UK Government Investigates Ticket Touting On Online Auction Sites Such As eBay
For the last few years there’s been a healthy market for music event tickets on online auction sites such as eBay.
People are now so confident of at least making their money back, if not a healthy profit, that they will buy tickets for gigs they have no interest in going to, purely to sell online.
The problem is if this was done on the street, outside of the gig itself, the sellers would be classed as ticket touts and arrested on the spot. Now a group of British MPs are calling for an end to the unfair practise, and an industry code of conduct for the resale of tickets on these sites.
A report will be published on Thursday January 10th, which amongst other things claims that these sites and the sellers who use them to make a fast buck are exploiting fans.
Festivals particularly are victims of this kind of reselling trend, with tickets bought at face value on the day of sale then changing hands for many times that amount the nearer the date approaches.
Tickets for football matches are already banned from being resold online, and now music industry figures and promoters are after the same level of security for their artists concerts.
Harvey Goldsmith, promoter of the Led Zeppelin reunion concert was recently quoted as saying:
“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 thing is, I have bought tickets off eBay twice in recent years, once for a Keane gig, and once for a Maximo Park gig, and if the opportunity hadn’t been there, I’d have been unable to attend the gigs at all. On both occasions I missed out on securing tickets through the main sellers, and so was forced to look elsewhere.
There is of course an argument that if the touts weren’t buying up tickets in the first place, I’d have been able to get them anyway, but you never can be sure.
I think there is a need for change, but I don’t want to see gig tickets totally disappear from eBay and the like. Just occasionally, people may genuinely want to sell their tickets because they couldn’t make the event, or had a change of heart. I don’t these people should be regarded as criminals.
Tags: Auction, eBay, Harvey-Goldsmith, Keane, Led Zeppelin, Maximo Park, Mps, Online, Promoter, Tickets, Touts, UKRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Announcements, Concerts, Gigs, Industry, News
2 opinions for UK Government Investigates Ticket Touting On Online Auction Sites Such As eBay
Paul Raven
Jan 7, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Well, they could be … when’s the last time you saw a ticket tout (or fake merch salesman) get arrested, though?
Ouch - ripped of twice at any price! ;) Only kidding - more seriously, I see where you’re going with this post, it’s not a clear cut issue. But as I keep saying to people I know who stump up three or four times the face value of a ticket to see the show, it’s them doing so that contributes to the economic conditions that allow it to occur. Catch-22 - we want to see the shows, we don’t want to be ripped off … but to see the shows, we accept being ripped off, and hence permit future ripping off to be ensured a profit.
In many ways, I think the only way to completely prevent the problem would be to return to the days of on-the-door ticket sales only. Of course, that comes with its own different set of problems …
DaveP
Jan 8, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Thanks for the comment Paul. You’re spot on that I see this as not a clear cut issue, and I think any decision the government makes now could have a big impact, and not necessarily for the better.
You’re also right that I haven’t seen a tout arrested for years, in fact I’ve seen policemen standing next to then as they call for tickets to buy or sell, so even at the venues touting seems to be just frowned upon rather than illegal.
You’re not a fan of Keane or Maximo then? Lol. The thing is I only paid maybe £2 or £3 extra per ticket for those shows, so I don’t feel ripped off at all.
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