eBay Ashes scalping

There has to be a better way of selling event tickets on-line. Having read about the scalping of 2006/2007 Ashes Cricket Tests in the press I had a look for myself. There are asking prices of $10,000 for a pair of 4-day reserve tickets. In disgust I emailed the only address I could find for eBay - mediaaustralia@ebay.com.au. I suggest others do so too.

"Come on eBay -– do the morally correct thing and ban Ashes ticket scalping (or any other on-line ticket sales for that matter). Just because some sleazy low life can buy up a heap of Reserve Level 1 seats for re-sale, and someone with more dollars than sense will buy them doesn'’t make it right. I don'’t even like Cricket, and probably wouldn't go to a Test if you paid me, but this kind of exploitation is just plain wrong and indefensible. eBay is a great service and highly regarded -– don'’t sully your reputation with this dubious nonsense.

Being the Cricket Tragic that he is, don'’t be surprised if the Prime Minister ends up acting on this kind of illegal activity. Preserve your reputation by acting as a good corporate citizen now -– don'’t wait until the Government forces your hand."

A Google search revealed this little snippet about Cricket Australia:

'CA, which unsuccessfully requested eBay scratch any postings for Ashes tickets, wants to see sports scalping made illegal. "One of the things that we would be keen on is exploring a national approach, a national legislation that can be applied across all sports to ensure that this approach introduces legislation so that this sort of thing is illegal," said CA chief executive James Sutherland.

CA's problems prompted Prime Minister John Howard to note he was watching the situation closely. That's the world we live in - where people think it's completely reasonable to make money without actually earning it or producing something. A bit like investment banking and hedge fund managers I suppose.