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Boycott eBay, says Saint Bob

...as Live 8 tickets appear on auction site

Bob Geldof has called on people to boycott eBay because the auction site is being used to flog tickets to the Live 8 concert.

He's hopping mad that people who won the free tickets as part of a massive text lottery are now cashing in on their luck.

Calling for a week-long boycott of the auction site he said: "What eBay are doing is profiteering on the backs of the impoverished."

He also called on eBay to pull the auctions but this was rejected by the internet auction site.

Instead, The Mirror reports that Geldof is considering legal action to stop people flogging the tickets, which could fetch a couple of hundred quid a pair.

Indeed, when El Reg checked out eBay this morning there were more than 300 auctions for Live 8 tickets.

Responding to Geldof's comments a spokeswoman for eBay said that the reselling of charity concert tickets is not illegal under UK law, so these tickets can be flogged on ebay.co.uk.

"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," she said.

"A ticket to the Live 8 concert is no different from a prize won in a raffle run by another charity and what the winner chooses to do with it is up to them.

"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," she said.

In a bid to take the heat out of the situation she added: "As we do not wish to profit from this event, we have offered to make a donation to the Live 8 organisers at least equivalent to the fees we collect from the sale of Live 8 tickets." ®

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