Australian puts his entire life on eBay

by Iva Skoch on

Is there anyone who hasn’t fantasized about walking away from it all? Some people take vacations when that happens. Others commit suicide. Ian Usher, a 44-year old Australian, wants to put his entire life–everything he owns, including his job–on eBay in one neat package.

According to this BBC story, Usher hopes to raise at least $400,000 for a life-changing adventure after his marriage broke down. As soon as his life is sold to the highest bidder, he wants to take the first plane out of Australia, with just his money in one hand and his passport in the other.

I especially like that his employer, a carpet store in Perth, Australia, has agreed to take on whoever wins the auction on a two-week trial – with a view to a permanent position.

If anyone is looking to take on someone else’s life, the auction will start in June.

Use PayPal to Buy Southwest Airlines Tickets

by Justin Glow on

Southwest Airlines has begun accepting electronic payments from PayPal as an alternative way of purchasing its low-fare tickets.

“We want to make purchasing a ticket on Southwest Airlines as easy and appealing as possible — and PayPal is a great addition to our payment options,” said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines Vice President Marketing, Sales, and Distribution, in an official statement.

This is especially nice for hardcore eBay salespeople and travelers who may not have a credit card, as PayPal allows you to link the service to your personal bank account. Otherwise, I don’t see this being an extremely popular way to pay for plane tickets.

What is nice about it — from Southwest’s prospective — is that money in a PayPal account seems much more “virtual” than cold, hard cash (or credit debt), and people might be more willing to spend it on leisurely things like travel. When I used to sell stuff on eBay and get payments through PayPal, I always treated my earnings stash as a “free money” account that I could use to buy other stupid things off eBay. If I had the option of either buying another vintage coffee cup off eBay, or a Southwest Airlines trip to Seattle, I’d be much more interested in the latter.

Wouldn’t you?