The strangest items to have sold on eBay

With online auction house eBay commonly used for a bit of retail therapy - to pick up a new sweater, selling a second-hand video game or buying fancy dress items for the next big birthday party - some sellers take the ability to sell any item a bit beyond the realms of normality.

For every power seller auctioning items of clothing, there's another trying to flog an item of food that resembles Jesus, the Virgin Mary or other religious figures. For every legitimate make-up seller, there's a perfume sample seller attempting to make money from free vials handed out in stores across the country.

Selling on eBay can be a funny old business, so here are some of the strangest items that have gone on sale over the years.

Human organs

With organ transplant waiting lists growing by the day, desperate times call for desperate measures. Where there's desperation, there's always someone looking to make a quick buck.

Take one eBayer from Florida who thought he could make a fortune by auctioning his own liver on the site. Bids came in thick and fast, reaching a staggering $5.7 million, leaving the seller in a state of ecstasy about his new found millionaire status. However the dream came to an end when eBay cancelled the auction before its end-date.

Why? The posting was removed due eBay's policy against the sale of human organs on the site. Always read the small print.

Fighter jet

When items as small as loom bands are sold on eBay, it makes sense that objects on the other size of the size spectrum are also up for auction.

Take one seller who decided to flog an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet for a starting bid of $1,000,000 or a Buy It Now price of $9,000,000. After picking up the plane from a scrap yard, the new owner wanted to turn it over for a sizable profit. However, bidders were warned they would be facing a minimum $40,000 a month upkeep costs just for a 2-3 hour flight time.

After the FBI learned of the auction, the Bureau warned the seller he could only sell the plane to an American citizen residing in the United States. Furthermore the plane would not be allowed to leave US airspace.

Funnily enough, the auction ended without a winning bidder.

New name

For the bargain price of $8,000, 31-year-old father of two Matthew Jean Rouse sold the rights for his middle name on eBay.

The winning bidder would be allowed to choose a new middle name for Rouse, who agreed to use it "whenever plausible and not hide it". There were a handful of bids on the auction - his older brother Bill Rouse bid $1,500 so could make the middle name stay as it is - but one successful bidder stumped up the full Buy It Now price for the privilege.

Not so fast. After heading to a court on Utah to pursue the name change, the courts blocked the move and, at the time of writing, Mr Rouse continues to have the middle name "Jean".