KEY POINTS:
Trade me has pulled from sale a lock of hair purported to be from the head of Diana, Princess of Wales for breaching its rule against selling body parts.
The lock of hair was being sold encased in glass and accompanied by "certificates of authenticity" by an ex-priest living just south of Gore.
Bidding started at $300.
But complaints by Trade Me members saw the auction site pull the sale at about 4pm yesterday, stating that the hair was technically a body part and breached its rules.
The seller, Bruce Gotobed, 46, was frustrated at the site which has hosted more than 1000 of his sales. He told the Herald on Sunday he could see no difference between strands of Diana's hair and the human hair wigs sold on the site.
"Human hair is hardly a human body part."
But a Trade Me spokesman said the company had a firm line which prohibited sales of unprocessed body parts.
"If you allow hair, then it's fingernails, and where does it stop?"
The auction community's message board hosted comments from members who believed the sale was wrong. One regular, Lankylass, said it was wrong "trying to make money out of Princess Di's death".
According to letters of authentication, the lock of hair originally came from a poetry book given by Diana to a close friend.
