Auction giant eBay Inc., saying that many eBay community members have been directly affected by terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, has banned the sale of all World Trade Center related items on its site.

"We understand the strain that the sale of items relating to those events and the locations where they took place may place on those affected," eBay said in its announcements section.

eBay said that "it does not allow trading of items directly related to a crime of this nature..."

"... out of respect for the victims, their family members and the survivors, eBay is temporarily suspending trading of all items directly related to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, regardless of whether the events of Sept. 11 are mentioned on the item or in the listing. This temporary suspension will be in place until Oct. 1," the notice reads.

"Many of our users have asked that we take this step, and we believe that the eBay community will understand and support this decision."

Items described by various keywords such as "twin tower" or "WTC" are being flagged by eBay's customer service team and removed. eBay Spokesman Kevin Pursglove told InternetNews.com that special software is being used to search the listings frequently for keywords related to the disaster.

Among the items reportedly posted for sale were World Trade Center debris, a videotape and a stop sign that was located near one of the buildings.