An entire swimming pool was listed on Trade Me with a $1 reserve. It was the most viewed item for the Bay of Plenty. Photo/supplied
An entire swimming pool was listed on Trade Me with a $1 reserve. It was the most viewed item for the Bay of Plenty. Photo/supplied
An entire swimming pool, a church with a $1 reserve and a haunted rocking chair were some of Trade Me's greatest hits in Tauranga this year.
The online auctions were in Trade Me's top five most viewed items for the Bay of Plenty and have had more than 70,000 views between them.
Spokesman for Trade Me, Logan Mudge, said the team was constantly amazed at the endless creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of members.
"Some auctions just have a certain something. They capture the imaginations of our members and often people around the world because they are weird, controversial, often borderline in taste terms and because the seller does a great job with their description."
The most viewed item, with 20,869 views, was a huge fibreglass swimming pool with a $1 reserve.
The swimming pool had been used by the Liz Welie Swimming School for the past six years but the school was moving to a bigger site in Pyes Pa next year.
The 11m long pool sold for $3017.
The second most viewed item, with 14,729 views was a church in Waihi, also with a $1 reserve.
A 110-year-old church was sold online after a $1 reserve. It was the second most viewed item on Trade Me this year. Photo/supplied
After a fierce bidding war the St James Presbyterian Church, dating back to 1905, sold for $11,100.
The church, made of heart rimu, had not been used since 2012 when an engineer's report found it did not meet earthquake safety standards.
As a heritage building it could not be knocked down and so was put up for online auction and sold to someone based in Wellington.
Church session clerk Charles Mcdonald said prior to putting the church on Trade Me with a $1 reserve they had recieved no interest in what happened to the church.
"In my personal opinon I thought we wouldn't get even one person offering a dollar. Instead there was massive interest."
The church was in the process of consents for relocation.
Closely following the church with 12,527 views, a signed All Blacks Sevens jersey was the third most viewed.
The jersey was signed by the 2016 Rio Olympics squad and money would go to Koro Island and Sinuvaca village in Fiji to help with devastation after Cyclone Winston.
The jersey fetched $1600.
A signed All Blacks Sevens jersey to raise money for villages in Fiji affected by Cyclone Winston. It was the third most viewed auction on Trade Me. Photo/supplied
A young father selling his PS4 video games took out fourth viewed auction, getting 11,402 views.
In the description box for 'Selling my Pride and Joy (PS4 games)' the seller wrote he had just found out his partner was pregnant which prompted him to "freak out" and "get focused on what is important".
"I'm going to auction off my collection of games to support a new beginning and what I consider to be the greatest game that I'll ever play - parenthood," he wrote.
Thirty video games were sold for $905.
A new father reorganised his priorities and sold all his PS4 games. The auction was the fourth most viewed on Trade Me this year. Photo/supplied
Bringing up the rear was a 'haunted' rocking chair, with 10,596 views and a laugh-out-loud description.
The seller had been given the rocking chair years before and was having trouble getting rid of it.
"While I cannot vouch for the veracity of its provenance, I am reliably informed it was owned by a missionary from the darkest of Africa who made it from the wood of the rarest tree in the world - the clebitria tree," the seller wrote.
A 'haunted' rocking chair was the fifth most viewed Trade Me auction for the Bay. Photo/supplied
It continued to say there was only three of such trees left and by cutting one down the missionary committed a great sacrilege.
The guardians of the trees were enraged and cursed the chair for all eternity.
The description finishes with: "For the love of God please take it off our hands."
The chair sold for $57.
TOP 10 in NZ
1. "YOUR tattoo on MY butt" - 153,373 views - Wellington woman Bailey needed to clear her debts and will fly to Miami to have her tattoo done next month. Sold for $6500.
8. "Erotic Eggplant" - 51,683 views - The erotic eggplant which went around the world. Sold for $115.
9. "Sledge Hammer" - 30,993 views - Tribal Huk's Jamie Pink listed this sledgehammer with a starting price of $5200 but failed to get a keen bidder.
10. "BUY A DATE WITH US!" - 9544 views - Two Lower Hutt women sold a date in order to raise money to go volunteer in Nepal. Sold for $400.
Trade Me's honourable mentions
"NATIONAL CARPET" - 19,630 views - An unusual carpet portrait of former PM John Key. Sold for $893
"Desk Chair of Fertility" - 18,539 views - The desk chair was allegedly responsible for three pregnancies and the boss decided it needed to go. Sold for $51.
"Church for $1" - 18,076 views - A Waihi church with a $1 reserve was sold to someone in Wellington and is on its way to the capital. Sold for $11,100.
"Ricky Baker's skuxx as hoodie" - 17,852 views - The famous jumper from the biggest movie of the year, Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Sold for $310.
"Rob Muldoon's Rail Pass" - 13,840 views - the former Prime Minister's personally signed and embossed gold pass. Sold for $400.
"DONALD TRUMP" - 12,723 views - a photo and bandanna signed by the president-elect which didn't sell.
"A tiger ate my GoPro" - 9593 views - A "slightly used" GoPro sold by Auckland Zoo after it got eaten by a tiger. Sold for $455.
