A 24-year-old man tried to sell his soul on China’s most popular auction website and managed to get 58 bids before operators pulled his ad, he told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday.
“It was just an impulse,” the seller, who requested anonymity, said from Shanghai.
The man posted the announcement on Taobao last week, asking a starting price of 10 yuan ($1,23).
But the firm decided that selling one’s soul was inappropriate and deleted the ad on Friday after Chinese media reported it. By then there were 58 bids from people, with the highest at 681 yuan ($84).
Other than guns or drugs, the auction company has not posted rules against selling anything else online.
“We pulled down the posting because we think only God can control souls,” Taobao’s public relations manager Tao Ran told AFP. “Souls are just not supposed to be sold since they cannot be seen or touched.”
He added there was also “a lot of pressure from public opinion”.
The man said a female journalist later bought his soul for a price he refused to disclose.
“I will give it to her by express mail,” he said.
“The girl kept telling me not to sell the soul, to keep it. I did want to cancel the deal but there is a rule in Taobao that if someone bids for the goods, they cannot be taken off the shelf.” — AFP