ONE in four tickets to popular music, theatre and sporting events end up on ticket tout sites often at inflated costs despite attempts to curb the practice.
A new investigation by consumer watchdog Which? found tickets appearing on secondary ticket websites as soon as any major event goes on sale is still the norm despite parliamentary and industry efforts to clean things up.
In February, the BBC told fans buying resold tickets for the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in Glasgow which were selling for up to 30 times their face value that they would be barred.
The touting came despite a warning from the BBC that tickets resold for profit or commercial gain by anyone other than nominated ticket agent, the Ticketmaster-owned Ticketweb would become void, a practice that has become increasingly more common.
To guard against tickets touts reselling for profit, tickets for the festival, which featured Depeche Mode, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Sparks, were printed with the name of the lead purchaser who would have to show their ID on arrival at the venue to gain entry.
Which? monitored tickets listed for 65 events on the four main resale sites (Viagogo, StubHub, GetMeIn and Seatwave) between April and June 2017 and found that more than a quarter of tickets (26%) for one of comedian Jack Whitehall's ended ended up on four secondary sites.
They also found nearly one in five tickets for Lady Gaga and 15 per cent of tickets for the first night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall were listed for sale on secondary sites.
Tickets for the first night of the BBC Proms, that originally cost £38, were also found to have a mark-up of 279 per cent on StubHub (£144) and 300 per cent on GetMeIn! (£152).
The two biggest problems consumers told Which? they had faced when purchasing tickets on the sites was paying more than face value (72%) and hidden fees (46%).
When fans were asked to share their experiences on secondary ticketing websites, analysts found that half (49%) of people had actually thought they were buying from an official seller.
Previous Which? research found that many websites were breaking consumer law by not listing the face value of tickets, restrictions on the ticket and, where appropriate, standing or seating information, such as block, row and seat numbers.
Alex Neill, Which? home products and services managing director said: “People are finding themselves having to buy tickets through secondary sites more and more, and yet many struggle to find the basic information required by law.
“There needs to be more transparency within the secondary ticketing industry and the competition authorities must take strong action against those who aren’t playing by the rules.”
In November, last year, StubHub and Ticketmaster were accused of acting like “old-fashioned fences” as a committee of MPs investigated websites that allow touts to make huge profits from illegal ticket sales.
During the sessions Ticketmaster was accused of profiteering by potentially pocketing more than £600 on tickets sold by touts for Phil Collins concerts.
Seats for the tour sold out on Ticketmaster in seconds in October with many believed to have been booked by touts who sell them on for inflated prices.
Ticketmaster's website redirected fans to a re-selling site it owns called Get Me In! where the seats – originally priced at £55 to £175 – sell for up to £2,200.
The 6 Music row was not the first time Glasgow was at the centre of a major ticket touting row over attempts to curtail resold tickets.
In 2015, the Lawn Tennis Association warned disgruntled fans buying tickets resold by touts for the sell-out Davis Cup semi final featuring Andy Murray in Glasgow that they might be voided, after many complained that tickets were being swiftly resold for up to £1,399 each, over 14 times their original face value.
Fans had condemned the handling of the public sale for the big match against Australia at the Emirates Arena v and bombarded tennis's governing body with complaints.
At the 6 Music festival, tickets for Depeche Mode who played the 2,100-capacity Glasgow Barrowland were sold out in minutes with £30 briefs immediately becoming available on the Viagogo ticketing resale site and selling for up to £879 each.
But the BBC warning about resold tickets becoming void led to a row as the public corporation was bombarded with complaints with fans saying that the corporation had allowed them to be exploited through their handling of ticket sales and one describing it as "the real rock 'n'roll swindle".
Viagogo at the time took a 12 per cent cut from the seller, then added around 15 per cent of the full sale price plus VAT as a service fee.
For a resold £879 Depeche Mode ticket - the seller would make £770, Viagogo would take £405 including VAT and the buyer would pay around £1175 in total. The seller of these tickets is not known, as Viagogo protects their identities.
Tickets being snapped up on the Viagogo ticket resale site
Ticketmaster said that the number of tickets sold on its resale platforms (GetMeIn! and Seatwave) made up a very small proportion of its overall sales.
"We have always championed transparency and consumer protection, and pride ourselves on ensuring compliancy with all rules and regulations. We never list primary tickets on resale sites, and we do not allow anyone to list tickets before they are available to the public," it said.
StubHub argued that the real issue is tickets held back for the industry, VIPs and other sellers, saying the findings show that "only a small percentage" of tickets end up there.
Which advice on how to avoid being ripped off • Sign up for ticket alerts: Join fan clubs and mailing lists of your favourite artists, festivals, venues and primary ticket sellers for reminders of when tickets go on sale.
• Bag presale tickets: For some events, tickets are reserved for pre-sales a few days before the general public. Check for advance notice on gettothefront.co.uk and beatthetouts.com, and sign up for O2 Priority (you’ll need an O2 mobile number).
• Buy from authorised ticket agents: The venue box office is often the cheapest and most secure option, but you should find a list of all official ticket agents on the artist or venue website.
• Use search engines wisely Google doesn’t differentiate between primary agents and secondary marketplaces so check before you click and watch out for sites like SafeTickets.net, CompareTickets.net, BigTicketShop.uk and Ticx.co.uk, all of which link to resale sites.
• Don’t assume it’s sold out: Tickets can be allocated to a number of primary agents so they might be ‘sold out’ in the case of one agent, but not another, or could still be available from the venue.
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