STATEWIDE (WGME) -- Have you ever thought about selling your body? We're not talking about on a street corner or anything else that will land you behind bars. We're talking about using your natural assets to bulk up your bank account. In a tough economy more people are doing it.

But as News13's Katherine Underwood tells us, it's not all about the dollar signs. The gift of family, Liza Clark-Carbone already has it, and wants to give other people a chance at the same happiness.

Carbone is going through the application process to donate her eggs.

Liza Clark-Carbone/potential egg donor: “There are a lot of people how can you do that knowing you have a child genetically speaking out there that you know nothing about when you do think of it that way it gives you that jeezum can I do this?” But Carbone has no doubts about donation.

Carbone has it in her heart, and when we spoke with her, didn't even know exactly how much money donors get paid.

Doctor Benjamin Lannon, Boston IVF: “People initially think of it ten thousand dollars for my eggs hey that sound like easy money.” But fertility specialist Dr. Benjamin Lannon says egg donation is *not an easy process.

Lannon: “It's really just compensation for time they're putting into it” Carbone has spent weeks just filling out paperwork, applications that delve into three generations of family medical history.  If accepted, she'll go through a few weeks of hormone therapy, and then a procedure to retrieve the eggs.

For many men, those dollars signs could equal about a thousand dollars a month for their sperm.

Scott Brown, California Cryobank: “I think there is a financial motivation to explore possibility of a sperm donor.” California Cryobank is the largest sperm bank in the world.
Spokesman Scott Brown acknowledges that hard times have certainly been good for business, “certainly a couple years ago when the economy was really poor I think we got significant increase.”  But brown says, like egg donation, the long application process usually weeds out people who are just in it for the cash.

So while a down economy has upped the interest in egg and sperm donation - people who follow through with it say, your body isn't a business, it's a blessing.

There is also a growing market online for breast milk. Onlythebreast.com has been called a "Craigslist for breast milk" where nursing mothers can get paid up to $3.50 per ounce. But like sperm and egg donation,  it doesn't come without consequence, lactation specialists say there are risks of dilution and disease when buying or selling on an unregulated site.

So while "selling your body" can be legal, make sure you're in it for the right reasons, because the moral battle is yours to fight. SPECIAL REPORT: Selling your body legally