German parents post baby on eBay for 1 euro

BERLIN — Authorities in southern Germany said Saturday they have taken custody of a 7-month-old boy after his parents posted an ad on eBay offering to sell him for one euro, the equivalent of $1.57.

Peter Hieber, a spokesman for police in the Bavarian town of Krumbach, said the baby was placed in the care of youth services in the southwestern Allgaeu region, although the child's 23-year-old mother insisted the ad was only a joke.

Authorities have launched an investigation into possible child trafficking against the baby's mother and 24-year-old father, neither of whom was identified.

"Offering my nearly new baby for sale, as it has gotten too loud. It is a male baby, nearly 28 inches (70 cm) long and can be used either in a baby carrier or a stroller," police quoted the ad as reading.

No offers were made for the child in the two hours and 30 minutes the ad was posted on Tuesday. EBay later deleted the posting, but assisted police in tracking down the parents.

Several people who saw the ad alerted police.

Comments

[Checquoline]

Maybe it wasn't a joke. Maybe the price was a joke and as the bidding went up she might have got a good amount for him. I mean what was she going to do if someone bid? You are not supposed to retract offers are you?

[wedgie]

Joke.

**

[hmmmmmer]

Really, face facts, a fresh baby would fetch a lot more than $1.57, the parents really didn't know what they were doing.

[Virago55]

Hims is so cute!! I would have bought him. My kids don't seem to want to have any grandchildren for me so that cute litle guy would have worked. Just kidding. I think the young parents probably had too much dark German beer and little Wolfgang was a buzz killer and being fussy so they thought it would be funny to post him on Ebay or should I say Ebaby?

[timothe]

Yet another unintended consequence of a nanny state.

[loril]

Tasteless? Yes. And I can't believe they actually took the time to create the listing on Ebay.

But your mind is very fuzzy when you don't get more than 4 hours sleep at a stretch. Sometimes it affects your ability to think straight. I remember the first year of chronic sleep deprivation quite well. I have a friend who was in the same sleep-deprived state at the time. We would often call one another and talk about the flaky stuff we would do because we were always exhausted.

Looking back, I cannot believe I made it that long without real sleep!

I am sure this dumb stunt can be traced to simple exhaustion and nothing more. And i hope the child does not hear about this when he is young. Children take everything extremely literally and he may well believe that his parents did, in fact, want to sell him. I am sarcastic by nature and I have had to tone it way down because my daughter is too young to understand humor like this and would take the comments very personally.

[drblack]

It is a sick joke, but it had to be a joke because they would have asked for more money had it been serious.
I do hope the authorities don't make too big a deal over this sick joke because it could cause lots of trouble for the child in future.Parents with criminal records and such infamy may have a harder time with jobs and housing etc if any formal charges are made.
I hope they were at least drunk when they posted this. It wouldn't excuse it but it would explain the extremely poor judgment.
These parents should have known better then to make such a disturbing joke about something so sad and nasty.

[watchingthings]

From now on mommy will confine her jokes to her "hen parties" and family get togethers.

[nopartygal]

It was just a dumb joke, people. Sheeesh! Get a grip!

[shotgunjohnny]

my max bid was $1.56 and not a penny more. what a loss.

[sklfcats]

Who hasn't wanted to sell their kids?

[sandiegoconservative]

I have not considered it.

[AlexVonHussein]

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/leserreporter/2008/05/25/baby-bei-ebay/versteigert.html

Here is the link, to the pics of the mom and the Ebay offer

[greenguy666]

I love this - "can be used either in a baby carrier or a stroller"

[loki]

Maybe they should have made this modest proposal a $1.57 a pound in honor of Jonathan Swift.

[loki]

I joked about putting my kids on Ebay when they wont behave. But I would never actually do it.