The New Zealand Guy Who Sold His Soul July 3, 2008

The New Zealand Guy Who Sold His Soul

By Guest Contributor
July 3, 2008

Some guy tries to sell his soul online and, all of a sudden, I get tons of emails…

I don’t understand it 😛

Anyway, New Zealander Walter Scott tried to sell his soul on TradeMe (a.k.a. an eBay-like website based in New Zealand).

The website pulled the auction, saying it was in bad taste.

However, local pizza chain Hell Pizza decided to buy it, anyway.

For $3,800.

Rachael Allison, head of marketing for Hell Pizza, which has outlets across New Zealand and trades on a naughty image, said the company contacted Scott shortly after the auction was removed and offered him $3,800.

…

Allison said she would fly to Scott’s home town of Wanganui on North Island Friday “to pick up the soul — or at least the deed of ownership.”

The deed would be hung on a wall at the company’s headquarters in the northern city of Auckland and an image of it posted on the company’s Web site.

“We’d love to get his soul in the virtual world — to keep it immortal,” she said.

So both sides win. Scott gets a few thousand bucks. And the pizza company’s getting far more publicity than $3,800 could buy. (And their website rules. I’d totally buy pizza from there.)

Copycat auctions will begin in 5… 4… 3… 2…

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What Are Your Thoughts?leave a comment
  • Bartlettman

    RDF reports that bid was a fake. Apparently it was actually sold for $456. You win Hemant!

    EDIT: Whoops. I really should read the entire article before I comment.

  • There were fake bids — and the highest actual bid was indeed $456 — but the pizza place did offer him that amount after the auction was removed!

  • Skylar

    Man, you got scammed then, Hemant. You should have marketed your soul better 😛

  • It’s not the first copycat. I found one a while ago, before I knew about yours Hemant, and when a friend pointed out that it’s just some unoriginal loser I found out about what you did :).

  • philosophia

    …why do I always miss these things when they happen here?

    I’m going to keep a running search for souls on Trade Me now.

  • Firstly I’d like to say how much respect I have for Hemants eBay auction and all the good it did (as well as the amazing book he wrote as a follow-up). So please don’t take what I am about to say the wrong way.

    Hemants auction wasn’t the first soul auction on eBay, it wasn’t even the second. It probably wasn’t even in the first 10. Ever since eBay first started up there were a load of people trying to sell their souls on eBay.

    Just by typing “ebay soul auction” into Google (adding -mehta to get rid of results relating to Hemant) will bring up literally hundreds of news stories. I’ve found auctions going back to 2001, with quite a few in 2002 and 2003.

    Now I don’t doubt that these auctions were just for money and didn’t have the impact that Hemants did, but I think it is pretty arrogant to claim that everyone who does it is a copycat. I highly doubt many people in New Zealand have read Hemants book (I live in the UK and I had to get it shipped from the US).

    Hemant no doubt changed the way some people viewed atheists, and I give him full credit for that, but he wasn’t the first person who sold his soul on eBay.

  • Ron in Houston

    Isn’t it a bit fraudulent to sell your soul if you don’t believe you have one? Just pondering…..

  • We definitely need Hell Pizza franchises here in the USA.

    They should offer $1 off if your bring in your Sunday (or Saturday) morning worship program.
    You get $2 off if you bring in a certificate of membership to a secular group providing an alternative to religion.
    You get $3 off if you have sold you soul to Hell Pizza.
    Only one discount allowed per customer (or group) per visit. The possibilities….

  • Chris

    Just chiming in saying Trade me isn’t an ebay clone, it was around in magazine format before internet.

    Love Friendly Atheist, by the way. 🙂

  • Chris — It has been fixed 🙂 Thanks!

  • I see there’s a “Hell” in Christchurch. Hmm

    https://www.hell.co.nz/index.jsp?city=Christchurch

  • Xeonicus

    There is a town named Hell near where I live in Michigan. I wonder if I could sell my soul to them for a few thousand bucks. That’d rock!

  • Dave

    Hell do make damn good pizza – my favourite is Wrath with quadruple chilli – although somehow I don’t think they would do too well selling franchises in the USA bible belt

  • @Ron

    Well, if you believe I have a soul, then what’s the harm in me selling it to you if I’m not using it?

    I get money, and you get what you paid for: It’s insubstantial, odourless, colourless, tasteless, weightless and cannot be measured in any way by any method.

    As a matter of fact, I believe I have a soul. In fact, I have several spare souls.

    Hell, I’m overstocked with souls! I’ve got more soul than James Brown in bed with Aretha Franklin! I’m running out of space to keep these souls, and that’s where you, the customer, can benefit!

    We’ve been told to clear the lot for new soul inventory arriving next week, so we’ve gotta get these souls outta here! So come on down and steal a soul today! You won’t be sorry! We accept AARP discount cards. Buy two and get a free gift certificate for spa treatment!

    !!!

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