Trump-inspired domain name covfefe.co.nz being sold for charity

Samuel Chatwin is giving all the proceeds from the sale of the domain name covfefe.co.nz to charity. Photo / Supplied

Samuel Chatwin's phone hasn't stopped ringing since he was outed for purchasing the covfefe.co.nz domain name - so he has decided to do some good by it.

The Auckland wine salesman has decided to sell the Donald Trump-inspired domain name on Trade Me with the proceeds going to a charity that combats global warming.

The auction went live last night and as of lunchtime today had reached $20. It closes on 12 June at 12am.

Chatwin did not muck around buying covfefe.co.nz last Tuesday for just $22.99 after Trump's infamous tweet went viral.

The US president tweeted on May 31: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe". The puzzling tweet gained hundreds of thousands of tweets and re likes, while leaving people perplexed over what he meant by it.

It appears covfefe was a misspelt attempt of the word "coverage".

Chatwin, who finds memes quite entertaining, told the Herald he started laughing when he saw the tweet, so decided to jump on buying a domain name.

"It was literally just an impulse purchase for the hell of it. There was no reason for it. I just figured why not."

He had been undecided about whether to sell it, but after his phone was ringing off the hook yesterday he decided to donate the proceeds to a charity related to climate change.

"Just because Donald Trump backed out of the whole Paris accord, I thought it would be really poignant to highlight that to the public at large and do something about it. If everyone just chips in and does something about it, it's going to be really good for climate change... That's the main reason I threw it up for charity."

He was also issuing a challenged to Trump to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord or at least donate to a cause that combated global warming.

https://preview.trademe.co.nz/marketplace/computers/other/1340933093