Thursday, January 18, 2007

Your Personality & Lifestyle as a Tradable Asset

An Australian guy is selling his current life on eBay:
This auction is for a New Life in the coastal town of Wollongong, Australia of a 24 year old male. It includes the following:

Winning bidder will take ownership of my:
-Name
- Phone number
- All my possessions
- I will teach you my skills
- Will introduce to all my friends & potential lovers (around 8 which I have been flirting with)
- I have around 15 close friends and around 170 other friends
- I have 2 nemeses.
- Lifestyle is very social. It includes a lot of going out.

NB: Friends will treat you exactly as they have treated me. This includes friends who take me surfing, running, climbing and cook for me. All of these features will be transferred over to the winning applicant.

Life also includes the following features
- Will have access to a cruisy job in march delivering fruit.
- You will write a satirical horiscope in the University of Wollongong Magazine.
- You will have new parents to have Christmas with & birthday presents from friends.
- A birthday party will also be organised for you.

This auction also includes the following
- A 4 week training course by the former me which includes the following:
- Many anecdotes and stories from a very interesting and intriguing past 24 years of my life
- 6 Jokes
- Training in becoming me (fashion, food, lifestyle, style of seduction, interests)
- Haircut like mine
- Piercings to the value of $180.
- Lessons in my personal history (The good stuff and the bad stuff)

NB: After the 4 week training winning bidder will also receive 2 months of on-call support.
There are a few more interesting details at the site. He seems to be doing this to film a documentary about it. The current bid is over $60,000 Australian dollars (about $47,000).

Another example of a creative way of finding something of value that you can sell as an asset.

(Source: Marginal Revolution)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a ludicrous idea. The thought of selling ones life, although interesting when looking at it from a distance, is a completely irrational and unrealistic approach to making any type of money. I believe that this person does not fully realize that a monetary price cannot be put on objects that have emotional values attached to them. Also, the idea of introducing a stranger to your family and friends in the hopes that they will completely take over your life lacks believability. From an economist’s perspective I would think that this idea would be ridiculous; the cost simply cannot be worth a couple of thousands of dollars, no matter who you are. My overall question is: how could you set a price on the things only dear to you? And when you reach what should be an unattainable price for both the market to be able to pay for, what type of person would want to take over someone’s life? In order to do so, not only would you be paying for your new life but also “paying” for the losses that it would cost to step away from your old life...i do however enjoy the humor in the idea.

Ryan W.

Anonymous said...

The guy really isn't just selling his life at the cost listed on ebay. he is also getting any money he makes through selling the documentary that he is selling. The cost of leaving his old life might also be lower than you think. He probably would not be selling his life if he was all that happy with it. However, if this guy is unhappy, this would give him the opportunity to start over with a blank slate, a chance to start over and make a new life for himself. He admits that you "Will have access to a cruisy job in march delivering fruit." so it is not as if he is leaving behind a great job or anything. This seems like a bizare idea, but maybe not such a bad idea for someone who wants to cut their losses and start over.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the funniest ideas I have heard on ebay in a while. I can't believe that anyone would actually pay money to buy someone else' life. Even if you take on all of the "assets" that the man listed, you will never actually be him. No matter what he says, I don't believe that friends and family would treat this new stranger the exact same way that they treated him. Also, what is this man going to do with his life after he has sold it? Who is he going to become? I also think the person above me brings up a good point... why is this guy selling his life? Is it that bad? And in that case why would someone else want to take it on if they have to be exactly like its previous owner. If you were really disliked by those around you and did not enjoy your life, I suppose that the incentive to take on someone elses' would be greater than the monetary cost to you. I still don't know if this idea is plausible, but I think the documentary on it could be interesting to watch. I guess this is how you find out how much your life is worth...
--Natalie--

Anonymous said...

People will sell anything on ebay. Its become such a craze that it does not surprise me that someone would go to this length. I would hope that he signs a contract of sorts with whoever buys his life because I don't understand how you could give up your life forever to someone else. Even with the amount of money that he will be making from ebay and then selling his documentary, it won't be enough for him to start his own life over. There has got to be some catch, either that or the man is crazy.
-Danielle Lunetta

Anonymous said...

Of all things to try to sell, your own life? If the man were not planning on using it for a documentary, then it would seem crazier. The man is getting a lot of costs for moving out of his comfort zone by leaving his previous...well, everything, but I'm sure he plans on having his documentary be a huge success in Australia. If he were not planning on filming the whole thing (probably to prove the point that everyone prefers their own life), then I would have thought that maybe the guy was just a very cold, and emotionally distant person who could handle leaving everything and everyone they know at the drop of some cash on the internet. I'm sure there is someone else in the world like him who was also thinking they wanted a change or an adventure, so this guy seems less crazy than everyone else is giving him credit for.
-Kate V.

Anonymous said...

I think this is absolutely hilarious! Then again, probably a really bad idea. Selling your own life... interesting way to make money. Is the cost of selling your life worth the benefit? Actually is there a benefit to selling your life? There is mention that this man is selling his life as a way to film a doctumentary. Maybe that is this man's motive. I find Ryan Wilson's comment interesting. Ryan says that you can't put a monetary price on objects with emotional values. This is true. The man is selling his life, which means he is selling everything that holds emotional value to him. Although, memories never go away. I guess this man sees that selling his life is a great way to make money, start over, and film a very interesting video. Is that a good benefit for the cost of having to completely start over? Who knows.
-Morgan Hale

Anonymous said...

Um I think the whole thing is really weird..but funny. I doubt it would actually work out too. The new parents wouldn't be able to treat the winner bidder the same as their own child and I'm pretty sure that any "potential lovers" are going to be weirded out by the whole thing. I also think that it would be very hard for the sellers current friends to completely treat the new person as they treated their original friend. Probably the only worth in bidding on this would be to get all the material possesions, but the other things such as friends, style of seduction, etc...probably not. Also, I think it would be impossible for the buyer to completely forget their own past, memories, family, and history and pick up someone elses. This is just strange..but it's funny. And if it worked, i would probably watch the documentary. Alex W