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Student wants to sell his will on eBay
Sunday, February 13, 2005
By CASANDRA ANDREWS
Staff Reporter
First, it was forehead space. Now, a clever college student is looking to sell his potential for future earnings on the Internet auction site eBay.
Strapped for cash, Irvington resident Chris Britt, 20, has thrown his fate into the hands of eBay shoppers, auctioning off his will and "everything else I own when I die" as a creative way to earn money for school.
Billed as an "awesome investment" and a "great gift for the grandkids" the former University of South Alabama student is hoping someone will pay him at least $10,000 so he can return to school in the fall. Bidders can skip the auction process and "buy it now" for $15,000.
While this is Britt's first time selling something on the auction site, there's a long line of budding capitalists who have turned a quick profit peddling oddities on eBay. In recent months, a man sold the skin above his eyebrows to an advertiser for nearly $38,000, and a Georgia women took bids to sell the bulge of her pregnant belly as billboard space.
Since posting the auction of his will a few days ago, Britt said Friday that he's received more than 26,000 hits, about 50 e-mail inquiries and only one bid, which he rejected, because the bidder's feedback rating was poor. By Saturday night, the online counter for his auction showed more than 32,000 hits.
When eBay transactions are completed, the buyer and seller have the opportunity to leave a "feedback" comment about the other individual, and those comments are available for public inspection. Ratings points are earned or lost based on whether those comments are positive or negative.
Founded in September 1995, the eBay community includes more than 100 million registered members from around the world.
While Britt described himself as "extremely hard up for money right now," he's not homeless.
He lives with his father in Irvington and graduated from Theodore High School in 2002. On the eBay posting, Britt describes himself as a third-year student of biology planning a career in medicine.
"Depressed," he writes on the site, "I gave up until I saw the story about the man who sold his forehead for advertisement space ... truly unique."
Britt figured if that guy could sell off the use of a body part, he could sell his potential for future earnings.
Here's how Britt said buying his will would work: "The winner of the auction will basically be my sole beneficiary."
After the auction, he said, he'll take out a $50,000 insurance policy on himself and leave that to the sole beneficiary. He said the winning bidder gets to pick the lawyer to draft Britt's will.
"It seems like a good investment," Britt said. "I think it's kind of good for someone (who) could leave it to someone."
Pictures of Britt posted on the site show him posing with his motorbike and taking a drag from a cigarette as he leaned against his Mustang. He admitted to a pack-a-day habit, writing in the posting that the smoking "probably doesn't help" his chances for a long life.
"When I die, you win."
When asked about selling his bright-yellow bike, Britt wouldn't hear of it: "That would be almost as bad as selling my kidneys. I've always wanted a bike, and now I have one, and I don't see how I could part ways with it."
He said last week that if the medical career doesn't pan, out he'd like to pursue work in the field of marine biology.
Britt said he was kicked out of school because he didn't have the money to pay for it. He dropped below 12 credit hours, which is considered a full course load, and lost his financial aid, he said. Now, he works six days a week at a local nursery and is doing other things, such as donating plasma, to earn extra cash.
Britt, who paid $50 to list the auction, isn't alone in the venture. His friend, Rameh Dickens of Mobile will collect 25 percent of whatever Britt is able to earn. Britt said it was Dickens' idea and his eBay account.
They also are working on other ways to earn money for Britt, though he didn't want to discuss what those might be.
He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected].
"If it will get me back in school enough to get my financial aid back, I think it will be well worth it," Britt said. "When I'm dead, I'm dead. I can't enjoy my things anymore."
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