Ticketmaster will shut down its secondary resale sites Seatwave and Get Me In later this year.
The sites, along with other similar outlets, have been criticised by fans and artists, with the likes of Ed Sheeran banning people from attending his concerts if they were purchased through a resale site because tickets were often sold for an inflated price by touts.
Ticketmaster said in a blog post that consumers have become “tired of seeing others snap up tickets just to resell for a profit”, and that the sites “just don’t cut it anymore”.
The ticket-selling company, which will cull Seatwave and Get Me In across Europe in October, will instead launch a fan-to-fan ticket exchange system, where people can buy or sell tickets through its website or app at the price originally paid or less.
There will also be no new events listed on either site, Ticketmaster said.
Andrew Parsons, managing director of Ticketmaster UK, said: “Our number one priority is to get tickets into the hands of fans so that they can go to the events they love.
“We know that fans are tired of seeing tickets being snapped up just to find them being resold for a profit on secondary websites, so we have taken action.
“Closing down our secondary sites and creating a ticket exchange on Ticketmaster has always been our long-term plan. We’re excited to launch our redesigned website which will make buying and selling tickets fast and simple, with all tickets in the same place.
“Our new Ticketmaster ticket exchange lets fans sell tickets they can’t use directly through their Ticketmaster account, for the price originally paid or less.”
He added: “Selling tickets through Ticketmaster is really simple: we do all the hard work and outline the maximum that can be charged for the ticket – and it doesn’t cost fans a penny to sell them.”
In May, ticket resale site Viagogo was referred to Trading Standards for its failure to make changes to misleading pricing information on its website.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said Viagogo, a Geneva-based firm not owned by Ticketmaster, was continuing to mislead consumers by not being upfront and clear about additional booking fees and delivery charges added at the end of the booking process.
The company was one of four who were subject to ASA action in March after a clampdown on “misleading” pricing information.
StubHub and Ticketmaster’s Seatwave and Get Me In were the other three companies subject to the action against so-called “drip pricing” – where VAT, booking and delivery fees were added at the end of the booking process.
However, the ASA said Viagogo failed to meet its May 29 deadline to make the necessary changes to its website, and it is currently under investigation.
Digital and Creative Industries Minister Margot James has welcomed the move, saying in a statement: “We want real fans to be able to see their favourite artists and events at a fair price.
“This is a welcome move from Ticketmaster and shows that they’re following our lead and taking a tough stance on cracking down on unacceptable behaviour in the secondary ticket market.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here