Can I sell dead seahorses on Trade Me?

Trade Me is a wonderful place to sell the weird and wacky.

We’ve helped sell a haunted washing machine, Tana Umaga’s handbag, David Beckham’s corncob and even a meet and greet with Elton John.

One of the weirdest auctions that never actually ran was a dead seahorse.

A member contacted us saying she’d found a dead seahorse on the beach during her morning walk and asked if she could sell it.

That was a curly one so we contacted the Ministry of Primary Industries and asked what the deal was.

The advice went something like this:

“You’d need a permit to sell a sea horse and we’ve never issued a permit for one so it can’t be sold”.

So that was that - you can’t sell a dead seahorse on Trade Me, or a living one for that matter.

If you ever have a random item you wish to sell on Trade Me you might first want to check out what we call the Banned & Restricted Items list which covers some of the things you can’t sell on Trade Me.

The list has a few things that are banned outright. For example, no fireworks, body parts or menacing dogs can be sold.

Taonga tuturu (cultural objects) may only be sold to registered collectors, hang gliders must have a warrant of fitness, underwear must be washed thoroughly before sale and you can’t sell whales.

Or dolphins. Yes, someone once listed one…

These rules are in place either because that’s the law or we’ve felt that’s just the way it should be.

The banned and restricted list is not the full list and we totally reserve the right to determine what items are or are not allowed to be listed on our site, at any time.

So if you’re ever thinking of listing something random it pays to check this list.

Or, if you want to find something wacky like a motorised drinking couch, you could always check out our Cool Auctions page.