ots of unusual things show up on eBay , but Item 1976909200, listed on Monday, is a real standout: the Dartmouth College NCAA Division I swim team.

Just before Thanksgiving, Dartmouth told its 53 varsity swimmers that it was eliminating the men's and women's swimming and diving teams next year, as part of the universitywide budget cuts forced by a shrinking endowment.

The eBay listing, posted by team supporters, made a straightforward pitch: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of NCAA Division I collegiate memorabilia," it said. "Do the words corporate sponsorship mean anything to you?"

Dartmouth officials would have none of it. "We simply don't operate that way," said the college's dean, James Larimore. "We've made a painful decision to cut the swim team, and our priorities and program decisions are set by the college, not by the interests of outside parties. This may be a little like someone trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. I don't know that anyone would think it's a legitimate item."

In announcing the cuts, Dartmouth said the elimination of the swim team would save $212,000, out of the athletic department's required overall $260,000 in cuts.

The eBay listing, designed by the boyfriend of a sophomore swim team member, was intended to bring attention to the plight of Dartmouth swimmers and maybe raise some money. At least briefly, it seemed that some money might be forthcoming. The first eBay bid, a $211,000 offer, appeared on Wednesday. Yesterday morning, there were six bids, and a notation that the reserve — the the minimum that would be accepted — had been met. But then the high bidder, Mayday 11111, retracted a $212,099.99 bid.

The auction was to last until Dec. 12, but yesterday afternoon, after being contacted by a reporter, eBay removed the listing.

A spokesman for eBay said that while the Internet site acted only as a trading venue and did not verify whether the seller actually owned the item or whether the buyer had the money he had bid, the company did remove listings if, as with the swim team, it became clear that the listed seller was not the owner.

"Seeing a sports team wouldn't surprise us, since we've had listings for four or five athletic teams, including two minor league baseball teams," said Kevin Pursglove, an eBay spokesman.

The eBay listing — complete with a team picture — was an offbeat attempt to rescue the swim team.

"When we were home at Thanksgiving break, I was talking to my boyfriend about it, and he knew I was upset, and said he would list us on eBay," said Jenny Kunkel, a sophomore swimmer from Cincinnati, where her boyfriend, Jon Lenihan, attends Xavier University. "We had no idea we'd get so many hits, or that we'd ever get an offer."

Ms. Kunkel and other members of the team said they never really expected eBay to save the day.

Dartmouth's swim team has lagged in the Ivy League, partly, the school said, because its old pool has made it difficult to recruit top swimmers. It would take a new $25 million facility to make Dartmouth competitive, school officials said, since the current 25-yard pool, considered state of the art when it was built in 1963, is now substandard.

Like many schools nationwide, Dartmouth has been engaged in budget cuts since its endowment lost almost 6 percent in the last fiscal year. Dartmouth's $2 billion endowment provides almost a third of the school's operating budget. The $260,000 in athletic cuts are only a small part of an overall $5.7 million cut in next year's budget. A release the college put out last week said the long-term health of the athletics program would be hurt more by across-the-board cuts than by the elimination of one team.

Dean Larimore emphasized that Dartmouth had 34 varsity programs for its 4,300 undergraduates — far more than most Division I schools. Still, the loss of the swim team would make Dartmouth the only Ivy not to participate in swim meets.

"This has been an enormous shock," said Maureen Ellinwood, a co-captain of the swim team. "We practice about three hours a day, and swimming is what we feel most passionately about at Dartmouth on a daily basis. Some of the freshmen and sophomores will probably transfer if they can't swim next year. We're exploring everything we can think of to save the team. We're trying to find a way to keep it going for another year to raise enough money to endow the program."