Schoolboy seeks belle for the ball - on Trade Me

Dateless, yes. Desperate, maybe. About to make a fast buck - highly likely.

An enterprising Auckland Grammar School pupil is looking for a girl who will pay to go with him to his school ball.

He bought one of the highly sought double passes for $150, and now he's auctioning off one-half of it for a minimum of $500.

As usual, tickets are as scarce as hen's teeth this year - they sold out almost immediately.

So, if there's a nice young (rich) woman out there disappointed not to have been invited to the biggest ball of all, she can always try Trade Me.

Matt54 proudly states: "This auction is for the winning bidder to attend the best ball of the year - the Auckland Grammar School ball.

"A once in a lifetime opportunity if you missed out, this auction is for my other half and includes the after ball also. The winner must be self sufficient, have a good sense of humour and be the age of 17 or 18."

It is presumed Matt54 is after a female. Sure, she'll be on a blind date and will have paid a fortune by the time she buys a dress and dolls herself up, but once she's in, she's in.

Grammar school principal John Morris accepted the pupil was showing a certain degree of entrepreneurial flair, but he said the practice of selling the tickets on the open market was not something the school would encourage. Disciplinary action was unlikely because it would be hard to identify the boy responsible, plus the boy's behaviour was "not in that realm".

The school had better things to worry about.

"How they pick their girlfriends is up to them. It's interesting but I think it's way over the top."

One thousand tickets had been sold, and many disappointed students had missed out, Mr Morris said.

The ball was taking place on July 29 at Sky City.