When an Oxfordshire woman uploaded onto eBay her yellow skater dress, from online retailer Asos, she really wasn’t paying very much attention to the photograph that she was using. And when she took the photograph, it seems, she really wasn’t paying very much attention to the fact that she was in the middle of getting dressed. Or, rather, she was right at the start of getting dressed, in the sense that she was only wearing a bra and hadn’t quite got round to putting her knickers on.

Obviously, being naked behind the camera lens isn’t normally a problem. It is, however, if you’re caught in the reflection of a mirror… which is also in the photograph… which you then upload onto the world’s most popular online auction site, eBay. Somehow, the site user, who goes by the screen name music-media2012, didn’t notice her own naked body in the snap before unveiling the auction on the site. It wasn’t long before the picture went viral; it found its way onto Facebook and Twitter and eventually she became aware of her unfortunate mistake. Sadly for her, so had rather a lot of complete strangers.

She replaced the photo with another one, captured by New York Daily News. You can still see her reflection, but this time, thankfully, she had put a parka on and there was mercifully little flesh on display. Of course, it didn’t take long for the pranksters to kick in; an identical listing was soon created, with the description “MUST HAVE. As already seen by millions. Never worn naked. Needs a good home. Also includes copies of FHM together with limited edition calender.”