eBay has cancelled plans to sell live pets via its internet auction site.
The company was planning to create a new category that would allow animal shelters to place free ads and give breeders the chance to pay for ads.
However, eBay said that it was abandoning the plans after getting more than 2,000 letters of complaint.
According to eBay, people were worried that it would be difficult to check sellers' credentials, and might allow cruel breeding operations to profit.
"The feedback was pretty overwhelming," said company spokesman Hani Durzy. "Farms and for-profit commercial breeders wasn't something that they wanted to see."
eBay does allow the sale of fish and snails, as well as pet supplies.
Mr Durzy said that improving sales of the pet supplies had prompted the firm to reconsider its stance.
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