SAN FRANCISCO -- Bids for the collective services of a dozen former CNET Networks website producers reached $610 Thursday before eBay pulled the plug on the auction.
The group's leader, Lee Schlesinger of Framingham, received several "nibbles ofinterest," though no substantive offers, from potential employers Thursday, after articles about the group's eBay auction appeared in the Globe and several online publications. More than 1,600 people visited the auction listing Thursday, and 24 bidspoured in to view the resumes of the dozen workers, who were laid off from CNET's Cambridge and San Francisco offices in July and this month.
"Some seem like they have legitimate interest in our skills," Schlesinger said.
The group had billed itself as a "turnkey editorial/production staff" composed of employees of ZDNet Tech Update, which is owned by San Francisco-based CNET. A threatening e-mail from CNET's general counsel on Wednesday had prompted Schlesinger to remove the Tech Update site's name from the posting, and eBay had forced him to remove a provision notifying buyers that the group expected a "total annual commitment for salary and benefits in the high six figures."
Schlesinger posted a new listing, and 24 bidders made offers -- some more serious than others.
"It's a great joke. I just wanted to be part of the joke," said Ken Rutkowski, a Los Angeles-based producer of an Internet radio program who bid twice.
Schlesinger and former CNET colleague Mac Slocum visited a local television station's office Thursday afternoon for a news story. During the course of a 20-minute interview, the price rose from $200 to $400. But by the time he got home, eBay had yanked the auction. "Members cannot legally sell human beings," eBay wrote him. "If you are selling a copy of resumes, please be more clear in the auction title and description."
