In his History, Herodotus reports approvingly of the former Babylonian and Illyrian custom of holding an annual auction of each village's young women reaching marriageable age.
He states that the high price of the healthiest and most beautiful was used in part to fund dowries for the ugliest and most crippled, each of the latter being given to the man who would legitimately marry them for the least amount.
Despite his praise, he acknowledges the Babylonians discontinued the practice owing to mistreatment of brides, particularly those bought by outsiders, and says that since the Fall of Babylon to the Persian Empire the general poverty of the country had led to many fathers prostituting their daughters instead of auctioning or marrying them off.
The majority of working-class Englishwomen turned to domestic service to acquire the necessary funds to marry and marital immigration offered an enticing alternative to what otherwise would be years doing menial work for meager pay.
The Virginia Company offered women who chose to leave England in favor of the colony generous incentives such as linens, clothing, a plot of land, and their choice of husband.
After a husband was chosen, he would then pay the Virginia Company with 150 pounds (70kg) of "good leaf" tobacco (which is equivalent to roughly $5000 USD in today's currency[when?])
[10] According to Ding Lu of the non-governmental organization All-China Women's Federation, the practice had a resurgence due to China's surging economy.
[9] As women leave rural areas to find work in cities, they are considered more vulnerable to being "tricked or forced into becoming chattel for men desperate for wives.
"[11] The shortage of brides in turn is due to amplification of the traditional preference of Chinese couples for sons by the 1979 one-child policy in China.
The practice of the sale of women as brides declined after the Green Revolution in India, the “spread of literacy”, and the improvement of the male-female ratio since 1911.
[17] Human traffickers take this as an opportunity to traffic desperate North Korean women across the country borders to China not often to sell as slaves, but mainly as brides.
[18] Although, there are successful marriages, they hardly ever last because of the illegality of North Korean citizens crossing the border without authorization, despite the women having been in the country for many years neither them or their offspring are granted citizenship.
[18] Institutions around the world are requesting China to give refuge to the great number of people who fled North Korea seeking shelter, however the solicitation has not yet been approved of.
[19] Bride-buying in Vietnam has progressed illicitly, becoming the most debauched commercialized industry in recent history, especially around the northern mountain provinces bordering China.
[20] Virgin Vietnamese women, from 18 to 25 years old particularly, are targeted by several third-parties known as the quickie matchmaking agencies for East and Southeast Asian men from South Korea, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Singapore.
[23] The price ranges differ among agencies; packages are valued between $5000[23] and $22,000USD[21] which includes a wedding, a visa, a health examination test, and a language course.
Certain phrases like bride-pricing, dowry, bride-wealth, and some indigenous words: "lobolo", "mala", "bogadi", and "chiko" all make up different codes of bride purchases.
[27] Literature that delves into the selling women as brides includes titles such as Eho Hamara Jeevna[28] by Punjabi novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana, the play Ik Hor Ramayan[29] by playwright Ajmer Singh Aulakh, Buying a Bride:An Engaging History of Mail-Order Matches[30] by Marcia A. Zug, Object: Matrimony: The Risky Business Of Mail-Order Matchmaking On The Western Frontier[31] by Chris Enss, the epic Vietnamese poem The Tale of Kieu by Nguyễn Du, the novel Tat Den by Ngo Tat To,[32] and the novel Buying the Bride by Penny Wylder.