I wish I was rich, the tickets are expensive

http://news.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=656862005

RUSSELL JACKSON

INTERNET auction site eBay last night halted the sale of free Live 8 tickets after Bob Geldof, the organiser of the awareness- raising concerts, labelled the site an "electronic pimp" and urged people to swamp it.

More than 100 pairs of tickets won in the text lottery for the concerts next month were being advertised on the site, attracting huge bids online.

Geldof branded the sales a "disgrace" and accused the sellers of "disgusting greed", threatening to launch a High Court action against them.

He called for a worldwide boycott of eBay - describing the site as an "electronic pimp".

Although eBay was not breaking the law by allowing people to sell the tickets, the group's managing director last night announced the company was taking down the ticket sales from its website.

Doug McCallum said managers had listened to eBay customers' "overwhelming" view that they should end the sales.

"The bottom line is that we've listened carefully to our customers over the last few days. Overwhelmingly the voice is that they would like us to take down the listing so we are going to do our best to do that."

Asked if there was any chance of clawing the money back from deals that had already gone through, he said: "We of course only benefit by a very small amount of money from the total proportion of sales.

"We've already offered to donate that money to the Live 8 concert organisers and have done that quite early so we certainly aren't profiteering or in any way profiting from these sales.

"The sales that have closed already between buyers and sellers who are members of our community we cannot reverse."

Reacting to the decision, Ewan Hunter, chief executive of the Hunter Foundation, which is helping organise the Scottish leg of the event, said: "This is fantastic news and very morally responsible of them.

"I wish the tickets had never been there in the first place but eBay have taken the right decision now."

Earlier it emerged that in a letter on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the music minister James Purnell said it was "absolutely wrong" for ticket holders to make a profit from the event.

The ticket line for the July 2 concert in Hyde Park attracted more than two million text messages. An audience of 150,000 will get to watch the show, which will feature the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna, Coldplay and Pink Floyd.

After eBay's announcement last night, Geldof told Sky News: "It was a sort of example of corporate arrogance that it thought it could operate outside the morality of its audience. I am glad it's stopped and well done for taking them down but it was despicable and they should have thought about it before they did this."

He added: "They miscalculated this country very badly and, magnificently, the country won."

• Movie star Ewan McGregor is to host the first children's version of the G8 summit. The 34-year-old UNICEF ambassador will be joined by violin prodigy Nicola Benedetti at the launch of C8 in Dunblane, Stirlingshire. Youngsters from eight of the world's poorest countries will be flown in by the charity to join children from some of the richest at the forum on July 3.