Ebay bans Live 8 touts after Geldof calls for boycott
By Catriona Davies and James Burleigh
(Filed: 15/06/2005)
The internet auctioneer Ebay was forced to withdraw tickets for the Live 8 charity concert from its website last night after Bob Geldof demanded a boycott over its refusal to prevent touts selling tickets.
The company's climbdown came after hundreds of protesters made bogus bids on the site of up to £10 million in protest at sellers attempting to make a profit.
More than 400 pairs of tickets for the concert won in a text lottery were put up for sale on Ebay by touts.
Geldof, the organiser of Live 8, threatened legal action against the website - which he likened to an "electronic pimp" - and accused those people selling their tickets of "disgusting greed".
Earlier yesterday the website offered to donate its £1 per listing fee to the charity.
A spokesman said: "We are allowing the tickets because we live in a free market where people can make up their own minds about what they would like to buy and sell.
"Ebay believes it is a fundamental right for someone to be able to sell something that is theirs, whether they paid for it or won it in a competition."
However, Geldof and apparently hundreds of Ebay users were not appeased and last night the company gave in.
In a statement, it said: "Ebay has decided not to allow the resale of Live 8 tickets on the site. We have listened to Ebay's community of users and the message has been clear - that they do not want the tickets to be resold on the site."
Last week two million people entered a text message lottery to win pairs of the 150,000 tickets to see Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna, Coldplay and Pink Floyd at Hyde Park on July 2.
But within minutes of the winners being notified by text message on Monday, tickets appeared on Ebay, with starting prices of up to £2,000.
By yesterday there were more than 400 auctions. But many of the sellers received more unrealistic offers than genuine bids, making it difficult for sellers to determine which buyers intended to pay.
One auction had more than 120 bids that appeared to be bogus, and only 10 seemingly genuine ones.
The website became a battleground between sellers and protesters, with many trading insults in messages. Some sellers promised to donate a portion of their takings to charity, and accused the saboteurs of seeking to deprive the charities of money.
The Government also stepped into the debate, with the minister for music, James Purnell, writing to Ebay urging it to stop the ticket sales.
He said in a letter on behalf of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport: "It seems absolutely wrong that people should be able to profit in this cynical way from an event designed to highlight the need for action on poverty in Africa, and for which so many artists and others are donating their valuable time for nothing."
