The special edition of the Liverpool Echo following the FA Cup final
was on sale on e-bay for £5 before it went to press, the newspaper
claims.
Monday's edition of the evening daily included 27
pages of coverage following Liverpool FC's victory in Saturday's FA Cup
final against West Ham and the subsequent victory parade through
Liverpool on Sunday.
The front page carried the sub-head: "Buy
your Echo now… Don't pay £5 on e-bay next week."
The message was
reinforced by editor Ali Machray on a webcast to readers. Echo
journalists spotted copies of the paper being auctioned on eBay on
Sunday evening – as they prepared to print the edition. In 2005, the
Echo's souvenir Champions League edition was also sold by unidentified
sellers for £5 on eBay (plus postage and packaging).
Machray
said: "We were amazed at the sight of our as then unprinted edition of
the paper selling at more than 10-times face value on e-bay. We printed
tens of thousands extra, and felt it was right to tell the people of
Liverpool to buy now – while it's 40p – and not weeks later when
someone will try to make a fast buck."
According to the Echo, the eBay advert was posted by a Wirral-based seller on Saturday.
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