Ebay removes listings for Queen's lying-in-state wristbands after sellers put price at £100,000

17 September 2022, 20:34 | Updated: 17 September 2022, 23:10

Ebay has removed a number of listings for wristbands to see the Queen's lying-in-state after they attracted bids of thousands of pounds - with one seller setting a starting bid of £100,000.

Another seller offered a 'buy it now' price of £50,000 for a single wristband, whilst another attracted bids of more than £15,000 for a pair.

The coloured and numbered wristbands are given out to people queuing to see the Queen's coffin in Westminster Hall - a line that was 14 hours long as of 11pm on Saturday.

The wristbands began to appear on eBay over the weekend.

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Some had been used and were being sold as memorabilia, with product descriptions advertising the day they were used with accompanying photos.

Some were sold alongside other things, such as newspapers from the day the wristband was used.

But others were listed as "brand new", with descriptions claiming they had "never been used".

Caller on people who are attending the Queen's lying-in-state

Ebay has been removing the listings, saying they breach the website's policy of not selling tickets, including for free events.

"These items are against our policies and we are removing them from our site," a spokesperson for the company said.

Bands of different colours have appeared on eBay in recent days.

The numbers and colours correspond to the position in the queue, meaning anyone who buys one online would not be able to skip the wait to get into Westminster Hall.

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On its website the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport says that wristbands "are specific to each person joining the queue, and are strictly non-transferable".

"You must keep this wristband on at all times as it will be checked along the route," it adds.

'A lot of people are coming to be part of something historical.'

The Queen's lying-in-state will come to an end on Monday at 6.30am.

The line will be closed before then, to reduce the chances of people queueing but not getting to Westminster Hall before it closes.