The French eBay website has been accused of discrimination after it stated that a competition prize could only be won by a heterosexual couple.

The auction website is offering two people the chance to live rent-free in a 50m² central Paris apartment for a year to celebrate its tenth anniversary in France.

The winners will be given 8,000 Euros and ten weeks to kit out the unfurnished flat with items from eBay.

However, the rules state: “The game is open to any couple composed of a male adult and a female adult.”

Gay website Citegay said: “It is as if eBay does not want to associate itself with gay men or women.”

eBay said in a statement to Le Post: “We are looking for people who are representative of the range of products sold on eBay.

“We apologise if the gay community feels left out, but we have done nothing wrong.

“We did not draw up the rules thinking ‘absolutely no homosexuals’; Sexuality never entered into our thinking.

“We have quite a large vision of what counts as a couple: a mother and son could count. The only constraint is that the apartment only has one bedroom.”