A Melbourne man has posted an advertisement for a haunted chair on eBay. Andre Williams from Croydon in Melbourne picked up the wicker chair from hard rubbish two years ago and is hoping to sell it for $666.In the eBay advertisement, he describes the chair as a 'Vintage 1900s cane chair haunted by [a] poltergeist'. A chair that is 'haunted by a poltergeist' has been advertised for sale on eBay by a Melbourne seller 'After a week of having it in the house, I heard some crying during the night (I thought I was dreaming),' he writes in the item description. 'Then in the morning I noticed that the chair was on its side. I didn't connect the dots until it happened several times over two years. 'Sometimes there is laughing accompanied by tapping noises… the chair is always in a different spot afterwards (moves up to three metres) leaving shallow dent marks across the floor.'The advertisement also said the chair had 'severe scratch marks' on the arms 'like someone has been aggressively dragging their fingernails'.
Mr Williams wrote that some repair work had been done on the piece, but it was not fully restored because he was 'too afraid to touch the chair'. The seller wrote on the item description that he frequently found the chair on its side after hearing crying and tapping Bidding for the chair starts at $25 and the buy-it-now price is $666 'I would be glad to get rid of it and pass it on to someone who has had experience with this kind of thing. The opening bid for the chair is set at $25, though a keen purchaser can buy it now for $666.As yet there have been no bids placed on the item, but 16 people are watching it and the advertisement gets more than 100 views a day.Mr Williams, who is an artist, told Daily Mail Australia that the advertisement 'was meant to be a bit of theatre’.'People get so caught up in [supernatural things] that they want to make it true, they believe what they want to believe. It was a bit of experiment in human behaviour and human psychology,’ he said.
Mr Williams says that if the chair does not sell he will reinvent the chair as something else and list it again.'That could be fun, the changing personality of this chair.’From sold-out gadgets to discarded cheese sandwiches, there's nothing that can't be found on eBay. And as the UK website celebrates its 15th birthday, three savvy sellers have spoken of how it made them millionaires. Mark Radcliffe, Anthony Ponsford and Alison Abruneiras are among the thousands of British eBay millionaires who made their fortunes trading on the site. Scroll down for video Mark Radcliffe was the first British eBay millionaire after setting up First2Save in 1999 from his parents' garden shed Alison Abruneiras and Anthony Ponsford have also made more than £1million by trading with independent retailers online Selling coveted goods at fixed prices, the entrepreneurs are among millions of online stores which transformed the site from an auctioneers to a virtual marketplace. The first Brit to make £1million from eBay sales was Mark Radcliffe, a former Tesco shelf-stacker from Stockport, Manchester.
The 35-year-old put aside £200 from his wages to launch First2Save - a one stop eBay shop for mobile phones and technological accessories. Fifteen years after starting the business from his parents' garden shed, the businessman said he owes everything to the website. 'I could have continued working at Tesco and become a manager but it would not have stretched me. 'I still have to pinch myself - it's a dream come true,' he told the Sun. Speaking on the 10th anniversary of his company's launch, Mr Radcliffe said anyone was capable of accomplishing what he had with the right knowledge and skills. 'I couldn't have got where I am today without the right people to help. Also being aware of the latest technology has always been important,''First2save has come a long way in ten years and it's astonishing what we've managed to achieve. Mrs Abruneiras, who has three children, left school with no qualifications. Her daughter Coralia (left) now works for the eBay shop, while she runs a tapas restaurant with her husband Amador (right) next to their home
Piranha Trading Limited warehouse is inspected after being set up by Anthony Ponsford and his partner 'The internet means that virtually anyone can succeed in business from a low start-up point. All it takes is a lot of hard work and determination.'Anthony Ponsford abandoned his job as a city lawyer to start his wheeler-dealer business, Piranha Trading Limited. Among items on sale are camera memory cards, bric-a-brac desks and pet furniture from China. The 44-year-old of Shepperton, London, describes himself as the real-life Del Boy. 'I often joke to people that I've basically set up an online version of Trotter's Independent Traders,' he said. 'It started out, as many things do, as a very small enterprise turning over a very marginal profit for quite some time.'I have to admit my heart sank when the bottom fell out of the market during the recession.'When Lehman Brothers collapsed and the value of the pound dropped 40 per cent against the dollar I was fully expecting the business to fold.'But weirdly
, I think it actually helped in a way, because people were still looking to buy things like computer desks and office furniture but were now after more of a bargain.'Where people previously went to John Lewis, they turned to the internet. And because we don't have any retail premises or massive overheads it worked in our favour.' Alison Abruneiras, a mother-of-three from Lincoln, started using eBay to distract herself from the fact she had cancer. After having to stop work as a nail technician when she was diagnosed with the disease, the 46-year-old became addicted to the online retailer and decided to launch her own shop.Six years after the Nail and Beauty Emporium was started, it now trades with buyers all over the world. At Christmas 2013, 14 gifts were bought on eBay each secondA pair of shoes sells every 10 seconds, a handbag every 23 seconds and a tablet every two minutes9pm is the peak time for shoppers searching for iPads and tabletsMore than 200,000 businesses large and small sell on eBay in the UKClose to £70 million has been raised through eBay for Charity
, raising funds for thousands of charities across the UK Margaret Thatcher's handbag sold on eBay for £103,000Princess Beatrice’s royal wedding hat fetched more than £80,000 on eBay with proceeds going to Unicef and Children in CrisisJustin Timberlake's half-eaten French toast sold for $3,154 in 2006 Justin Bieber's silver space suit, worn at the Superbowl, sold for $5,000 An auction for J.D. Sallinger's 'uncleaned' toilet was opened in 2011 with a starting price of $1million An auction for JD Sallinger's toilet was opened in 2010 with an asking price of $1million The Philip Treacy creation sold for more than £80,000 which was donated to charity after the sale A German heavy metal CD is first item sold for £2.89 The value of sales on eBay.co.uk in 2008 exceeds the GDP of 68 countries For the first time 'Buy It Now!' listings hit 40% of overall listings on eBay in the UK There are 10million live listings at any one time and 15 million monthly visitors The UK site's 10th birthday is
marked with 123,000 British businesses trading on the site 170 of the 123,000 British businesses trading make £1m a year turnoverMore Brits now shop through the eBay mobile app than any other country in Europe Five pairs of jeans, 19 pairs of shoes, 18 t-shirts and four handbags are bought every minute in the site in the UK Mobile accounts for 10% of all purchases on eBay.co.uk by 2011eBay announces its first ever partnership with the British Fashion Council.eBay and Argos launch a Click & Collect trial with 50 eBay retailers and Argos stores nationwide.eBay.co.uk celebrates 15 years in the UK – and three billion sales worth £65billion ‘Looking back, It’s incredible to think that this all started at my computer in my bedroom,' she said earlier this year. ‘It has been really hard work but I’d like to show other people that it can be done - if I can do it, anyone can. eBay founder Pierre Omidyar launched the website in America in 1995‘Anyone can earn money. You don’t have to have an education, I don’t have a GCSE to my name.’
Among others who have maid their fortunes is Warren Blayds, who sells baby clothes, and Matt and Amanda Jackson - a couple who have made their money telling others how to get rich. The Jacksons, who now trade in Australia too, sell instructive business books and DVDs at their online shop, BiddingBuzz, telling people how to bid properly on the site.A spokesman for eBay said the website had changed with global shopping trends and demands over the past 15 years. 'Shoppers’ expectations have changed dramatically in recent years. 'The UK will spend an unprecedented £45 billion shopping online this year and the evolution of eBay over the past 15 years is a good illustration of how retail in Britain has been transformed,' said Tanya Lawler, Vice President, eBay in the UK. Ebay was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar in California. The website, known then as Auction Web, changed its name and was quickly picked up by countries all over the world. Today, ebay.co.uk has more than 19million monthly users, and has traded £65billion worth of goods since its launch in 1999.