Sailor Sam was one of the top listings on Trade Me for the Bay of Plenty in 2020. Photo / Supplied
Sailor Sam was one of the top listings on Trade Me for the Bay of Plenty in 2020. Photo / Supplied
From a 6m dragon to a taxidermied sailor rat, and even a Nintendo Switch: the Bay's top Trade Me Marketplace listings of 2020 were inspired by the weird and wonderful.
The auction site has released its top five most viewed listings of the year in the Bay of Plenty. Topping the list was a $3500 dragon, better known as "Drogon".
Drogon is ready to spread his wings. Photo / Supplied
The listing states the long, stroppy teenage dragon is house-trained and well behaved but desperately wanting to spread his wings and fly the coop - and is also a bit of a show pony who loves crowds.
"Enjoys small children and sheep, stray cats and baby bunnies are definitely his preference, with a pinch of salt and some smoky herbs."
Drogon also enjoys watching "Big Bang Theory", "A Knight's Tale", "How to Train A Dragon" and anything with Emilia Clarke in, its current owner stated.
Drogon the dragon was the top listing from the Bay of Plenty. Photo / Supplied
The Tauranga listing was the most viewed in the region last year with 27,491 views.
Coming in second was "Sailor Sam", a taxidermied rat complete with oars, hat and scarf.
Sailor Sam's flatmate Betty the Cat had too much hatred for the taxidermied rat. Photo / Supplied
Third, with 15,109 views, was a multi-door fridge freezer, wrapped with a design made specifically by the New Zealand artist Dick Frizzell.
The Incubator Creative Hub Charitable Trust were the owners of the fridge and they believed only 10 were made.
They stated with artwork valued at $10,000 it was worth "much more" than its retail price of $3000.
The Incubator's collector fridge. Photo / Supplied
The top five viewed listings were rounded out by a Rotorua Giant Reign mountain bike with more than 8000 views and a gaming console Nintendo Switch with 7721 views.
Spokeswoman Millie Silvester said wider events and current news were often reflected in Trade Me's top auctions and last year was no exception.
"Obviously, much of 2020 was dominated by Covid-19 and so were our top auctions, with all five of our most popular listings of the year related to the pandemic in some way."
Silvester said a Covid-free bag of air took out the top spot nationally with 210,086 views.
Covid-free air was one of the top national listings on Trade Me last year. Photo / Supplied
After five days onsite, Silvester said Trade Me contacted the seller and together they made the decision to withdraw the listing.
"Our team was actively monitoring the listing and when it became apparent that some bidders were not genuine, we made the call to remove it from our site. At the time we removed the auction, the leading bid was $101,200."
In second place was a "leprechaun turd" found by a Christchurch father and son on a walk during level 4 lockdown.
"The charming listing description was written in the words of 8-year-old Pacey and told the tale of how he found the rock and came to list it onsite. It was an instant hit, fetching 157,275 views and selling for $274."
The "leprechaun turd" found by a father and son. Photo / Supplied
Taking out the third most-viewed spot was Dan Carter's test jersey, listed to support his local rugby club Southbridge after Covid brought the season to a halt.
The listing reached 129,357 views and sold for $21,300.
Silvester said both the fourth and fifth most popular auctions featured director general of health Ashley Bloomfield.
A superhero-themed sketch of Bloomfield and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern by Auckland artist Jason Hoyt took out fourth place, receiving 105,744 views and selling for $6350.
In fifth place, a Cancer Society fundraiser auction gave the top bidder a chance to have lunch with Bloomfield at Parliament.
