A fake Trade Me auction encourages people to make a 'donation' to the National Party in return for influence on the party list.

A cheeky Trade Me auction poking fun at National Party leader Simon Bridge's expense has been taken down.

The fake auction claimed to offer a chance to buy influence over the National Party's list MP selection process, following on from a leaked phone recording between Bridges and rogue National MP Jami-Lee Ross about a $100,000 donation.

The mysterious auction by TradeMe member Finnws noted that "for a small 'donation,' you can choose a new member of the National party".

"All proceeds will go to Simon Bridges who will quietly distribute the money as he sees fit."

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In the phone conversation, Bridges appears to discuss the virtue of bringing in more Chinese candidates, and how the donation by a wealthy Chinese benefactor should be disclosed.

Much of the humour of the Trade Me auction lay in the question and answer section. One member whether the auction was "exclusive to Chinese nationals?"

"I am Indian and am worried I am not eligible to bid," the would-be bidder said, in reference to a comment by Bridges about the value of Chinese versus Indian list MPs.

"I'd prefer Chinese but Simon always says cash is king," was the tongue-in-cheek reply.

"Can I pay as a lump sum?" asked another.

"Cash, yes. Bank deposits would be better to split the payments up, for administration reasons," the "seller" said.

JOHN COWPLAND/STUFF National Party leader Simon Bridges has been caught by an embarrassing phone recording.

Another member asked if there were any plans for more listings.

"Leader of the party is something we are currently reviewing," was the answer.

The fake auction garnered more than 7000 views before it was taken down by Trade Me after only a few hours.

But Trade Me spokeswoman Millie Sylvester said there had been no political interference involved - it was because the auction didn't meet Trade Me's terms and conditions, that an actual physical item needs to be on sale.

"Unfortunately, the wording of the listing was a little rough," she said.

Trade Me's trust team also moderated questions and answers in case any were offensive, but did not always taken down listings, some of which have been very witty.

Earlier this year a piece of sandpaper auctioned off after an infamous cricket ball tampering incident between Australia and South Africa.