The account given was fairly blunt. Zoe Pemberton described her grandmother as "annoying and moaning a lot", although also that she was "very cuddly and loves word searches" amongst the long list of information including her nan's height, favourite food and drink.

"I didn't know how much we'd get for her, maybe 99p."

The negative aspects of the description don't seem to have put off eBay's bidders. At last count the top bid for Marion Goodall was £20,541.

Zoe seems to have decided to sell on a whim after deciding that her one of a kind collectible was not in best condition. Or in her own words: "She was annoying me. She was moaning at me. I was on the laptop and suddenly thought I'd put her on eBay."

Mrs Goodall is recovering from a knee injury, which explains some of this. The bids were accompanied by a number of sensible enquiries as to whether she came with a guarantee, suggesting that some experienced nan collectors were involved.

Unfortunately eBay stepped in before the sale was concluded. Human beings are not accepted as items for auction. This is unfortunate, given that Pemberton was getting such generous bids.

Or perhaps they weren't that generous. No less an authority than Mrs Goodall herself has confirmed that she is "worth millions".

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