September 3, 1999
Web posted at: 1:43 a.m. EDT (0543 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Online shoppers who frequent the Internet auction site eBay are used to seeing a wide variety of things for sale.

On a given day, anything from a grandfather clock to 40 acres of Wyoming ranch land can be found among the thousands of items up for bidding.

Still, the notice of a "fully functional kidney" put up on the site last week created a stir. It also brought in bids of more than $5.7 million before the company intervened to block the sale.

Trafficking in human organs is a federal felony, punishable by a minimum of five years in prison and fines of $50,000 or more.

Steve Westly, eBay's vice president of marketing, said "eBay has zero tolerance for illegal items on the site." He added that "We have a very clear policy against this."

The seller, who gave his home as Sunrise, Florida, posted the following notice: "Fully functional kidney for sale. You can choose either kidney. Buyer pays all transplant and medical costs. Of course only one for sale, as I need the other one to live. Serious bids only."

Company officials said it was impossible to tell if the offer was genuine, or if the bids were serious.

"Any time you have an open trading environment, with almost six million registered users, you're likely to see somebody who tries to bend the rules, or to pull a prank on their fellow users," said eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove.

The San Jose-based company has no system to spot questionable offers, but relies on users to notify them when they appear on the site, Pursglove said.

It's not the first time a human organ has been offered up for sale. "It happens very rarely, and when it does we are on top of it right away," said Westly. Body parts are included on the auction site's prohibited items list.

Human organs aren't the only unusual items to be posted. A group of engineers tried to sell themselves as "high- priced, professionally trained cybergeeks" for $3.14 million. The group canceled the auction with no explanation, but not before receiving a number of bids.

Earlier this year, eBay banned the sale of guns and ammunition on the site after people tried to sell a rocket launcher, a missile, a bazooka, and other military weapons.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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