eBay halts 'immoral' auction of woman

A woman who tried to auction herself off on eBay has been kicked off the site for 'immoral' sales.

Kay Hammond, a 24 year-old dotcom entrepreneur, was asked to remove the offer from the site when eBay executives decided that her plan to sell herself as an online bride was immoral. Bidding had reached £10m when the auction site pulled the plug.

Undeterred Hammond moved to eBay rival QXL which agreed to the sale after some head scratching. "We found this auction not to be in violation of our terms and conditions. It is not up to us to judge morality in this case," said a spokeswoman.

The woman's conditions of sale are that the 'buyer' is male, British, aged between 24 and 35, meets basic health requirements and pays for his own shipping from the Home Counties.

In the 'collectable category' on the site, Hammond explained that marriage is the one ambition that she has yet to achieve as she has been working on her www.tamba.co.uk business since she was 17.

"I thought that by creating an online auction I would be able to reach as many men as possible and hopefully prove that the internet is not full of cyber-geeks. There are normal people out there, and I'm looking for one as a husband," she said.