An Australian heartbroken man who decided to put his life on sale on the Internet was bewildered to see that bids to buy his existence had reached about $2 million, while he thought it was only worth a quarter of that sum.

Ian Usher, who emigrated from England to Australia six years ago, first auctioned his life on eBay in March, announcing the buyer would get his A$420,000 three-bedroom house in Perth, Western Australia, his job at a rug store, his car, motorbike, clothes and even his friends.

“I have had enough of my life!” the announcement on Usher’s website said. “I don’t want it anymore! You can have it if you like!” were the encouragements with which he invited people to help him start a new life.

The 44-year-old man took this strange decision following the break-up of his five-year marriage and 12-year relationship with his wife Laura, with whom he had built the house. He said his house and his old life-style reminded him too much of the past and he intended to leave far away, with only his clothes on, a wallet in one pocket and his passport in the other.

Usher hoped to raise about A$500,000 and start a new life using that amount of money, but he was shocked to see that from the very first day of the auction, bids jumped to A$2.2 million. Fortunately, Usher knew perfectly well what his life was worth, and couldn’t be fooled. He quickly realized that eBay allowed offers from non-registered bidders with too much free time on their hands. So he pulled all bids back and now the price is back to about A$155,000, Usher explained in an e-mail he sent to Reuters.

According to Reuters, a spokeswoman for eBay, Sian Kennedy, said it was Usher’s responsibility to check whether the bidders were fake and that he could delete the buyers he thought were hoaxes.