A student from the London School of Economics is following in the footsteps of a Nebraskan man by selling advertising space on his forehead on eBay, the auction website.

Travis Hayes, an American postgraduate student, hopes to raise £10,000 to fund a film he is making about the experience.

"The starting bid is for £5,000 but I hope to raise more," Mr Hayes told Times Online.

"I will use the money to do all the filming and also the post-production work and promotion. If there is any left over I will use it to pay my tuition fees."

When Times Online visited the eBay page selling the 30-day freehold to Mr Hayes’ brow there had been 260 visits but no bids.

Mr Hayes said he had received a number of enquiries but none that were "overtly serious".

Last week Andrew Fischer, 20, of Omaha, received $37,375 (£20,000) to have the logo for SnoreStop, American snoring remedy, placed on his forehead for 30 days.

In copying his compatriot, Mr Hayes is the second mover in the notoriously fickle internet market, but he remained confident of making the project a success.

"I don’t see this as a competitive endeavour but the opportunities for exposure in London are much greater than in Omaha.

"Everyday I will parade along a designated route through central London. I will pass along Tottenham Court Road, down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus, along Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus, then to Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden.

"I am also offering added value in the film and website as well."

Mr Hayes said there was no amount of money he would accept to make the tattoo permanent.

"I couldn’t bring myself to have a permanent tattoo on my forehead, not even for a £1 million," he said. "But I would consider having one on my bottom."

EBay has more than 115 million customers worldwide (10 million in the UK) and since its launch has been used to sell many unusual and sometimes controversial items.

In early 2004 a Dutchman sold a 50,000-year-old woolly mammoth for £61,000 after deciding he no longer had the space to keep the 250,000kg relic. And the football used by David Beckham when he missed his penalty in England's quarter-final against Portugal at Euro 2004 recently sold for £18,700.

More controversially, Rosie Reid, a lesbian student at the University of Bristol, used eBay to auction her virginity to pay for her tuition fees. She reportedly received £8,400 from a BT engineer.

Last year eBay earned $778.2 million (£417 million) on sales of $3.27 billion. (£1.74 billion.)

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