in 2006 someone tried to sell New Zealand on eBay..the price got up to $3,000 before eBay shut it down

In 2006 an Australian, residing in Brisbane, tried to auction the whole country of New Zealand on eBay for just one Australian cent. Apparently, he didn’t think much of NZ, although he had only been to Auckland once, according to media, and the city didn’t make a big impression on him. The highlights of the selling “product”, described in the post, included “the dodgiest American Cup win ever and very ordinary weather”. However, Winston Peters, Foreign Minister of New Zealand at the time, wasn’t impressed with this kind of joke either, calling it “nonsensical stupidity”. Anyway, after six thousand hits and 22 bids you could still purchase the country at a most reasonable price : $3,000. But, unfortunately for all planning what to do with their newly acquired real estate property, eBay Australia pulled the auction before NZ could be sold. As Daniel Feiler, a manager at eBay Australia, pointed out, there are more than 1,000 trust and safety employees taking care of key areas of the site, so it was inevitable to spot soon enough that New Zealand isn’t actually a product for sale.