EBay Removes Listing of Red-Stained Kent State Sweatshirt

EBay Inc., citing a policy against the selling of items linked to disasters or tragedies, took down a listing for a red-stained Kent State University sweatshirt that gave the appearance of being splattered in blood.

EBay takes “proactive measures to identify listings that violate our policies, including but not limited to keyword filters and monitoring tools,” Ryan Moore, a spokesman for the San Jose, California-based company, said in an e-mail.

The seller, who said he purchased the one-of-a-kind sweatshirt from Urban Outfitters Inc. as it began to generate controversy online, tried to resell it on EBay for $2,500.

The seller, who hasn’t yet received the item from Urban Outfitters, had pledged to give 50 percent of his profits from the auction to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Kent State, where four students died in a 1970 shooting, criticized Urban Outfitters today for selling the sweatshirt in the first place.

Urban Outfitters, which offered the item on its website, said there was no blood on the shirt, and that the stains and holes were a result of discoloration and “natural wear and fray.” The product was part of a vintage lineup of clothing sold one at a time.