A vote on the NUI panel in the Seanad elections has been offered for sale at a starting price of just €1.62, but attracted no bidders before its withdrawal.
On Wednesday at midday, an Irish user of internet auction website eBay listed his Seanad vote for sale.
The listing for the auction described the item as "one unused vote for the Seanad Éireann Election 2007 plus all related paraphernalia - prepaid envelope, declaration of identity and the campaign advertising issued by the candidates. The vote may be cast up until July 23rd".
The seller used the name "dermotthegreat" and claimed to be based in Cork.
The item was displayed on the site for nine hours before being removed by eBay, but there were no bidders.
The starting bid was €1.62.
A spokesman for eBay Ireland said the company does not reveal how it detects items that need to be removed from the site.
The company has staff devoted to monitoring the site for inappropriate content and registered members can also highlight auctions that are suspect.
Ebay explicitly lists items that cannot be sold on the site including Nazi memorabilia, body parts, drugs and used clothing, many of which have been offered for sale in the past.
The eBay spokesman said the vote auction had been removed because it is illegal to sell a Dáil or Seanad vote.
The 1992 Electoral Act states that the statutory provisions relating to bribery, personation or other offences at Dáil elections apply to elections in university constituencies.
Daniel Sullivan, a University of Limerick graduate who is running for election on the NUI panel, received an e-mail about the auction on Wednesday night and highlighted it on his weblog.
He believes the incident highlights how easy it would be to commit electoral fraud in the Seanad elections. The auction included the form that needs to be witnessed to prove the voter's identity.
"The fact is that people feel the Seanad is such an irrelevance they would put their vote up for sale," said Mr Sullivan. "I doubt that anyone would do the same with their Dáil vote."
"Dermotthegreat" must have suspected the illegal auction would attract attention, as he registered with eBay only on the day that he listed the vote for sale and has not listed any further items for sale.
There are about 102,000 NUI graduates registered to vote in the upcoming Seanad election.