Buying Tickets For Big Concerts..

top4718 · 01-08-2012, 22:19

I am a massive music fan and attend many many concerts every year but i'm getting a little tired of (in particular) internet ticket sales.

Something needs to be done to make this work better as true fans are missing out to people who want to buy tickets and put them straight on ebay for a profit.

When I do try to buy in seated venues and get on as soon as the tickets are available it offers me ones right at the back of the venue for a gig that then doesnt sell out!!!

Ridiculous and it makes my blood boil, sort it somebody.

barleycorn · 02-08-2012, 09:50

I hate it when as soon as tickets go on sale the site freezes up and as soon as it starts working again they are all sold out... or they all sell out with a couple of minutes of being on sale. Why, with popular gigs, they can't release set amounts of tickets randomly over several days to ensure more people have a chance of buying them is beyond me.

jb

John_S6 · 07-08-2012, 19:15

It's very annoying but there are lots of people who exploit online ticket sales purely to make a few quid for themselves. Plenty of times I've either failed to get at all or only managed to (eventually) get poor tickets for gigs, but within hours there are loads of people selling decent seats for it on Ebay for 3 or 4 times the face value who are based in, for example, Cornwall or Kent.

Ebay could stamp it out virtually instantly by banning the selling of tickets for higher than the face value, but they're happy to take their share of the proceeds.

shanes teeth · 07-08-2012, 19:24

I don't see what is wrong with selling something that you own to a willing purchaser for as much as you can.

John_S6 · 07-08-2012, 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanes teeth

I don't see what is wrong with selling something that you own to a willing purchaser for as much as you can.

So there's nothing wrong with somebody who lives hundreds of miles away from a concert venue buying tickets for a gig that they have no interest in and no intention of attending, and then deliberately exploiting people who genuinely want to attend a concert in their home town by advertising the tickets at a huge mark-up?

It may not be illegal but it's certainly immoral. I'd be quite happy if the touting of concert tickets was made illegal like it is for football tickets.

I suppose you'd also approve if there was extreme weather and your local shopkeeper was exploiting you by charging £25 for you to buy an otherwise unobtainable loaf of bread?

shanes teeth · 07-08-2012, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_S6

So there's nothing wrong with somebody who lives hundreds of miles away from a concert venue buying tickets for a gig that they have no interest in and no intention of attending, and then deliberately exploiting people who genuinely want to attend a concert in their home town by advertising the tickets at a huge mark-up?

It may not be illegal but it's certainly immoral. I'd be quite happy if the touting of concert tickets was made illegal like it is for football tickets.

I suppose you'd also approve if there was extreme weather and your local shopkeeper was exploiting you by charging £25 for you to buy an otherwise unobtainable loaf of bread?

I would excersise my right to choose wether to buy it or not. If I wanted it badly enough I would buy it,if not I wouldn't.
If someone offered you £1000 for the car you had advertised fo £500,what would you do?

John_S6 · 07-08-2012, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanes teeth

I would excersise my right to choose wether to buy it or not. If I wanted it badly enough I would buy it,if not I wouldn't.
If someone offered you £1000 for the car you had advertised fo £500,what would you do?

That's an irrelevant scenario. It's actually more like seeing a car that you've always really wanted advertised for £500, you set out to buy it but somebody who can't even drive and has no interest whatsoever in the car bought it at that price just to exploit anyone who did genuinely want it and has now slapped a £2000 price tag on it.

shanes teeth · 07-08-2012, 20:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_S6

That's an irrelevant scenario. It's actually more like seeing a car that you've always really wanted advertised for £500, you set out to buy it but somebody who can't even drive and has no interest whatsoever in the car bought it at that price just to exploit anyone who did genuinely want it and has now slapped a £2000 price tag on it.

No it's not.It's just about selling something you own for the best price you can get for it.Whether it be a ticket,a car,a loaf of bread or even ones skills and labour it is only natural to try to acheive the best price you can for it.
If a ticket goes for way over it's face value at least can assume it's gone to a genuine fan.

Moosey · 12-08-2012, 18:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanes teeth

No it's not.It's just about selling something you own for the best price you can get for it.Whether it be a ticket,a car,a loaf of bread or even ones skills and labour it is only natural to try to acheive the best price you can for it.
If a ticket goes for way over it's face value at least can assume it's gone to a genuine fan.

The seller is getting the same price for a ticket though. The tout will buy the ticket at face value, so the seller (the band/agent/venue etc) will receive the same money regardless of who buys it.

The only person getting the best value for it is the tout.

There was a program on the BBC about this - it showed how people working for ticket companies, such as viagogo and ticketmaster, took the tickets for themselves, and stuck them on the various selling sites, to make money back for the company. Worth a watch if it's still out there.