If you turned on local news stations in Boston on Wednesday afternoon, you might have thought the city was under attack by terrorists. Luckily it was a false alarm - the dozen or so suspicious packages found scattered throughout the city were harmless. But the resulting publicity spelled opportunity for eBay sellers.
The "devices" turned out to be part of a promotion for the Cartoon Network's show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Sellers began listing the "mooninites" on eBay. A search for mooninite on Friday morning ("http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=mooninite) resulted in 216 items, including tshirts.
The mooninite LED devices with bids included:
One from Seattle ($1,250)
One from Portland, OR ($910)
One from San Antonio ($876)
A device listed by a seller in Atlanta was listed for $1999 with a Buy It Now price of $4,999.99. A seller in Cambridge, Massachusetts, listed one for $860. He also set up a website at http://mooninites.christopherlame.com on which he said two earlier auctions he had listed for his item had been taken down by eBay for encouraging illegal activity.
Sellers who couldn't get their hands on the real thing were not deterred. A "toasted" version is available for 99 cents (Item number: 120082436535).
