Paul McCartney and Glastonbury

A story featured in the news today about yesterday's Paul McCartney tickets selling out in five minutes.

No wonder I couldn't get them but as ever the touts have sprouted up on eBay selling tickets to the gig to the highest bidder.

The tickets retailed at just over £50.

At this moment there's 20 minutes left and they are being sold for a whopping £430 for two.

There's also a buy it now price on one ticket standing at £545.

People can earn more than what would be a weeks wages for most people, just because they have a faster computer or got lucky with one phonecall.

Some are even making a living from this first-come-first-serve venture.

The worst thing is at the moment, while it is against the terms & conditions of the tickets and gigs, there's nothing the police can do about it because it is strictly legal.

Only in some states in America is it a criminal offence to tout tickets and even then eBay has reportedly been soft on the laws.

The only festival or concert to take effective steps to prevent touting is Glastonbury, which makes users register and have tickets which contain the visitors photograph.

However there is some positive news, the woman who complained yesterday about being scammed on eBay has reported that she has received her money back.

Lets hope people tred carefully when buying presents online over Christmas and that more gigs and tour companies follow in the footsteps of Glastonbury.

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.