It didn't take long, but speculation has already started on the future price of acrylic rods from the United Kingdom Pavilion at World Expo.

At least one of the 8,000 people who bought a rod from the "Seed Cathedral" has set its price at a whopping 100,000 yuan (US$14,990) even though they were auctioned for 199 yuan each.

A seller on Taobao.com, China's leading e-commerce platform, told Shanghai Daily yesterday that he just wanted to show off.

"This is the biggest treasure in my store," said the seller, Shi Dan, who set a price of 100,000 yuan for a rod.

"It's not for sale. I just want to show everyone I'm lucky enough to grab a rod."

Shi added that the huge price tag could attract more people to his online store, which sells information technology text books.

Other sellers have listed the rods as a product with great "investment" potential, but offered them at much more reasonable prices ranging between 200 yuan to 1,000 yuan.

As of yesterday, no one had sold one of the seed rods.

"Buyers probably are targeting next month's official auction," said a seller named Zheng Qi on Taobao.com. "The souvenir is a great collectible and I believe the rods will go up in value. The price of a single rod may truly rise to 100,000 yuan one day."

The first 8,000 acrylic rods containing plant seeds were sold on Thursday on Taobao.com.

The UK Pavilion is made with 60,680 rods.