Man lists new ‘upside down’ £5 note on eBay, users bid £65,000

A man who jokingly listed a new £5 note on eBay that was “printed upside down” received bids of more than £65,000.

Web users went mad for the £5 note - which is just the same as every other new plastic note, introduced earlier this year.

Mike Harris, 54, jokingly listed it as being unique because it was “printed upside down”, and for some reason the bids kept coming in.

Upside down means big money (Picture: Caters)

The value of the joke note was eventually driven up to £65,551.

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The former naval officer said he watched bidders pay high prices for new £5 notes that had rare bar codes, so decided to have a bit of fun.

The bidding went to £8,000 in three days (Picture: Caters)

He turned his note upside down and took a photo of it, then made the posting on eBay.

Although it was meant to be a joke, the item soon attracted attention, reaching almost £8,000 in three days.

The note was “verified” for authenticity by the fictional “Department of Upside-down Printed English Denominations (DUPED)”.

Mike Harris with his joke fiver (Picture: Caters)

But bidders kept driving the price up, either to get in on the joke or because they thought the note was real.

Mr Harris, from Cwmbran, Wales, said: “It was meant as a joke but some people are taking it quite seriously.

“Some have been calling me a legend and seeing the funny side but others are getting quite annoyed about it.

“Some of the bids are not serious - you can see they are from quite new accounts and probably not real.

“But a bid that took it to £7,945, for example, is from a credible account, someone who obviously willing to pay for it.

“It got reposted on social media and started causing quite a stir, so I went on there and said I would donate any money it made to the charity of the winning bidder’s choosing - and the original £5 too.”

“I thought surely the public can’t be that gullible. It’s quite clear in the description that it’s a joke but I’ve had people asking me all sorts of serious questions.

“Anyone who falls for it really shouldn’t be allowed an eBay account.”

The listing was later removed by eBay for “security” reasons.

(Main picture: Caters)