In disaster terms, falling out with Bob Geldof must be a ten on the public relations Richter scale.

The PR department at eBay is used to living in the media earthquake zone, otherwise known as the internet, but by allowing Live 8 concert tickets to be auctioned online have incurred the wrath of Bob.

Bob didn't want his Live 8 concerts, intended to pressurise world leaders at the Edinburgh G8 summit, to be attended exclusively by rich people, so he organised a text-based lottery.

In a rather poor reflection of humanity, some winners are now trying to cash in on their luck by auctioning their tickets on eBay.

Bob accused eBay of being "virtual ticket touts" and requested that we should all boycott eBay.

A spokesperson for eBay said that the re-selling of charity concert tickets is not illegal under UK law, so these tickets can be flogged on ebay.co.uk. Bob argued that eBay was "profiteering on the backs of the impoverished" by cashing in on a show meant to lessen poverty in Africa.

Now I'm no PR man, but even I can see that taking on a national hero, who has been camped on the moral high ground for the last 20 years, is probably a bad idea.

Finally realising this themselves on Wednesday, eBay stopped arguing that consumers had a right to sell anything they liked online, as long as it wasn't illegal, and banned the auction of the tickets.

So, like pirated software and Russian brides, Live 8 tickets will officially no longer be traded on eBay. Needless to say ticket auctions keep popping up faster than eBay staff can close them down. Some tickets are fetching up to £300 each.

However, those willing to do business with online touts should beware. Like any eBay transaction you have to buy in good faith and hand over your card details before you see the tickets - so don't be surprised to see someone else sat in your seat when you get to the concert!

I can't help feeling sorry for eBay. They are running the biggest car boot sale in the world and are constantly getting accused of condoning every bit of immorality that happens there.

There will be plenty of tickets changing hands for cash in the real world, so why beat them up for facilitating the same transactions online?

In any case, who is to say that the money from the auctioned tickets isn't going to a good cause?

Perhaps the culprits need the money to buy a new wheelchair for their granny or fix the roof at the local orphanage?

But Bob is insistent that Live 8 is about putting pressure on first world leaders to fix third world problems caused by their policies and not about raising money for charity.

He could have put a £300 price tag on the tickets himself if he had wanted to do that.

* Chris Tomlinson is managing director of internet consultancy Webxpress. This and other unedited articles can be found at Webxpress. com. Email: chris@webxpress.com