# ebay items that boggle my mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 11, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351 "2002-06-11T00:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/1 "2002-06-11T00:58:14Z")
Someone’s old credit card is being auctioned on ebay: [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2109968957](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2109968957) ~ totally mindless ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/2 "2002-06-11T01:03:50Z")
What is even stranger, there is a whole category for it: [http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/category1462/index.html](http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/category1462/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/3 "2002-06-11T01:30:45Z")
HFS! :eek: [Holy fucking shit!] ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/4 "2002-06-11T01:52:39Z")
Not too surprising. If you have access to the Discovery Home Channel, check out a show called Neat Stuff (they’re all 4-5 years old, btw) and you’ll see people who collect stranger things. There is a big market for oil & gas company memorablilia. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/5 "2002-06-11T02:23:20Z")
**Gunslinger** and I are part of that oil & gas company memorabilia market. I didn’t realize it was considered “strange.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/6 "2002-06-11T03:35:13Z")
Newsweek recently ran a story about a man who bought a crate of miscellaneous military surplus items for a small sum. When he examined his purchase, he realized that several of them were usable versions of high-tech items that were only supposed to be sold as bulk scrap. He contacted the military and offered to return the items for a refund but was essentially told by a clueless officer that if he bought it, he wasn’t getting a refund and was further told that if he didn’t want it he should sell it on eBay. Which is exactly what he did. Newsweek heard about this and contacted the man. He described the items he had been selling online. Newsweek then contacted a Pentagon official and told him about the sales. The official’s reaction, as quoted in Newsweek, was “Oh, my God!” The military has now contacted the man, bought back all the items he still had and is now trying to track down the things he had already sold so they can buy those back as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/7 "2002-06-11T04:44:05Z")
On a lighter note, [this](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=882670789) is still available. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/8 "2002-06-11T06:32:44Z")
So I wonder how much a listing for the million dollar collection costs the seller… ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/9 "2002-06-11T12:58:30Z")
Yeah…eBay charges a fee based on the opening bid to list an auction. That person is either serious or has a lot of extra money on their hands. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/10 "2002-06-11T14:38:10Z")
I just liked the last picture he has in his auction, very coincidental placement of the fireworks in that photo… ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/11 "2002-06-11T15:02:54Z")
My favoite was the guy who started buying dismantled pieces of a certain type of military attack helicopter and the manual. They dismantled it before they sold it, but the manual tells you how to rebuild it. Actually, if you ever have money to spare, surf the DMO (isn’t that it?) web site. The US military decomissions some GREAT stuff. A friend of mine made an armored trench coat extra body armor left over from the gulf war. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/12 "2002-06-11T15:19:52Z")
No one bought it Violet. Wow, only $2.50 too (Buyer pays shipping.THANK YOU.). I saw a dress someone made from old cards once, it looked cool. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/13 "2002-06-11T15:25:14Z")
[These](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1738908090) are always popular. They keep popping up although ebay has a “no animal parts” policy. ---
**Author:** ![JonTheHasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JonTheHasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonTheHasher)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/14 "2002-06-11T15:38:30Z")
And on a yucchier note, you have [This](http://www.whattheheck.com/ebay/poop.html) :eek: There is a huge list of e-bay oddities on [What-the-Heck-dot-com](http://www.whattheheck.com/ebay/index.html) These are apparently real, honest-to-god items taken from the e-bay site (I did a search on a couple of 'em as a random check, but I don’t vouch for the integrety of the site as a whole.) Have fun! ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/15 "2002-06-11T16:41:02Z")
Disturbing Auctions has a huge selection of weird/bad ebay items. They also have a message board where you can post your own ebay finds. ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/16 "2002-06-11T16:41:12Z")
I saw an “Almost Square Piece of Cardboard” on Ebay this January. At one point it was running at $650, but the Ebay Police wouldn’t allow any new bids. I don’t know what happened to it. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/17 "2002-06-11T17:54:55Z")
well, speaking as a seller… I make buttons and sell them on ebay. Once as a complete joke, I made a button featuring a nipple. (a man’s of course. wouldn’t want to be obscene! :)) So for laughs, I put it up on e-bay, just to see. [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1740282373](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1740282373) And, it almost always sells! It really amuses me to no end. in fact, people ask me if they can buy multiples. So now I tease mr baboon as having Internationally Famous nipples. so, what I really want now is to make a button of a pierced nipple. The problem is, all that I have met who have a piercing have jewelry that is much too big (it has to be tiny in order to fit the format). Any takers? Any aspiring models? ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/18 "2002-06-11T18:10:58Z")
Got a URL for that government military surplus site? ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/19 "2002-06-12T00:22:34Z")
Interesting/amusing/weird stuff! And that nipple button is wild! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351/20 "2002-06-12T01:05:23Z")
Dallas for culture, Fort Worth for fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-items-that-boggle-my-mind/113351.md?page=2)