Bids topping more than $3,500 were pouring into eBay last night to help care for a seriously ill Sterling boy when the Web site's officials announced that they were halting the auction.
Ebay spokesman Hani Durzy said the auction posted Sunday night by Tiffini Dingman-Grover to help solicit funds for her son David, 9, violated some of the site's rules and would be canceled, along with the several thousands dollars in bids made yesterday toward the cost of battling David's cancer.
Before the auction was shut down at 5 p.m., it registered more than 5,300 hits yesterday and bids reached $3,550.
Last night Dingman-Grover posted a new auction adhering to eBay's rules, which only allow the mention of donations if a validated charity is the beneficiary. The slimmed-down auction page has a catchy subject line: "Frank Must Die." Frank is the nickname David has given to the tumor at the base of his skull, and the successful bidder will win a bumper sticker with that inscription on it.
Then she contacted the previous bidders in hopes that they would visit the new site and rebid. In the first hour, there were 400 hits and bids reaching $4,550.
Still, Dingman-Grover, 32, and her husband, Bryn Grover, 45, were left confused and upset by eBay's decision, which they characterized as "heartless."
"They have so much [junk for sale] online," Dingman-Grover said. "I think this is rotten."
Several well-wishers posted messages to the Web site the Dingman-Grover's set up on David's behalf, expressing their agreement.
"E-bay just lost me as a customer of many auctions for many years," wrote one visitor to the family's online guest book. "It's odd what some of us put value on."
EBay officials said they were sympathetic to the family's situation and did not question its veracity. But they said they maintain strict standards about charitable donations and other solicitations for money and could not bend the rules.
A glance through eBay's Web pages yesterday revealed several requests for funds. One man asked people to send money because he was bored. Several pleaded for donations to fund such things as surgery for a pet. Ebay officials said it's just a matter of time before they're spotted and yanked.
Dingman-Grover said she got the idea for the auction posting from the novelties -- among them a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich bearing an image of the Virgin Mary -- that have recently sold on eBay for many thousands of dollars. Her son's health, she reasoned, was a much better cause.
In 2003, a fist-size tumor was found on the back of David's skull. Chemotherapy and radiation have shrunk the tumor to the size of a peach pit, and oncologists say the boy now needs a costly biopsy at a Los Angeles medical institute to see whether it is still active, requiring continued chemotherapy.
Although David's hospital care, topping $1 million, has been mostly covered by health insurance, the family has struggled to cover its share, plus the many extra expenses, including prescriptions. To that end, family members have auctioned off many personal possessions on eBay.
An article yesterday about the Dingman-Grover auction prompted calls, a deluge of well-wishing e-mails and dozens of independent donations to her PayPal account -- the method of receiving online payment from buyers -- as well as a private fund set up at www.brytr.comto field money for David's care.
"It's a circus," said a breathless Tiffini Dingman-Grover, who yesterday was taking calls from local television stations and the producers of NBC's "Today Show."
Last night, Skip Kearnes said his $3,550 bid on the initial auction was "the least he could do" for the Sterling boy he'd never met.
Kearnes, 33, lost his mother-in-law to cancer last year. When news reached him yesterday about the auction for David, Kearnes, owner of a computer consulting company in Springfield, programmed his eBay bid to top out at $5,000 if others try to best him. That is where the bidding stood last night.
"Cancer is such a nondiscriminating killer," Kearnes said. "It's sad when it's an adult, but when it's a kid. . . . [David] is such an adorable boy. Your heart goes out to the family."
