Tesco upset by voucher auctions

Some lots on the auction website have already been sold

The supermarket Tesco has asked auction website eBay to stop people selling its Computers for Schools vouchers - but eBay says the sales are quite legal.

The vouchers are issued to customers at a rate of one for each £10 of shopping.

Schools can redeem them for a range of equipment, though many thousands are needed to get a desktop computer.

Some sellers on eBay say they have many hundreds of vouchers they do not need as a result of their purchases. But trading them breaks Tesco's rules.

The auction site responded by saying: "The sale of these coupons is permitted under UK law".

'Charity'

One seller - using a pseudonym, as is the norm on eBay - says he or she is "giving away 100 Vouchers in one grab for few quid".

The seller says: "I received these vouchers when I made a purchase in Tesco.

Vouchers may not be transferred between schools, organisations or individuals for monetary payment or any other consideration Computers for Schools rule

"But I don't have kids to give these vouchers to them. So, I thought why not I sell these vouchers in eBay.

"Someone might buy them who think these are useful to them or who would like to give away to schools as a charity."

But the same person, whose location is given as London, has more than one listing using the same form of words.

One lot sold on Sunday for £5.50 plus £1 postage.

Another seller, in Blackpool, has six separate lots ranging from 25 vouchers to 125.

Each listing says they were "gained from a recent spend".

It adds: "I don't have any children or work at a school so I don't need them, but they would be great for someone who did."

'Innovative'

One of the rules of the Tesco scheme says: "Vouchers may not be transferred between schools, organisations or individuals for monetary payment or any other consideration."

Asked about the auction trade, Tesco said: "We have in the past seen on eBay calls for free voucher donations - and that is fine.

"But the vouchers do actually say 'not for re sale' so we are going to contact eBay about getting them removed from sale."

A spokesperson said: "We regularly look at web-based auction sites to monitor our voucher based schemes."

She added: "Our customers are very good at finding innovative ways to collect Computers for Schools vouchers, but we would like to remind them that this is a free voucher scheme and they should not pay to collect them."

Value

Nor is it clear why they would.

To buy, for example, a computer drawing tablet worth £35 through the Tesco catalogue, someone would need 1,150 vouchers.

Buying those on eBay at the rate of £6.50 per hundred, with postage, would mean spending more than £74 - for something retailing at £35.

So a well-meaning parent would clearly be better off simply giving cash to the school.

To get an actual computer through the scheme costs more than 10,000 vouchers.