A ruse to auction off Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook on eBay began as a prank between two friends, but has garnered media attention from around the globe, as well as widespread support from the OSU community.

“I had old high school friends in college in Florida who contacted me because the story was in the front page of their school’s newspaper,” Timothy Rosman, the student who initiated the auction, said in an e-mail message.

EBay pulled the auction on Monday after staff were automatically notified that bidding on Holbrook reached the maximum bid of $99 million.

Rosman, a junior in international studies, said media outlets, including the Associated Press, WBNS 10-TV, The Columbus Dispatch, Fox News, and CNN, contacted him for interviews. He added that newspapers in Canada and India also covered the fake auction.

In addition to the abundance of media coverage, Rosman said he has received more than 100 messages commenting on the auction.

“Most people were writing in praise, but I did get some calling me a crybaby and immature,” Rosman said.

Rosman said three e-mails he received stuck out in his mind, including a message by an OSU parent, which stated “I wouldn’t pay two cents for that woman.”

Another message asked, “Could we set up shipping to send her to Timbuktu?”

Still another said, “I hope that someone up north is the highest bidder.”

The flurry of messages came from OSU students and alumni, parents of OSU students and students from other schools.

“Now that it has been pulled from eBay the messages have slowed down,” Rosman said.

Placing the university’s president up for bid on eBay was not the first instance of a person being put up for auction on the site.

“An angry Jets fan once placed a New York Jets place kicker up for bid,” said Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman.

eBay regulates items that can be auctioned off, first looking at what is illegal and inappropriate, Durzy said.

“An item has to be deliverable, so even if it is a joke, a person cannot be placed in an auction,” he said.

At any given time 40 million items are up for bidding with 4 million new items added a day.

“With so many auctions, it is not often that an actual person goes up for bids,” Durzy said.

Holbrook was unavailable for comment, but OSU spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk commented that “the joke was a little mean-spirited.”

“I am happy about my 15 minutes of fame,” Rosman said. “Maybe, just maybe, they can last a little longer.”

Brian Evans contributed to this story.