Ebay Classifieds Gives Puppy Mills a Platform

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2011-01-21 12:50:00 UTC
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When it comes to puppy mill regulation, there's a giant loophole that allows commercial breeders to stay off of the USDA's radar: internet sales. And when it comes to finding anything you want online, people frequently go to eBay.

Breeders aren't allowed to put puppies up for auction on eBay. About five years ago, the company planned to open up a live animals category. Online puppy sales not only attract puppy mills and irresponsible backyard breeders, but if you're shipping a puppy across the country based on an eBay sale, you don't really know who is at the other end or what they'll do with the animal. That's why no responsible breeder or rescuer would sell an animal on a site like eBay.

There were good intentions behind the idea — pet supply sales were doing so well, that eBay assumed people would want to see pets for sale, too. They assumed wrong. "The feedback was pretty overwhelming," spokesman Hani Durzy told SFGate at the time. "Farms and for-profit commercial breeders wasn't something that [eBay users] wanted to see." So, eBay stuck to their no live animals policy on auctions.

But then eBay Classifieds came along, and apparently the company forgot that people didn't want to see live animals for sale on their site.

Last weekend, the blog Two Little Cavaliers put a spotlight on the issue, calling out eBay for using their classified section to get around their own rules and the complaints they've received over the years about animal auctions.

According to Two Little Cavaliers, eBay claims that they have safeguards in place to protect the animals. But unless eBay is inspecting all of the operations listing pets for sale (because we know the USDA is not), and unless they're doing home visits on all of the people buying, how could they possibly protect the animals?

The answer: They can't. They've given puppy mills a huge, unregulated platform to peddle cruelty. And it seems that they're hoping animal advocates won't notice.

It doesn't help eBay's claim that they have safeguards in place when their sponsored links on the pet pages include PuppyFind.com ("Over 50,ooo Puppies for Sale — Shipped Worldwide!"), which has been the target of consumer complaints and anti-puppy mill advocates for years.

Join the network of pet bloggers who have taken up this cause, and tell eBay to shut down the live animals section of their classifieds. Ebay has listened to public outrage in the past, and once again, they need to hear that live animals shouldn't be sold anywhere on their site.

Photo credit: IainBuchanan

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.

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