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Australian sells own life on Internet

2007-06-06 10:52:40

Sun Jan 28 2007, 4:25 PM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - A 24-year-old Australian surfer who sold his life, including

baggage from a painful break-up, on eBay says he is still not quite sure why he

did it.

Nicael Holt sold his name, phone number and all his possessions, including

clothes, CDs, a surfboard, a laptop, a wonky pushbike, childhood photos and a

"nice lamp" given to him by an ex-girlfriend, on the internet auction site.

The successful applicant bid 7,500 dollars (5,790 US) last week to become Holt,

right down to spending Christmas with his parents and inheriting "some tension

with a former ex from a painful break-up."

The identity of the eBay auction winner is known only as ridderstrade.

Holt, a philosophy student from the southern coastal city of Wollongong who has

set up a website to explain his actions and ask for donations to charity, said

he was unable to explain why he sold his life.

"Im still racking my brain to come up with the answer or any answer as to why I

did this?" he wrote.

Motivating factors were boredom and intrigue as to what constitutes a life and

what made him who he was.

He added he was "hoping to make a point that the amount and type of things that

are for sale in this world is insane and wasteful."

In his sales pitch, Holt said the winner would be entitled to a four-week

training course in how to be him -- including lessons on how to surf, climb,

skateboard, fire twirl and do handstands -- as well as two months of on-call

support afterward.

He also promised to introduce the winner to all his friends and potential

lovers, including eight people he had been flirting with.

"Lifestyle is very social. It includes a lot of going out," he noted on his

eBay advert.

"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."

His legal identity, passport, qualifications and future inheritance were not

for sale.

Holt's new website has raised only a modest 100 dollars for charity.

"In the spirit of this, there are people in the world who are dispossessed and

actually have nothing," he writes on the nicael.com website.

"So I would like to make a contribution to these people by donating to a

charity."