SEATTLE—City officials have finally gotten rid of five high-tech, self-cleaning toilets that cost Seattle $5 million—but sold online for just $12,549. The city installed the modernistic stand-alone toilets four years ago, hoping they would provide tourists and the homeless a place to do their business while downtown. But the automated loos became better known for drug use and prostitution than for relief. In May, the City Council voted to sell the automated loos on eBay. After a failed first attempt, when an $89,000 minimum failed to attract a single bid, the city revised its strategy in hopes of sparking a bidding free-for-all. But despite more than 9,000 combined page views, only 148 bids were cast. One of the five toilets, which currently graces the downtown waterfront, sold for $4,899, but the average sale was just over $2,510.

A Rochester, Wash., business, Racecar Supply, won all five auctions.