Ebay touts for trade above tackling fraud

EBAY sent me a response to the Government crackdown on reselling tickets on their auction website.

Clearly touting is a bad thing - although I suppose it fills a hole in the market - albeit at potentially eye-watering prices. Not to mention the fact that you may be subsequently refused entry.

Of course eBay as an organisation has a slightly dubious record at cracking down on fraudulent and illegal activity.

Take clothing for instance - you'll find pages and pages of 'Armani' 'Dolce and Gabanna' and so on clothing at seemingly amazing prices, all shipped from the far east, of course.

After a Rolex watch? A scan will soon find dozens - and you're not talking about paying thousands of pounds.

People seem to be happy to buy designer wear at knock down prices - in the knowledge that what they're getting is not necessarily the real thing. And ebay takes a cut from every deal.

In response to the ticket plan ebay told me: "Why should fans be prevented from reselling spare tickets just because they can no longer go, or their team is knocked out?

"The trouble with bans or price caps is that they don't work and can be counter-productive. They end up either driving the trade on to other parts of the internet - or even worse, on to street corners where there is no consumer protection if things go wrong."

"Often the only way genuine fans can get hold of a ticket is through sites like eBay. Our own research shows that for a series of major sporting events, less than one per cent of tickets were sold on eBay."

So, say, for a Wembley cup final, with a 90,000 total capacity, if the tiny proportion of one per cent has been sold on ebay, then you're talking about 900 tickets, which anyone would agree, is quite a few.