A Life for Sale on eBay

One Australian man is taking the whole clean slate thing to another level after his recent divorce. He's not just getting rid of ticket stubs and burying pics of him and his ex in a time capsule in the back yard (uh, we don't know anyone who did that, do you?), but he put his whole life up for auction on eBay. The trouble is, so far bidders haven't quite seen eye-to-eye with him on his net worth.

Last Sunday, bidders were able to take a chance at buying Ian Usher's Perth, Australia lifestyle. That included his three-bedroom home and all of its contents, an introduction to his friends, and a two-week trial run at his job at a rug store. Usher celebrated with champagne on Sunday night when the bids reached more than $2 million.

However, most of the bids turned out to be hoaxes sent in by bored teenagers. Usher was upset, but he fixed the glitch on eBay that was allowing participation by non-registered bidders. After weeding out the fakes, he found that the highest genuine bid was only about $150,000.

Usher's initial goal was to make at least twice that amount and to take off on the first available international flight with nothing more than his wallet and his passport. "It's obviously disappointing, but not too surprising, and there is still a long way to go," he wrote on his web site, Alife4sale.com.

The bidding is back open until June 29, so if you're looking to convert to an Ausssie lifestyle, its time to get crackin'. It would be interesting to talk to Usher in a few years to see if he regrets all of the hoopla. However, we'd like to hope that he'll be off on some tropical isle, enjoying his life at a brand new rug store. [Reuters]