Something else just struck me about this - if this puppet is everything the builder says it is, he's selling it way too cheap.
I've never sold a muppet-style puppet, but when we used to sell the original Celastic and wood profesionnal-size marionettes, we'd figure out all the material costs first - usually between $50-$100 right there. Then we'd figure out an hourly rate for the artist - usually between $20 and $50 an hour, kind of like a lawyer, depending on the skill involved. Most professional marionettes start at over a grand apiece - and can go up to many thousand dollars if it's a trick marionette that does things like blink or move its eyes, open its mouth, fly apart, or turn into something else.
Foam and fur puppets cost less in materials, but not THAT much less. Depending on how this one is put together, it either took hours or is pretty flimsy. I don't know if he put in the eye contraption that the real Elmo has, either - but that can be a lot of time, too.
So either this guy is vastly overselling or vastly underselling his product. Either way, unfortunately for him (or her,) what people REALLY pay for is design quality - which in this case was stolen. Too bad; hope this person comes up with something original to sell.