eBay to Obama Inaugural Ticket Scalpers: No You Can't!

Auctioneer agrees to halt sale of free ducats

Heeding the call to take the profit motive out of the January presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, eBay today halted sales of tickets to the event on its web sites after meeting with the congressional committee responsible for doling out the passes, according to Bloomberg.

Earlier in the week, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) had called for a ban on all sales of inaugural tickets (which, by tradition, are free to the public), even criminalizing their sale.

"This inauguration will be the major civic event of our time, and these tickets are supposed to be free for the people," Feinstein said in a statement on Tuesday. "Nobody should have to pay for their tickets," she said.

After a sit down with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, eBay agreed.

"We met with the committee yesterday, and decided we won't allow tickets to sell on any of our related platforms," eBay spokesperson Nichola Sharpe said in a telephone interview today. The San Jose, California-based company is the world's biggest Internet auctioneer.

What remains in front of eBay is what to do about all the tickets that have thus far sold on its site. A pair sold for $21,716 on EBay's StubHub.com, spokeswoman Vanessa Daniele told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this week.

FEEDBACK LOOP: So, what do you think? Would you pay for a pair of tickets to attend this historic inauguration? Would you scalp yours if a pair found their way into your possession? Click on the word "comments" below this story and share your thoughts, please.