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eBay Users Sound Off on Pet Sales

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 21:00 CST

By JIM BAINBRIDGE Online resources for the business professional

Online auctioneer eBay has had a long-standing policy against trafficking in live animals online -- except for fish and snails -- which it is unlikely to change any time soon.

A brief posting from an eBay manager at an online message board last weekend that the company just might be considering a change in policy brought a thunderclap in response.

Within two days eBay had more than 2,000 e-mails, most of them urging that the ban remain, said company spokesman Hani Durzy.

Users expressed concern that listings would encourage puppy mills, where animals are sometimes bred in unsanitary conditions, and that it would be difficult to differentiate between legitimate animal shelters and unsavory sources.

"The feedback was pretty overwhelming," Durzy said. "Farms and for-profit commercial breeders wasn't something that they wanted to see."

Booming sales of pet supplies and a perceived interest in pet listing services had prompted eBay to reconsider its policy.

www.ebay.com

Cyberspace proves fertile for farmers

Web sites for farmers are abundant and a Google search for agriculture-oriented blogs found several. It's just that very few of these are dedicated to more than a single aspect of farming or farm policy and, on a busy farm, who's got the time?

"We need someone to sort through some of this and put it in a nice logical manner where a farmer can look through it instead of looking all over the Web," Illinois farmer Chris Hausman said.

The University of Illinois Extension program has accepted that challenge with a new blog for farmers. The Farm Gate began publishing earlier this fall and aims to be The Place farmers can go to find information on agricultural topics.

"It's really nothing but the classic function of the extension service, which is to take research and interpret and apply it in the field," said UI agriculture professor Scott Irwin, who helped develop the blog. "It's just using a new tool to do that."

www.farmgate.uiuc.edu

web.extension.uiuc.edu/state

www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu

Sending romance where it belongs

Lawmakers in Belarus have passed legislation that would crack down on Internet dating and online spouse searches in the latest of a series of strict government controls backed by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Authorities said the measure, which was passed 101-1 by the lower house of parliament earlier this month, was intended to help halt human trafficking in the former Soviet republic. The bill still must be approved by the upper house and signed by Lukashenko before becoming law.

The legislation would place new restrictions on organizations that promote dating or help match potential suitors with spouses, particularly via the Internet.

www.topix.net/world/belarus

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0126 or jim.bainbridge@gazette.com

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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