Dog-chewed Vick trading cards temporarily yanked from eBay

The same morning that NFL quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty in federal court to bankrolling gambling on dogfighting and helping kill some pit bulls, eBay yanked the charity auction orchestrated by a local artist to benefit animal shelters.

In a decision that artist Rochelle Steffen said shows eBay is "not dog-friendly," the online trading company temporarily pulled the series of 22 Michael Vick trading cards from its site Friday morning.

The cards, which have been used as chew toys by Steffen's 6-year-old Weimaraner Monte and her Great Dane puppy Roxie, were placed on the auction Aug. 16.

The proceeds were to go to the Humane Society chosen by the person who had the winning bid.

Around 1:30 a.m., the bidding had shot up to $1,500, and Steffen went to bed. When she awoke, the item had been removed from bidding.

Rochelle Steffen's chewed-up Mich~ael Vick trading cards were taken off eBay early Friday but were back on the site in the afternoon. (Submitted photos)

Steffen said eBay informed her she had violated the company's rules for charity auctions.

Steffen specified in her listing that 100 percent of the proceeds would go to charity, and eBay requires a cut of the profits as a service charge. EBay also asks the person listing the bid to pick a charity from one of those on a provided list, Steffen said.

The point of the auction was to offer the person who won the cards the privilege of choosing their favorite charity, not having one selected for them, Steffen said.

"I'm telling people eBay is not dog-friendly," Steffen said about the decision.

It only took Steffen a few hours to regroup, however, and devise a new plan.

The cards are back up on eBay with a few minor adjustments.

"This time, I said nothing about where the money's going, other than that I will do very good things with the winning bid, hint, hint," Steffen said.

By 1 p.m. Friday, bidding on the new listing was up to $400.

Though Steffen said she's received a ton of support from "hundreds of animal lovers," including several who began a petition site protesting what eBay has done, she's also received hate mail from Vick's supporters, she said, with one fan going so far as to tell her they hoped Monte ran into traffic.

The second time around, she was careful to avoid posting her address, she said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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