Webvan shares soar past $400

NEWS Shares in online grocery company Webvan are trading again, changing hands for hundreds of dollars - but sadly for the defunct dot-com all is not as it seems. Webvan filed for bankruptcy earlier month, but dealers are now offering Webvan stock certificates on auction website ebay. Reserve prices on one mint condition certificate had reached $400 this morning. Like postage stamps and trout flies, share certificates are widely collected. Shares from historic American railroad and mining companies are particularly sought after. The certificates join a range of Webvan merchandise for sale, including souvenir t-shirts and watches. In a desperate bid to raise cash, many of Webvan's vans were also auctioned last month, but not on the web. It reinforces Webvan's status as the poster child of dot-com insanity in the US - in the same way boo.com is a byword for internet madness in Europe. Many internet watchers have had a special affection for Webvan since George T Shaheen left his job as head of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) to take up the chief executive position at the ambitious grocery start up. Shaheen left the company in April. The new found value of their share certificates is unlikely to mollify many Webvan investors, who have filed a series of lawsuits alleging dodgy dealing when the company first went public.