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Get your Mongolian beard crimpers here

You'd be surprised what people buy online away from the public gaze
Written by Rachel Munro, Contributor

Fossilised woolly mammoth dung, moulds in the shape of private parts, and a Mongolian beard crimper are among the stranger purchases people have made over the Internet, according to a new poll.

Internet company Egg Shop, carried out a survey of 4,000 customers to find out the most unusual item they had bought.

Some of the more bizarre items on the list were a rare Mongolian beard crimper, a statue of an Indian fertility god, real estate on the moon, smoked boar meat, a set of willy moulds, live worms and maggots, a stuffed giraffe and crocodile, an 18th century ivory sex toy and liquid latex body paint.

Live pets, particularly dogs, hamsters and tortoises, rank high among customers' top purchases, the favourites being man's best friend, the dog, tortoise and hamsters. Products for pets like cat worming tablets were also popular.

It seems that shoppers take advantage of Internet privacy to get hold of lingerie and underwear, sex toys and contraception. Almost a third of orders placed through the Egg Shop pharmacy retailers were by men for condoms and hair treatment products.

The most popular online sales are, unsurprisingly, CDs, books and train and concert tickets.

"[Shoppers] can buy the product they want, when they want it, no matter how obscure and with real convenience -- no travelling to Mongolia for the rare beard crimper, for example," said Tony Anderson, head of retail marketing at the Egg Shop.

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