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 them on eBay. After a failed first attempt, when a $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 sold for $4,899, but the average sale was just more than $2,510.