Ticket touts, inflated prices and misleading information. Alec Samuels looks at the problematic area of resold tickets
- Covers ticket touts and sites such as Viagogo, law, regulation and enforcement.
Secondary ticketing, the resale of a recreational, sporting and cultural event ticket, is a basically lawful practice, but controversial and increasingly regulated by law. The original buyer may genuinely find that he will be unable to use the ticket, and perhaps the box office will not do a return and refund, so he offers it through eBay. The new buyer cannot obtain a ticket through the box office, they are sold out, so he is grateful for the chance to obtain a ticket through resale. Both the original buyer and the new buyer are happy.
Resale requirements
Unfortunately, there have been abuses. A company buys tickets in bulk, often electronically using ‘harvesting bots’, thereby creating a scarcity at the box office for the genuine fans. The company sells at a huge mark-up, and often sends the ticket at a late stage, and with inadequate information. Sometimes the ticket
