Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 9:18 am  

Him wrote:

But in most areas of the economy the markup does actually include something extra. For instance whilst Tesco charges the consumer more for the products they sell than what they pay the supplier they are doing something beneficial to you. They're making those products more easily available to you by bringing them to a shop near to where you live.

With ticket touts/resellers they aren't doing anything extra. The tickets are just as easily available from the supplier (artist/venue/production/whatever) than they are from the ticket touts/resellers. The touts/resellers aren't bringing anything extra and simply making a profit from doing nothing.

You've just answered your own question - when the tickets are just as easily available from the original supplier then you will find no reseller business to be had, its when there are NO tickets available from the original supplier that the reselling operation kicks in, or when purchasing tickets from a reseller is just more convenient - for instance you missed out online & couldn't take time off work to go queue for them, so you buy them on the night on the street from some dodgy geezer.

If the supplier (artist/venue/whatever) wants to use the supply & demand format to its full extent they could charge more than they currently release the tickets for (as the price is then jacked up by the touts/resellers afterwards). At least then that profit would be going to a person/organisation who's created something in the economy.

I thought they were already doing a fine job of that, when a friend of mine told me that he'd just shelled out £170 to see Fleetwood Mac next summer I thought he'd bought a whole block of tickets and was going to ask him how many he had and if there were any spares - turned out that he'd just bought two tickets, its personal choice of course and I suspect that the promoter would have sold those tickets at double that price had he only had the balls to ask, but when Fleetwood Mac started out in the 1960s did they ever believe that one day their live shows would only be viewed by millionaires?

Personally I think that tickets for any events/gigs etc shouldn't be allowed to be resold over their face value. It would stop the touts/resellers buying up tickets on spec and open it up to the public more.

Welcome to capitalism and if you are looking for sympathy to your cause from this current government then good luck with that.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 11:07 am  

Cronus wrote:

Rubbish. Don't pretend you're providing a service or are some essential part of the supply chain. You're not.

You're a scab. A parasite doing nothing more than ripping people off, people who probably couldn't get tickets only because filthy scabs like you had snapped up massive numbers of tickets in the first place.

Yes, some people will pay well over the odds for an event. But they shouldn't have to so you can make a few pennies.

Don't like the truth? Don't rip people off and brag about it.

Blimey, do you get this annoyed when paying for petrol in a built up area?

It was already mentioned earlier on in the the thread, Ticketmaster OWN a company that provides a reseller service. If there was no demand for these things, the supply would dry up and no doubt the law would reflect this change.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 1:32 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

You've just answered your own question - when the tickets are just as easily available from the original supplier then you will find no reseller business to be had, its when there are NO tickets available from the original supplier that the reselling operation kicks in, or when purchasing tickets from a reseller is just more convenient - for instance you missed out online & couldn't take time off work to go queue for them, so you buy them on the night on the street from some dodgy geezer.

That's the issue. Modern touts aren't simply servicing a gap in the market as you describe, they're actually creating their own market buy buying in bulk and denying fans a fair shot at a ticket in the first instance. The Monty Python tour is a good example - within a few hours of tickets going on sale, nearly 6,000 were online at massively inflated prices. 6,000 tickets lost to genuine fans, who then have to enter the dirty world of touting and line the pockets of some rip-off merchant if they really want to go.

That's the modern norm and happens to varying degrees for every big gig.

Many of these tout firms are using netbots to bypass security protocols and buy in bulk. A genuine reselling market - ie, if someone has a ticket but can't attend for some reason - is something else entirely and while there is clearly a market for that, I suspect it's relatively small.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 1:33 pm  

piemandan wrote:

It was already mentioned earlier on in the the thread, Ticketmaster OWN a company that provides a reseller service. If there was no demand for these things, the supply would dry up and no doubt the law would reflect this change.

As mentioned above, a genuine reselling market is something else entirely, and of course there is some demand for that.

What you parasites are doing is nothing more than ripping people off to line your own pockets. It's not a service, it's opportunist profit-making at the expense of normal people. I blame the government in part for not having the balls or nouse to get a grip and until they do, nasty little people like you will continue to scam people out of money.

I rate you no better than the 'travellers' who use 'driveway resurfacing scams' to rip off the vulnerable.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 1:43 pm  

Haven't most venues and concert promoters pretty much outsourced nearly all ticketing arrangements for concerts to ticket companies anyway? I'm going to a concert at the o2 Academy in Leeds next year. I bought the ticket from eventim simply because it came up as a promoted link when I was doing a search. I just went and checked if I overpaid by trying the o2 Academy website. Trying to buy from the o2 website sends you straight to ticketweb, a company owned by Ticketmaster.

My guess is that online ticket companies pay a very high percentage of the ticket price straight to the venues and promoters. Their basic costs are pretty much covered with their annoying booking charges, but the major profits will be made by charging ridiculous prices for the first few rows and for last minute tickets. I don't think venues were ever in a position to do that so they are happy to have the separation.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 3:06 pm  

Whenever I've been to watch a test match/ODI I've always turned up on the day without a ticket, I've never failed to get a ticket below face value. Once it was half price. These are from touts or from people with a spare as a mate/client can't make it. Tout's have to sell, even if it's for a tenner for a fifty quid ticket, it's not like they can wait a couple of days to get their best price.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 6:57 pm  

BobbyD wrote:

Whenever I've been to watch a test match/ODI I've always turned up on the day without a ticket, I've never failed to get a ticket below face value. Once it was half price. These are from touts or from people with a spare as a mate/client can't make it. Tout's have to sell, even if it's for a tenner for a fifty quid ticket, it's not like they can wait a couple of days to get their best price.

Yes. Just leave it to a minute before KO and then use logic - take what I offer or lose the full amount. Works - especially if you are not to worried about getting in and so are prepared to leave it until the last minute.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Sun Dec 28, 2014 6:59 pm  

Cronus wrote:

As mentioned above, a genuine reselling market is something else entirely, and of course there is some demand for that.

What you parasites are doing is nothing more than ripping people off to line your own pockets. It's not a service, it's opportunist profit-making at the expense of normal people. I blame the government in part for not having the balls or nouse to get a grip and until they do, nasty little people like you will continue to scam people out of money.

I rate you no better than the 'travellers' who use 'driveway resurfacing scams' to rip off the vulnerable.

Fair enough, but I'm not convinced I have ever sold tickets to 'vulnerable' people. That's ridiculous

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:14 pm  

Cronus wrote:

That's the issue. Modern touts aren't simply servicing a gap in the market as you describe, they're actually creating their own market buy buying in bulk and denying fans a fair shot at a ticket in the first instance. The Monty Python tour is a good example - within a few hours of tickets going on sale, nearly 6,000 were online at massively inflated prices. 6,000 tickets lost to genuine fans.

One easy way to cut that demand off at source, play more shows in bigger arenas, if bands want to play small shows to small crowds they they are going to be touted.

Cronus wrote:

Many of these tout firms are using netbots to bypass security protocols and buy in bulk.

Hogwash put about by the major ticket sites to make people thing the touts are in some way getting around the feeble systems they have in place, in reality it's bodies online with multiple PC's and credit cards for the big boys and people buying six tickets when they only needed two for the small fish.

Re: Event ticket industry needs investigating and regulating : Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:24 pm  

piemandan wrote:

Fair enough, but I'm not convinced I have ever sold tickets to 'vulnerable' people. That's ridiculous

Neither have I, people with more money than sense more like.
However I have taken advantage of a vulnerable tout by holding out till show time to get a cheap ticket.

Things changed when eBay shuffled their ticket sales to StubHub and the auctions ended.