eBay - a black market?

Roll up, sign up and you'll get ripped off.

That's what people are saying about online auction sites after Amit Sharma, a 34-year-old with a string of luxury homes made more than £1million from counterfeit clothing on eBay.

The Greater Manchester resident had used up to 30 different eBay accounts to evade detection and sold fake clothings from top worldwide brands.

While being ripped off at a market is obviously nothing new, as anyone who has ever been to Egypt or Turkey will tell you - the internet offers cyber Dell Boys a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility.

No longer are you able to revisit the same store the following week to dispute your goods and demand answers as to why your Nike label fell off in the palm of your hand.

Nor can you push for a refund if a questionable Tommy Hilfinger aftershave brings you out in some kind of rash.

As scam and con artists can just retreat into web as quickly as it is to create a new username and e-mail address.

This week a resident came to the paper to complain about being ripped off on eBay after she posted a Call of Duty game first class to a buyer.

The purchaser's track record on the site was questionable at best and within the hour he bought another copy of the game but for £10 cheaper from a different person.

Only he claimed not to receive the first more expensive item, leaving the lady in question some £46 out of pocket even though she had proof of postage.

A ticket to ride

Whereas just this morning I nipped out of the office to try and buy some tickets to a surprise Paul McCartney gig in Liverpool from Ticketmaster.

While the chances of getting one of the £50 tickets wasn't high, in fact it came as no surprise to see the gig completely sell out within 20 minutes.

The surprise came however, when less than an hour after selling out, tickets started to appear on eBay which will no doubt be sold for more than double their retail value.

In times of economic downturn, the auction giant should increase security before reputable sellers dwindle away and all that's left is Only Fools and Horses.