The British arm of auction site eBay has removed all listings of imported Playstation 3 consoles.

The new games machine is available in Japan, and imported units had been selling on the site for more than £1,000. It will not be available in Britain until at least March 2007.

Now, traders selling the imported units have been told that their auctions will be pulled. When the official British pre-sales period begins in February, the auctions will be permitted again, but strict rules are being brought in to control the flow of consoles.

Sellers will only be allowed to sell one console each, and will have to provide photographic proof on the auction page that they own or have registered to buy the unit in question.