Sydney, Feb 4 (IANS): A seven-year-old British boy nearly bought a real-life Harrier fighter jet for $113,515 via online shopping.

The boy hit the "buy it now" button to purchase the fighter jet, which was put on sale at the online store eBay.

But his father quickly apologised to the sellers, saying his son was not able to buy the aircraft out of his pocket money, news.com.au reported Friday.

"His dad rang up and profusely apologised to us, so it's still for sale. We've put it on as an auction now so that won't happen again," said a spokeswoman for Britain-based Jet Art Aviation, which is selling the Harrier.

The elite fighting machine was part of Britain's arsenal in the 1982 Falklands War, but the government put the plane out of service in 1997.

Falklands War was fought in 1982 between Argentina and Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The US Marines still use a second-generation model of the Harrier.