Nov 13, 2008 4:18 pm US/Pacific
eBay Won't Allow Obama Inauguration Ticket Sales
SAN JOSE (AP) ―
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A sign outside the U.S. Capitol at dawn notes that the area is closed for construction of the 2009 presidential inauguration site.
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
EBay Inc. announced Thursday it won't allow tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony to be sold on its Web sites.
There's overwhelming demand for the 240,000 tickets, which are supposed to be distributed free through congressional offices, and there's been concern on Capitol Hill about scalping.
EBay made the decision after meeting Wednesday with representatives of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, eBay spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe told The Associated Press.
"We just felt it would be in the best interest of all concerned so we are removing any of those tickets from all our platforms," Sharpe said.
San Jose, Calif.-based EBay Inc. is the parent company of listing and sales sites eBay, StubHub and Kijiji.
Early this week StubHub advertised tickets for thousands of dollars to the historic Jan. 20 event, but the postings appeared to be gone Thursday.
"I want to thank eBay/StubHub for not allowing the sale of inaugural swearing-in ceremony tickets on any of its Web sites," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the inaugural ceremonies committee. "They have led the way and I hope other Internet companies will follow."
Congressional offices have been swamped with requests for the tickets. Feinstein got 8,000 requests on the day after the election alone. As of Thursday, the office of Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., had received 26,000 requests, and Webb wrote to Feinstein requesting that Virginia's proximity to Washington be considered in its allotment of tickets.
The allotments haven't yet been made but Webb's office had said earlier that based on past experience they only expected to have about 500 to give out.
The tickets won't actually be distributed to lawmakers' offices until shortly before the swearing-in, and then they are supposed to be picked up in person. That protocol is meant to prevent scalping.
Feinstein also said earlier this week that she was readying legislation for Congress' lame-duck session set for next week to make scalping inaugural tickets a crime.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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