Ashes tickets flood online auction site

While Cricket Australia is subjected to a barrage of abuse (Cricinfo has already received more than 1000 emails, the vast majority angry with the way that sales have been handled), a market has already sprung up on the internet auction site, eBay, offering tickets for sale.

Within hours of the first tickets being issued, the site was offering them to punters from anywhere in the world. By mid-day in London, there were almost 110 packages available, ranging from four tickets for the first three days at Sydney (Aus$18,000 and rising) to a few pounds for seats at Sydney. However, as is the way with online auctions, the prices are only likely to escalate as the closing date looms.

James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's CEO, was at pains to stress that anyone buying third-party tickets could be left disappointed and added that a close tab was being kept on websites and newspapers and that any tickets found being sold at a premium would be cancelled.

"It is a real buyer beware situation," he warned. "The issue for us is tracking re-sold tickets but we have taken advice from experts on how to do that."

Peter Young, Cricket Australia's general manager of corporate affairs, endorsed that view. "Anything on eBay at the moment is by definition dodgy. You need to be careful you are not sending your money through to somebody who is going to do a runner."

An experienced eBay seller pointed out that many of the large bids seen so far were from people newly registered to the site and with no proven record. While many such eBayers are genuine, it is not uncommon for such individuals to bid large sums, then not to honour the auction, as a spoiling tactic.

A quick look at the highest bids tends to back that, with almost all coming from new eBayers. One - whose user name is pantherpower777 - has the winning bid on almost all of the four-figure auctions. Either he is rich and cricket-mad, or the sellers are about to be left in the lurch.