Brasenose College, Oxford for sale on eBay in student prank
Howard Lake | 1 March 2005 | News
Charities generate funds by selling items on eBay, but it makes sense periodically to check that your own organisation’s time isn’t being misused in the online marketplace. Brasenose College, Oxford recently found out that it was the subject of just such a student prank.
Brasenose College, Oxford, last week attracted bids of £10 million – plus £20 postage costs – when it was auctioned online at eBay. Of course, the auction was a prank, by a student at neighbouring Lincoln College. It was shut down at the request of university authorities, but not before it had attracted 60 bids.
On offer, in addition to the college buildings which were, of course, “a used item (since 1509)”, were “510 students… generally quite worn condition, though a few star buys”.
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Brasenose’s bursar thought the auction “light-hearted”, but the student, David Green, has been fined £50 by Lincoln College for bringing the college’s name into disrepute.
Brasenose is not the only victim of such a prank. The University of Exeter suffered the same fate in November 2004.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.