Hell buys soul after auction abandoned

Website TradeMe pulled the auction of a Wanganui man's soul after a record number of complaints, but the controversial item ended up by being bought by Hell Pizza.

The pizza company paid $5001 for Walter Scott's soul after the auction was withdrawn because of a raft of complaints it was in bad taste.

The 24-year-old said he had been thinking about selling his soul for ages.

"I can't see it, touch it or feel it, but I can sell it, so I'm going to palm it off to the highest bidder."

The auction attracted more than 32,000 hits and over 100 bids before it was taken down.

TradeMe business manager Michael O'Donnell said the company had received an "overwhelming number of complaints from the TradeMe community".

"A lot of people felt it was offensive even though we thought it was there for good fun," he said.

Hell Pizza head of marketing Rachael Allison said the company contacted Scott shortly after the auction was removed and offered him $5001.

"The soul belongs to Hell, there is simply no better place for it," Ms Allison said.

Hell will hand over the money to Mr Scott in Wanganui today and they will receive a contract outlining details of the ownership and a signed certificate.

"If a person's game enough to sell their soul then it deserves a good home," Ms Allison said.

The deed would be hung on a wall at the company's headquarters in Auckland and an image of it posted on the company's website.

"We'd love to get his soul in the virtual world -- to keep it immortal," she said.