Archie’s a Wii menace

The five-year-old, of Havilland Road, Thornaby, near Stockton, gave his family the shock of their lives after he submitted the massive bid for the games console, which only cost £200 new.

Cheeky Archie used his grandfather’s username and password to log on to the site to look for toys.

The bid of £197,654 unsurprisingly won the Nintendo Wii.

His grandfather, Ray Atkinson, 54, only discovered what had happened when he received an email saying he needed to pay the six-figure sum for the games console.

Mr Atkinson said: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw how much I needed to pay. I then realised that it was Archie.

“I had to email the guy who was selling it, asking him to call me urgently.

“Thankfully, he called and when I told him what had happened he was very understanding – although before he put the phone down he did ask if I still wanted it.”

Mr Atkinson believes his grandson, who already has a Nintendo Wii, learnt how to get on the site after watching him buy and sell items.

He added: “We have seen the funny side, but I have told Archie that he can’t do things like that again. It does show how clever he is.”

Archie’s mother, Leanne Lovett, 31, admitted her son once also nearly submitted a bid for an old car, before he was stopped just in time by his parents.

Mrs Lovett said: “He said he only wanted the games, the problem is he doesn’t understand money.

“He thinks they cost very little or are free. He thinks the figure he typed in was only pennies.

“It doesn’t really surprise me what he has done, he has always loved computers. He shows me how to do things.”

The seller, from the West Midlands, is believed to have now sold the Nintendo Wii, unfortunately for a lot less than what Archie was promising.

A spokeswoman for eBay said: “It is not often we see this kind of thing. This case is very unusual and he is obviously a very clever boy.

“We are glad it has all been sorted out.”