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eBay bans Obama inauguration ticket sales

by Rachel Nixon | November 14, 2008 at 12:12 pm

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Online auction site eBay has banned the sale of tickets for the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president.

The move follows a request from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies which is overseeing the distribution of some 240,000 free tickets for Obama's inauguration on January 20th, 2009.

With record numbers of people expected to want to attend the event, there are concerns that individuals and websites will try to profit from the inauguration tickets, which have been offered for sale for several thousand dollars.

The tickets, which are supposed to be free of charge and will not be issued until a few days before the event, are generally distributed by members of Congress.

In a short statement, EBay said that after meeting Wednesday evening with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the online auctioneer agreed to stop offering tickets on all its sites "in the best interest of all concerned."

Company spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe said the main issues discussed at the meeting in Washington were "the distribution method and the monetary value" of the tickets, but she would not give specifics.

The online offers had raised the ire of the committee's chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said this week that she would introduce a bill in the lame-duck Congress to make selling inaugural tickets a misdemeanor. The senator wasn't present at the meeting, which was between committee officials and members of EBay's government relations team.

EBay subsidiary StubHub also removed tickets from sale, which were listed for up to $7,500.

The National Park Service expects crowds of up to one million people to attend the inauguration.

As reported previously, giant video screens will be provided along the Mall to allow people to watch the swearing-in, which takes place in front of the Capitol building.

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harringtola

at 08:00 on December 3rd, 2008

I am glad that Ebay took the right action and did not allow itself to be caught up in dealing in "scalped tickets" to the presidential inauguration.

Why would anyone who was picked to receive such a ticket, want to sell it. Seems to me they are undeserving. I would expect that someone who could not make it or did not want to attend would be respectful enough of this event to say so and suggest that someone else get the opportunity.