Since my first post about thedrunkensailor and his ebay auction of Beanie Babies has been getting a lot of referrals from Google, I thought I'd follow it up and see if there's been any further developments. Surprise, surprise there has.

thedrunkensailor himself has gone on to list more merchandise on ebay. You now have the opportunity to purchase 'Drunken Sailor & Mugg Stein Signed T-Shirts', a bargain at just $16.99 + $4.85 shipping and handling. It doesn't look like he's done as well with these though - as far as I can tell he hasn't sold any yet. The site that these T-Shirts promote, www.thedrunkensailorandmuggstein.com, is, strangely enough, a site about beer. On the site he lists the 360 people who have bought a 'Drunken Sailor a Frosty Mug' Certificate of Appreciation, as well as giving us the chance to buy various Drunken Sailor merchandise (Drunken Sailor thong anyone?).

In a strange twist, the winner of the original auction turns out to be the woman who was doing all the complaining. She has put the Beanie Babies back up for sale, and at the time of writing this they've reached $182.50, with only 5 hours left.

So where will it all end? Probably very soon, like most internet fads - anyone remember the hampster dance? One last thought though: this all seems a bit suspect - would someone really pay $860 just so they could make a fuss and report him to the FBI, or is the whole thing a set-up? Is it beyond the realms of possibility that she doesn't really exist at all and that it's all a marketing ploy? I'll leave you to make your own minds up.