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German Couple Offer Baby for Sale on the Internet

DW staff (ncy)May 24, 2008

Authorities in Germany placed a seven-month-old baby in care after their parents offered to sell it on the Internet auction site eBay for one euro ($1.55), police said.

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The German authorities took the ad on eBayImage: AP

Internet users alerted police who called at the couple's home in the Bavarian district of Unterallgaeu, on Friday, May 23, where the child's 23-year-old mother claimed the idea was just a prank.


But police thought differently and launched a criminal investigation into the couple on suspicion of trading in children.

Local authorities were looking after the baby, which police said was in good health.


"Too loud"

"Offer my nearly new baby for sale, because it's gotten too loud for me. It is a male baby, a good 70 cm tall. It can be used in a sling or a pram," read the ad, which included a picture of the child on Tuesday.

EBay deleted the offer two and a half hours after it went online. No bids had been made on the baby by then.

The mother will undergo a psychological appraisal, according to mass-circulation newspaper Bild before a decision is made as to whether she may have her child back.