Lay's desk back on eBay

Remember how Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's desks were being auctioned for charity on eBay? Well, when the auctions closed Saturday night, Skilling's desk had a new owner, but Lay's didn't: The high bid of $25,000 for the former Enron chairman's desk fell $1 short of the reserve price of $25,001, the Chronicle reports. Oh, the heartbreak of eBay!

To refresh your memory, the two desks — identical, massive pieces of furniture designed by Gensler architects and manufactured by Brochsteins — are being auctioned off by Saving Animals Across Borders, a nonprofit group to which the desks were donated by the group that bought the former Enron headquarters building in 2003. Saving Animals intends to use the proceeds from the sale to fund low-cost spay and neuter clinics in Texas and Mexico, the group's founder, Sean Hawkins, said. Though Skilling desk ended up selling for $7.372, the high bidder — the only bidder, in fact — for Lay's desk ended up a dollar short of the reserve. "I wish I could just e-mail this person and tell them 'just one more dollar,'" Hawkins told the Chronicle.

An unexpected development in the auctions, Hawkins said, is that a number of people left posts on eBay criticizing the sale. "Where is people's sense of right and wrong?" one anonymous commenter said. "Every red cent of any profit made from anything associated with Enron should rightfully go to the people who lost their retirement dreams, the children who lost their college educations and the survivors of loved ones who committed suicide over this debacle." But Hawkins said the sale of the desks will benefit everyone: "I think the fact that we are benefiting the entire community allows us to feel very good about the auction. Former Enron employees can use our services. So, we think we are helping the community as a whole."

Lay's desk is back on eBay now, with a minimum bid of $10,000 and a "buy it now" price of $22,750. The new auction ends at 11:02 p.m. tomorrow.