How much is your life worth?

I know. Deep subject for a Monday morning. But still, think about it. If you placed a value on your life, where would you draw the line and say, “That’s the number I had in mind!”

Well, a Canberra, Australia man is selling his life. Really, he is. He’s selling it online, where else?

Ian Usher, 44, announced in March that he was auctioning his life on eBay with the package including his three-bedroom house in Perth, Western Australia, a trial for his job at a rug store, his car, motorbike, clothes and even friends. His decision to sell his life followed the break-up of his five-year marriage and 12-year relationship with Laura with whom he had built the house.

Usher said he hoped to raise up to $475,000 to create a new life for himself but on the first day of the week-long auction, bids skyrocketed to $2.1 million. But Usher knew his life was not worth that and was quick to realize there was a glitch in the system with auction Web site eBay allowing offers from non-registered bidders which took a day to sort out.

Usher said, “Apologies to all, but I guess there are a lot of bored idiots out there. Anyway after a long day on the computer, I have decided to pull all bids back as far as the first registered bidder, and the price is back to $147,000 as I write this ... we are back in the land of common sense and reality, so it’s over to you.” After 21 bids the amount had risen to $233,000.

A spokeswoman for eBay, Sian Kennedy, said Usher had to verify all the bidders before the auction to check they were genuine buyers and he could delete any he believed were hoaxes. She said this was his responsibility as the bids were not binding. Usher’s life has come under the real estate section on eBay as his house is the main asset in the sale. The real estate category on eBay is a non-binding section because of the real estate laws in Australia. You need a special license to sell real estate.

Usher isn’t the first person to put his life up for sale but could be the first to offer it in this package. Australian philosophy student Nicael Holt, 24, offered his life to the highest bidder last year in a protest about mass consumerism. American John Freyer started this trend in in 2001 and sold everything he owned on eBay, later visiting the people who bought his things. Adam Burtle, a 20-year-old US university student, offered his soul for sale on eBay in 2001, with bidding hitting $400 before eBay called it off, saying there had to be something tangible to sell. Burtle later admitted he was a bored geek.

Usher’s auction was scheduled to close at noon yesterday. I haven’t checked to see how much his life actually sold for.

So, how much is life worth? How much is your life worth?

I don’t know a dollar figure, but this I do know, my life is so valuable that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to earth, to die on a cross, for my sins and rebellion against Him.

As the MasterCard commercial goes: Priceless!