Man Lists His Wife for Sale on Brazilian eBay for $50

By Anastacia Mott Austin

A man identified as Breno Bonin has been asked to remove an ad for the Brazilian equivalent of eBay, Mercado Livre, in which he lists his wife Neuza for sale for 200 reais, or approximately $50 U.S.

Mercado Livre, which is partially owned by eBay Inc., follows the same protocol for internet sales as does eBay: no sales of "human organs, people, blood, bones, or skin."

Brazzil Magazine writer Elma Lia Nascimento reports that Bonin had listed in his post that he was selling his wife, "in almost mint condition. Very good in bed, great in the kitchen, cleans the house like a pro, she never had children, doesn’t have a problem with sex and hasn’t reached menopause and is 35 years old."

The listing also included his reasons for doing so: "I sell my wife for reasons I prefer to keep short – I really need the money." He added that he would like to buy his wife back from the winning bidder once his financial situation improves.

Nascimento reports that a search of Google reveals a man with the same name and almost identical ad tried to post a sale of his wife in July of 2005 on the Mercado Livre site.

Brazil’s government authorities appealed to Conar, a regulatory council for advertising in that country, to file charges against Mercado Livre for allowing the ad to be posted. Although it has been removed from the site, officials for Mercado Livre issued a press release to the Estado news agency stating that they are always trying to keep abreast of offensive and inappropriate postings and remove them as soon as they become aware of them. Due to the high volume of ad content on their site, Mercado Livre said that it is not always possible to detect these types of ads before they are posted to the wider public.

The Secretariat of Public Policies for Women, Nilcea Freire, told reporters, "The ad goes counter [to] the ethic of our society." She added that the listing was offensive to women, and only serves to perpetuate the concept of women as material objects.

There was no information available as to whether Bonin had received any bids for his wife.