Oddities on the auction block

From...

by James A. Martin

(IDG) -- A limbless Barbie doll, a macramé beer-can hat, a pregnant key chain: Disturbing Auctions is not your mother's EBay.

The Web site isn't an auction service, either. But it is an entertainingly goofy celebration of our disposable culture's extreme excesses. Designed and written by Steven Frank, Disturbing Auctions is a rogue's gallery of some of the most offbeat, outlandish, and plain old tacky items auctioned on EBay and elsewhere.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

PC World home page

Bid for a lunch with Tiger Woods

Questions swirl around eBay 'garage masterpiece'

Cussing school? It's not what you think

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-Business World

TechInformer

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

Frank forgoes the obvious--babies, kidneys, and other freakish items that have shown up on EBay--in favor of the unexpected. You'll find ghost poop and a frog-skin purse, for example. With tongue firmly in cheek, Frank has compiled and chronicled such items for our disbelief and pleasure. No advertisements interrupt our exploration of unfathomable kitsch.

Some of the best examples, along with their final bid prices and Frank's snickering asides, include:

  • A dismembered Barbie doll (no bids): "Let's just say that Barbie will never borrow money from the mob again."

  • A transparent toilet seat with coins embedded in it (over $200): "The seller suggested that this item could alternatively be used as an 'oval picture frame.' Yes, whichever family member you frame with a toilet seat will no doubt feel loved."

  • A funeral home coffee scoop ($4.99): "We've secretly replaced Aunt Ada's ashes with Folger's Crystals! Let's see if anyone can tell the difference!"

  • An atrociously ugly toothpick holder ($92): "I took pottery in junior high, and most of my efforts came out looking something like this. Had EBay been around, I might be $92 richer now."

  • A Saddam Hussein hand puppet (final bid unknown): "Is it just me, or does he look more like Pasqually from Chuck E. Cheese than Saddam?"

As for the pregnant key chain, that one has to be seen to be believed.

Remnants of a dead dot-com to be sold at Web auction
August 10, 2000
Government's use of online auctions sparks debate
August 9, 2000
Online auctions integral part of new world economy
July 18, 2000
How online auctions work
July 14, 2000
EBay outage leaves users out of luck
July 13, 2000

Bid for a lunch with Tiger Woods
Darwin
Review: Seaman -- the Forbidden Pet
GameProWorld
Cussing school? It's not what you think
Darwin
Questions swirl around eBay 'garage masterpiece'
Industry Standard
Woman auctions personal info online
Industry Standard
How online auctions work
PC World
Find your dream home on eBay
PC World
Online auction to feature bankrupt dot-com assets
InfoWorld

Disturbing Auctions

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.