Harvey Goldsmith vows to ruin online auctioneers' lives for allowing touting of reunion tickets. And he has little sympathy for genuine fans caught in the crossfire

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith has branded eBay the "biggest rip-off merchants in the world" after tickets to the forthcoming Led Zeppelin gig appeared for sale on the online auction website. Goldsmith, who helped persuade the band to reunite for a one-off show this November, told Kerrang! Radio yesterday: "I wish eBay would drop dead and die... I have begged them to take [the tickets] off and they have basically told us to fuck off. So I will do everything I possibly can to ruin their lives."

The promoter's harsh words follow the news that fans who purchased tickets to the gig, taking place November 26 at London's 02 Arena, on someone else's credit card may be refused entry. Those fans who won the right to buy tickets were issued with a password to validate their purchase, but it was announced at the weekend that they may be cancelled if the password holder's name did not match the credit card holder's name.

Harvey Goldsmith has responded to criticism of this policy on his blog: "I am fully aware that there seems to be concerns about people who became winners in the ballot and then decided to use somebody else's credit card to pay for the ticket. However, I am convinced that those who are bleating the loudest seem to be protesting too much for other reasons."

Goldsmith added, however, that there may be a way around this problem for bona fide Zep fans. "Of course there are a few people who genuinely want to come but may not have had a suitable credit card to pay for them," he wrote." The answer to those people is very simple; if you are genuine you will contact us and give us a justified explanation."

Goldsmith announced details of the reunion last month, explaining that tickets would be allocated by ballot due to high demand. Following the announcement, internet service provider Pipex announced that a stampede of Led Zeppelin fans had not only crashed the ticket registration website, but their entire service, and claimed that this meant around 20 million people must have been attempting to purchase tickets at the same time.

Tickets to the one-off show cost £125, but are already nearing bids of £1000 on auction sites such as eBay.

· This article was amended on Monday October 8 2007. In the standfirst we mistakenly called Harvey Goldsmith Harvey Goldstein. This has been corrected.