NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Women nationwide are searching high and low for a special kind of tampon that has been missing from shelves since the fall.
In January, Johnson & Johnson said its mysteriously absent o.b. tampons had started being shipped to retailers, but that there could be a delay of weeks or days before they reached the stores.
The company also gave no explanation as to why the tampons -- which have a cult-like following thanks to their small profile and lack of an applicator -- were off the shelves in the first place.
And it's now February, and the tampons still haven't shown up.
"I've spent about 3 hours driving between 6 different stores today and yesterday, in heavy traffic, looking for OB tampons," one discouraged o.b. fan wrote in an online forum. "I couldn't find any at all, in any size!"
They are out of stock online at Walmart and CVS and don't show up in search results at Walgreens -- which now owns Duane Reade -- or Target.
The one place o.b. tampons were spotted was Rite Aid's website. While it doesn't have the Super Plus absorbency in stock, the Super absorbency and Regular absorbency o.b. tampons are somehow available. But Rite Aid did not return calls for comment, so don't get your hopes up.
Because the product is so unique, the shortage has led to a black market. While a box of o.b. tampons costs $7.49 at Rite Aid, eBay users have posted starting bids of as much as $130 for four boxes, taking advantage of the limited supply. Apparently that isn't too much to ask of some loyal fans, with one customer saying in an online forum that she recently bought a box on Amazon.com for $39.
