***Message from Doug McCallum: LIVE 8 Ticket Sales***
Today you have made it very clear to us that our previous decision to allow the sale of LIVE 8 tickets on eBay.co.uk was not one that the vast majority of you agreed with. As a result of this clear signal from the Community we have decided to prohibit the resale of LIVE 8 tickets on the site.
Although the resale of tickets is not illegal, we think that this is absolutely the right thing to do. We have listened to the views you expressed on the discussion boards and in the many emails you have sent to us. We shall be working over the next few hours to remove all LIVE 8 ticket listings from the site.
Thanks for taking the time to contact us and make your views heard,
Regards,
Doug McCallum
Managing Director, eBay (UK) Ltd.
On
behalf of the whole eBay.co.uk team
Original Message: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200506141934002.html
The site's UK managing director, Doug McCallum, said the move came after it had listened to customers' concerns. Scores of free tickets for the 2 July concert in London - won through a text contest - had been put up for sale. Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof branded the attempted sale of the tickets as "sick profiteering" and welcomed the move. He said people had realised that "the weakest people on our planet" were being exploited and they were "sickened by that".
| It is filthy money made on the back of the
poorest people on the planet - stick it where it belongs Bob Geldof |
The minister for music, James Purnell, said he "wholeheartedly" shared Geldof's annoyance and had asked the site to halt the sales. Live 8 promoter Harvey Goldsmith launched a wider attack on eBay, saying the company had general problem with ticket sales. "They have got to get their act together and decide what they are - they cannot be black-marketeers of tickets," he said.
The site initially said it was not illegal to resell charity concert tickets.
Customer concerns
It offered to make a donation to Live 8 at least equivalent to the fees collected from ticket sales. But Geldof said of the offer: "It is filthy money made on the back of the poorest people on the planet. Stick it where it belongs." The site later decided to withdraw listings for tickets because of the concerns of their own customers, according to Mr McCallum. "Our customers said they were concerned about the profiteering rap being connected with the name of the site they're so passionate about," he said.
Mr McCallum said it was unprecedented to end a listing.
"It is extremely difficult for us to do, even if we wanted to, but in emergency circumstances, which is how our community is viewing this, we will do our darnest to." More than two million text entries were sent into the contest to win tickets for the London leg of Live 8, to be held at Hyde Park on 2 July. Entries were picked at random to receive tickets for the gig, which will include performances by Coldplay, Madonna and Pink Floyd.
And further.....
Live 8 eBay high bidders banned.
They placed bids of up to £10m for the tickets after Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof asked people to place "impossible bids" to prevent the sales. The site later decided to withdraw the sales of the 2 July concert tickets, which were won through a text contest. But those who placed high bids in the meantime were e-mailed by eBay to say they had been suspended from the site.
'Deliberate disruption'
Under eBay policy, it means they will not be able to use eBay in any way, including registering a new account. David Tilley, from Claverham, near Bristol, was one of the bidders affected. He placed a high bid and his account was frozen due to a "deliberate attempt to disrupt an auction". But at the same time he was sent an e-mail to say the tickets had been withdrawn anyway as they breached acceptable items policy.
Mr Tilley told the BBC News website: "I want nothing to do with any company who rips off a charity. "The terms and conditions for the tickets quite clearly state that they are not transferable." In a statement, eBay said: "If an auction suffers hoax bidding, the seller can report this to eBay customer support and the listing can be removed. Sellers can then re-list the item for free. "Sellers can also require payment as soon as the listing ends by using our immediate payment service. "Users who place hoax bids face two warnings from eBay and are then indefinitely suspended on the third."
'Listening to customers'
A spokeswoman for eBay said the firm had no plans to make an exception for the Live 8 bidders, despite agreeing to remove the tickets from sale.
The auction site acted on Tuesday to remove the ticket listings after "listening to customers".
But earlier in the day it had insisted the reselling of charity concert tickets is not illegal under UK law, and would allow them to be sold.
Geldof had launched an attack on the site and the sellers, calling it "sick profiteering". The Live 8 organiser called on the site to ban the tickets for next month's London show - featuring acts like Coldplay and U2 - which were won through a text competition.
eBay also came under pressure from the government, with music minister James Purnell saying he "wholeheartedly" shared Geldof's annoyance. On Wednesday, Liberal Democrat culture spokesman Don Foster called on eBay to introduce a UK charity auction site.