Sold on eBay for $399k: One life

Australian resident Ian Usher, 44, sold everything he owned on eBay for a little more than AUD$399,000 in an online auction that ended Sunday.

After a painful failed marriage that lasted five years, Usher, originally from Darlington, England, decided to sell everything he owned -- including his job as a rug salesman, lifestyle, three-bedroom house, car, motorbike and friends -- walk out the door of his home in Perth, Australia, and never look back.

Although he's disappointed that he got less than the $500,000 he was hoping for, Usher said he's looking forward to starting a new phase of his life. He said he was unable to provide details about the winning bidder because of eBay privacy rules and because nothing has been finalized. However, he did say that the high bidder was from Australia.

"I'm a little bit disappointed, but I'm still excited. It's still enough to move forward and do what I said I was going to do, which is move on to the next part of my life," Usher said in a telephone interview today. "It was as much about moving on as it was about selling it for as much as I could get."

After all the legalities are completed, which should take two to four weeks, Usher said he will start traveling. His plans have changed a bit since he originally conceived of the idea to sell his life. Initially Usher said he was going to walk out of his house with just the clothes on his back, his wallet and his passport, head for the airport and board the next flight out.

"I was pretty aimless when I started this, and I had a vague notion of adventure, but I've come up with a much more solid plan, which is still very adventurous," he said.

And while he still plans on walking away from his previous life with just his wallet and his passport, he has a much clearer idea of where he's headed. Usher said that during the process of auctioning off his life, he realized that in order to get where he wanted to go, he needed to set some goals.

And that's where 100 goals in 100 weeks comes in, he said. Usher said that during the course of ALife4Sale, many people sent him e-mails offering their support and encouragement or asking for advice.

"Although some said the first thing I needed to do was get a life, 90% of the responses were positive," he said.

One person asked him if he had a "life list" of goals that he wanted to achieve. He realized he had written a list of things he wanted to accomplish several years earlier but had only accomplished a few of those goals.

So 100 goals in 100 weeks was born, the next step in his life's big adventure, he said.

"I started thinking, I've had all these different goals, but I really only ticked off two or three, so I've rewritten 100 goals that I want to accomplish in 100 weeks," he said. "The first one is to do what I said I'd do -- walk out the door. Then I want to travel to the U.S. and Canada, see the Great Wall of China, climb the Eiffel Tower, and learn to play the didgeridoo, an Australian aboriginal music instrument."

He also wants to get his private pilot's license, go to Los Angeles and see the Hollywood sign, visit the Grand Canyon and climb the Statue of Liberty.

The first thing he plans to do, though, is go to Ski Dubai, one of the largest indoor ski resorts in the world, located in the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest malls in the world. He also wants to bungee jump in New Zealand. He's inviting anyone who's interested in his adventures to join him.

"People want to know what happens to me," he said. "They are genuinely interested in what I'm doing, and that fascinates me, so I'm going to put a calendar of my adventures on the Web site, and anyone who wants to join me, say, bungee-jumping in New Zealand can do that."

One other thing Usher wants to do is shake hands with billionaire entrepreneur and adventurer Richard Branson.

"He's always been at bit of an inspiration to me -- his whole attitude, not just to business but to life as well," Usher said.