The Cardboard Wii U GamePad Auction On eBay Was Funny While It Lasted

Demand for the Wii U is fairly high to say the least. The first allotment via pre-orders sold out almost immediately, and the second batch was one of the hottest things going this past Black Friday weekend. A few units can be found in some stores as of right now, but we're many weeks away from Christmas, so expect Nintendo's latest home console to become scare once again.

In that case, those who are desperate will naturally turn towards eBay, to pay the piper. Which, naturally, is when the jokesters come out. One red-hot popular gag auction was  for a cardboard replica of the Wii U GamePad. Despite clearly not being the real thing (the listing was titled "Cardboard Cutout Of The Wii U Gamepad" and description simply said "the title explains it all"), it managed to attract 80 bids. Or maybe it was because of it.

Bidding had reached the insanely high asking price of $91,300 before getting yanked for some unexplained reason. Perhaps the seller didn't think it was worth dealing with the aftermath, though it's assumed that he or she knew that whomever would not actually pay such a high dollar amount. So maybe eBay themselves pulled the plug? Possibly. Given how it's become so synonymous with fraud and just plain nonsense, they perhaps felt the need to put their foot down.

In its place are several copycat auctions that aren't nearly as funny as the original. But if you seriously do want a cardboard replica of the Wii GamePad (even if it's not terribly accurate), you at least have plenty of cheaper alternatives.