Ebay set to introduce climate change tax

Ebay have announced their plans for dealing with anyone trying to sell Live Earth tickets on their site. They're going to introduce a levy of some sortm with a "mandatory 20%" going to good climate change causes:

The eBay spokesman said British sellers would be strongly encouraged to donate the money to Stop Climate Chaos, the organisation supporting the Live Earth concert in the UK, or to another charity supporting the climate change agenda.

He added: "Although the charity will have benefited from the original sale of the ticket, we think it makes sense to use our charity fundraising programme to ensure that good causes benefit from the resale of any spare tickets on the site.

"As a result, users who decide to resell their tickets will be required to donate at least 20% of their final value fee to good causes through our charity fundraising platform."

Actually, this inflates the price before anyone even has tickets to sell, as to make back the ticket price you'll now have to sell them for £66.

Live Earth, of course, aren't pleased:

Marianne Troup of Live Earth UK said: "This is an independent decision by eBay and we are not involved with it.

"While we acknowledge the charity donation we are not comfortable with people making money from what is a social issue."

Except, of course, the artists who will be getting a sales boost, or MSN who have sponsored the website to promote their portal. And, of course, there's going to be some money made from nosebag, as the Live Earth London site tacitly admits:

The newly built Wembley Stadium will have plenty of bars, restaurants and shops, distributed equally throughout the stadium and located on the spacious concourses, which surround the stadium bowl on every level. On the top level there is an outdoor terrace with spectacular views across London.

And Mercedes Benz, whose Smart brand is a sponsor. They could be making money from a social issue. And the mobile phone networks carrying all this extra traffic generated by the ticket ballot. And, of course, the organisers are steering everyone to arrive on public transport, which will represent a nice little payday for the rail operators.

But, apart from them, it's very uncomfortable to think of people making money out of what is a social issue.