Women across the US have listed their positive pregnancy tests for sale on Craigslist.
One expectant mother in the Buffalo, New York area is selling her used sticks for $25 each, The Daily Dotreports.
Another New Jersey mom writes: “Wanna get your boyfriend to finally pop the question? Play a trick on mom, dad or one of your friends?”
Scrolling through the site, there appears to be no shortage of sellers- and many are aware that their customers could be using the tests for dubious reasons.
“I’m pregnant and will sell you my positive pregnancy test for $20,” one woman on Manhattan’s Lower East Side writes.
“I don’t care what you need them for.”
One Los Angeles woman offers to buy a pregnancy test for $20 “to make a video on teen pregnancy” for her local boys and girls club, which commenters point out seems suspect.
Another Dallas-based buyer is motivated by revenge, because after five years and two children with her ex-boyfriend, he came home and told her that he got his receptionist pregnant.
“We had been trying for another [baby]” she writes.
“He texted and said he isn’t sure who he wants to be with and I think I handled it well for what a cheating lying dog he is. I would like the last laugh out of this. I will give some girl $40.”
Still, is easy to see how expectant moms in need of extra cash could be tempted by the high markup.
While drugstore pregnancy tests are priced at between $10 and $20, cheaper versions can be bought online or at discount outlets for as little as $1 each.
Craigslist has also become an underground online bazaar for other fertility items. Women are selling frozen breast milk for $1 per ounce, baby items and even drugs at a deep discount.
Fertility drugs such as Ganrilex, Menopur and Gonal-f used for IVF and egg freezing are offered at around $100 for several doses rather than the market rate, which can be around $120 for one syringe.
But experts caution that there is no way to verify that the drugs inside the box are as advertised – or, since many medicines require refrigeration – that they have been stored properly.
As with everything else on Craigslist, it seems that the advice let the buyer beware definitely applies here.
