The most popular Trade Me auctions of 2016

• Millions of items sold on Trade Me during 2016 including Hatchimals, heaters, New World’s little garden stuff, creepy clown costumes and fans but it was a quirky handful of listings that ended up taking out the most viewed auctions of the year

• We’re constantly amazed at the endless creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of our members – sometimes they hit a nerve with the public and make the ordinary extraordinary

• Some auctions just have a certain something; they capture the imaginations of our members (and often people around the world) because they’re weird, controversial, often borderline in taste terms, and because the seller does a great job with their description and brings a healthy dose of humour to the Q&A.

• These sellers don’t take themselves too seriously and they’re good at getting a bit of publicity

• It certainly doesn’t hurt if they get some media attention too

• Our number 1 spot this year goes to a the tattoo canvas that went around the world. Wellington woman Bailey put up a cheeky auction for a 9x9cm tattoo on her backside. Her bum auction went global with coverage in the Sun, Daily Mail and Mirror and clocked up over 153,000 views and thousands of watch-listers. It was weird, a little bit cheeky and the bottom line is Bailey was great with the Q&A and at drumming up a bit of publicity for her auction. This meant she got $6500, paid down her debts and is apparently off to Miami to get a rainbow tattoo in January.

• Another controversial auction that made the list this year was member Claire’s taxidermy cat. The feral cat was in Claire’s freezer for a long time before she fashioned it into a handbag that set tongues wagging around the world and clocked up over 160 complaints. We understand that some people find this sort of thing a bit gross or in poor taste, but we allow taxidermy items to be sold on Trade Me and the seller assured us this cat was not killed for the bag and that she had the right to own the cat. On the other side of the coin lots of people thought it was cool and interesting and it found a new home with a very keen buyer.

• Unusual produce was a theme of 2016 with a phallic aubergine and a potato in the shape of a bottom collecting an enormous number of views and interest

• One of the other big stories of the year of course was the crusade of Tribal Huk leader Jamie Pink against P in Ngaruawahia. Jamie put his sledgehammer onsite but with a starting price of $5200 it failed to fire up our members and didn’t sell.

• In our honourable mentions this year there are some auctions that didn’t quite have the broad appeal of the top ten but struck a chord with us and our members all the same. They include a signed picture of the world’s most talked about man, Donald Trump, a very unusual nude carpet portrait of former Prime Minister John Key, a fertility-enhancing desk chair and former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon’s rail pass.

The top 10 most viewed items on Trade Me this year:

Trade Me’s honourable mentions

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