangible entertainment" like movie tickets, amusement park passes or sporting events. Ultimately, they have little to show for the work they do.
By being materialistic, you are more attractive to women. Sexual selection has led to generations of materialistic men because their fathers and grandfathers were materialistic, because the men who were had wives and children.
:)
I don't know if we've found the gene for liking hifi stereos yet
I actually thought this guy sounded pretty cool until I read the "Why" section of his site and realized that this all about a woman. Sigh. Oh to be young again. The best advice you could ever get regarding women is to not marry one until you are AT LEAST 30 years old, preferably older. By then you might be a wise enough man that a woman won't be able to destroy your life just by waving her vagina at someone new. I'm at the point in my life where virtually ALL of my friends are married and almost all of them regret it or are already divorced because they didn't realize you don't treat a woman like a princess if you want be able to live with her for the rest of your life. As an older guy (37) who has finally figured women out (took 35 years), I just have to say "When will you guys learn?" There's soooooo many women out there, but they generally don't like moody melodramatic man-boys like this guy that's selling his life on Ebay. If there's anything most women hate in a man, it's indecision and moodiness. Actually, they can handle some moodiness too, but they really hate wishy-washy indecisive people who don't know where they are going or why. However, if you as a man just worry more about pursuing your own goals in life and stay on track and actually succeed at something...anything...the woman problem will generally work itself out. It's when you spend too much time worrying about what women want you to do and not enough time worrying about what YOU want to do that you start getting into trouble. You end up being endlessly manipulated by one pretty face after another. Women just don't respect men that they can treat like bitches. I mean come on, do you respect a guy living a supposedly ideal life in a supposed paradise who decides to chuck it all over marital infidelity? My guess is that this guy spent too much time fawning over his beautiful wife and not enough time handling his bid-ness. I think he actually says something about "living a lie". Oh the horror.... pathetic. The best revenge on a cheating woman is to give so little of a shit that you are able to get on with your life right in front of her, with our without your slutty new girlfriend in the spike heels. Go be good at something. Some woman will eventually think you're cool for it and want to have sex and eventually babies. The older you get, the truer this is. Also realize that as you get older, the tables of human sexuality turn. Older women are just as horny, and they are far more desperate. In youth, women have a clear sexual advantage because men of all ages are after them. As they get older this changes...they get fatter, they get older and they realize that their pretty face just isn't getting the attention that it used to and that if they ever want someone to help them raise kids they'd better stop acting like useless primadonnas and grow up and maybe even acquire some skills that a grown man might not be able to find in a 19-year old. They realize that men their own age now have an advantage over them, that young women are still competing for the attention of the few men that are still interested in them, and as older women they are on the losing end of the competition...this is why eventually most women settle down by about age 30-32 if they haven't already revealed themselves to be psychotic alcoholics or coke-heads. This is probably the single greatest thing about male aging (possibly the ONLY good thing about male aging). I firmly believe that if women didn't get less attractive as they aged, no man would ever be happy because the women in his life would just turn into bigger an bigger bitches/sluts every year. Instead, women tend to get less attractive and nicer as they age. By about age 35 you can stop pretending they are princesses and just start behaving like normal people...you know, like your parents...or maybe not. In my experience, if you want a young, hottie, you'll either have to completely shed your jealousy and accept some level of infidelity (admit that you'd be just as big a slut if you looked as good as she does), or you'll have
but is the guy selling the life never going to talk to his friends again?
Will he be keeping that? I suspect so!
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
Well, gawd knows I'm not happy that the fire happened. But it did kickstart me into finally moving back across the country from N.Y. to Portland (which, of course, reduced my total possessions even further) and I'll tell you, by now, except for stuff like my high school yearbook, I look at pretty much every possession I own as an equation of utility, cost to replace, and cost to own. And having now bought most of my possessions twice over, I've been amazed at what can be bought at thrift stores, done without, or borrowed.
It's been gloriously liberating.
And let me note that the kind of stuff we talk about here, like Portland's own Freegeek and the number of things that can now be done D.I.Y., play a huge role in reducing my emotional tie to my possessions. Among other things, books are now just more stuff to me. And Project Gutenberg, Googlebooks, Netflix, and Hulu make most content beyond that a trivial commodity as well.
Personally, I would keep a minimum box about the size of four milk crates of irreplacable stuff. And I must admit that I'm quite fond of my three aluminum chairs that survived the fire. But beyond that, hell yeah, fifteen, twenty thousand, I'd walk away from everything else with a smile on my face and have it all again, or better, in a few months.
Let me suggest an exercise: go to the three biggest Goodwills and St. Vinnie's near you. Go to the nearest couple of dollar stores. Spend an hour (no, really) at each pricing out replacing everything that you could there. Western civilization has gotten astoundingly good at making stuff and we make it damned cheap. You can dress in elegant clothes, eat off china by the light of brass candlesticks on a hardwood table, eating food cooked in stainless steel pots on a gas stove, and you can do it all cheap. There are only three things that you will have to give up utterly: a new car, a new computer, logo-bedecked stuff the media has convinced you that you need because of the image they silkscreen on the front for a buck fifty.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
So if you buy his life you get to trade in yours?
Could I sell my life to someone as an indentured servant? Instead of someone paying me a week or 80 hours at a crack, I wonder how much someone would pay me (in one lump sum) in order to be "theirs" for the rest of my life?
I feel that my prior work experience in several trades would be worth something to someone. Sounds a lot like slavery, except I wouldn't be a slave: I'd be willing.
I wonder what kind of reserve I would put on my own head... And does eBay have rules against selling people, including yourself?
I think I'd probably regret my decision 5 years into it, because I'd also give up a right to choices and freedoms. Unless I purchased my life back from the owner, that is. Hmmmmm.
What I observe in many people I know is a trend towards accumulation of possessions that don't necessarily make them happy, but that they feel that they deserve because they work at unsatisfying and time-consuming jobs. They feel that they should have something to show for all of their effort, and so they buy themselves things. I myself have fallen into this trap, but have since returned to graduate school. I'm now much poorer and can afford much less, but on the whole, I feel that I need less because I enjoy the work itself and thus don't need to justify it through material means.
What I found most interesting was this comment you made:
The people who worry me the MOST are the ones who don't seem to have any clear "hobbies" or interests that involve ownership of property! I've had friends like this, who seem like they're wandering aimlessly through life - spending their money on "intangible entertainment" like movie tickets, amusement park passes or sporting events. Ultimately, they have little to show for the work they do.
Frankly, I can relate much better to your friends. I would far prefer to have interesting experiences and the resultant memories they bring tucked under my belt, such as travel or outings to concerts, amusement parks, etc. than to have a stockpile of possessions that may have resale value but rapidly depreciate and incur maintenance costs in many cases. Experiences are far more formative to me as a person than, say, car or personal entertainment system ownership.
And I am not moving furniture or much of anything. A shoebox of papers. Some electronics. Enough clothes for a few days. Period! And yes, preparing for this takes a lot of effort and time. This kid invented somethin' great. Wish I thought of it. But then again, I could not offer such a great package and I was able to sell everything already I wanted.
Agreed wholeheartedly.
I may not have made much cash, but working in the local music scene brought some moments that most people read about in magazines and/or dream of doing. As a military brat, too, I'd not trade my experiences in Europe for a cool million dollars.
While accumulating possessions might satisfy some, I've been happier accumulating "moments."
Two quotes keep coming to mind here:
"The meaning in life isn't in the destination, it's in the journey itself."...and...
"He who dies with the most toys....still dies.Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
I've done "peel outs" many times in the autocrosses and track days I've done...and I've never heard a screech without a vroom before it (or at least accompanying it).
It takes engine power to break traction, dumbass...usually a good fraction of it, and unless you've got a torque-monster truck engine under the hood and some skinny tires, it's going to take some revving to produce that power.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
FTA:
2). The buyer is not purchasing my identity. Items not included in the sale are my name, my passport, my Australian Citizenship, my financial or personal details, or any personal details on the hard drive of my computer, which will be deleted.
What could possibly go wrong? (On second thought, maybe its a covert revenge to his ex-spouse.)
There have been a few posts about this so it should probably be mentioned that his house is apparently worth $420,000. Everything else is just a gimmick to attract buyers.
The property market is amazingly expensive in Perth at the moment with average houses going for $350,000 upwards. That's not for anything particularly special either.
I sincerely doubt anyone is bidding on this to meet new people. They can see that this guy is desperate to sell and think this might be a good opportunity to pick up a bargain. Throw a couple of cars etc into the equation and it just sweetens the deal.
It's not until you lose everything that you are free to do anything.
Fight Club
By: David Fincher
If you're going to start over may as well do it right.
Bullish Machine Tzar
I often chirp on $200 a piece tires (265/40/18's) w/ a mild touch of throttle. I only have an LS-1.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
Catching your wife in bed with another man is bad but not bad enough to sell your whole life. This guy must have caught her in bed with his best friend.
Which is bad news for the person buying his life. Guess who's going to be your new best friend?!
It's no longer on eBay, having ended more than 90 days ago, but you could probably find it somewhere by searching for the item ID 110078904033
Now wouldn't this mean that the money he makes on the bid would then go to the winner?
Actually not a bad idea. Imagine you have a terminal disease. So you auction your life. For half a million, they get to kill you three months from now. That gives you three months to really live it up, and they get the chance to legally kill someone. Call it assisted suicide to make it nice and legal.
I'll take 10% for the idea, if any entrepreneurs decide to run with this.
It can be go tiem now plees?
He's showing the strength, that many of us wouldn't have, to walk away from all of his material possessions, and all that is familiar to him. Yet he is doing it in a smart way. His friends staying friends or even making friends with the winner is at best a 50-50 proposition, same with the job. But dude will get to walk away with enough cash in his bank account that he can start all over again right away, with less encumbrance, and hopefully no reminders of the past.
Very smart.
It's your _mom_'s house!
Folks, get a grip. The man is not exchange his life for money. He's taking his life off the market, and putting everything that surrounds it on the market.
When he's done close to 100% of his "assets" will be his life... currently many of his assets are not his life.
He's doing a portfolio adjustment.
I wanted to read an article about someone who would kill himself for a price, aka selling his life, or selling himself into slavery (aka giving someone complete labor and behavior, life and death, control) and instead we get the opposite... a man claiming his life and getting rid of his stuff.
I acquired her debt, even though I didn't "own" it, and so was thinking that the buyer, might be able to buy the sellers debt too, foolish as it may be.
..........FULL STOP.
I know someone that did this very thing a couple of years ago. He had a place in NYC, and was auctioning the apartment, motorcycles, car, clothes, stereo, the whole thing. Even would introduce you to his girlfriend in case you might get along.
He didn't get the reserve price at the time, which was surprising, since he had a pretty nice life put together.
WWJD -- What Would Jimi Do?
(Smash amp, burn guitar, take home the groupies)
I am from Perth, and this story never really made a big deal in the news, I learnt more here than I did from the snippet on the news. I actually have a good mate who works at that rug store and he never even told me about this, don't think it has really registered at all over here.
Well, see... the first paragraph of your reply is pretty much in agreement with what I was saying. People aquiring random possessions that don't even wind up getting much use or making them happy is just "hoarding", and taken to extremes, we classify it as a mental disorder. My point was simply that having material things is not inherently "bad", "wrong", or undesireable.
As for the last part of what you wrote, I ageee it is interesting how people can come away with two completely different interpretations of the same behaviors. I still maintain that carefully chosen possessions do nothing but ADD to one's "interesting experiences" in life. Again, looking back to my first interest in musical instruments ... my friends all purchased electric guitars and either taught themselves to play, or took some music lessons. Although I hung out with them regularly and was considered a "best friend" of theirs, I felt like I was missing out - all because I didn't own an instrument, and so couldn't participate in that interest of theirs. When I finally bought one of their used ones, a whole new world of experiences suddenly opened up. I wound up learning enough from them to get started, practiced a bit on my own, and eventually got to play rhythm guitar in a band they put together. Some of my fondest memories were from us playing out at clubs around town on weekends - even though it made me practically no money.
Clearly you've never dumped a woman.
Because that's exactly what they do.
....I'm worried about the SHIPPING costs. :)
http://Communityville.com - A free place for new and old neighborhood webmasters to hang out.
and throw in the nightmare boss, the wife who has grown so fat and frigid that I'd rather jerk off than have sex with her, and the 3 kids who are nice when they want something from me and otherwise can't be bothered to do jack to help around the house.
Bidding starts at $1.
I don't know what this guy is going to do and if I was in his position I'd have my own idea's on what I was going to do but I wish him the best, he seems to be doing this without malice or ill intent so good on him.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Every time some-one has a new idea they become an internet celebrity for a week, .................... ..................... ........ ...............
in two weeks time it will a guy who is
or the couple that
or the kid down the street who makes a video of himself
or the grandpa with a blog who
Fill in the dots and be an internet celebrity for a week (maybe make lots of cash from it
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it