A question about : MSE News: Fans overpay on ticket website, Channel 4 investigation claims
This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:
Channel 4's Dispatches claims the majority of tickets offered for sale on website Viagogo are not from fans ...
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Fans overpay on ticket website, Channel 4 investigation claims
Best answers:
- It doesn't surprise me in the least that Viagogo and Seatwave are 'in bed' with various promoters. They probably reckon that if people will pay Ј60 to see a band through a primary ticket agency then they would pay Ј120 for the same ticket through a secondary ticket agency if a concert sold out very quickly.
Even the primary ticket agencies (Seetickets, Ticketmaster, Ticketline to name but three of the main ones) have been getting in on the act. There used to be an admin fee which basically covered handling and postage costs. There are now four fees:- - Booking Fee (per ticket)
- Handling Fee (per order)
- Secure Delivery Fee (per order)
- Cancellation Cover (optional)
- Not sure I see the problem - if goods are offered at a price folk are willing to pay - and they get the goods as advertised - well that is the way everything else works - why should gig and sporting tickets be different.
If people are organised enough to buy early and risk their own money they are entitled to benefit - sjould be a discussion in "up your income" - "The programme also claimed Viagogo managers set prices for thousands of tickets, despite Viagogo saying that sellers set their own prices" isn't quite right.
As I recall, the claim was that consumers were setting the price. The difference is that Viagogo itself was claimed to be a seller and so the quoted text would be consistent with its claims if it was doing the selling, but inconsistent with a claim that consumers were setting the price.
The claim ""Viagogo exists to provide a safe, secure marketplace for the buying and selling of live event tickets. The vast majority of sellers are individuals" was also made in the programme. Note the distinction between:
1. the vast majority of sellers
2. the vast majority of tickets sold
The Viagogo wording carefully claims seller count without addressing the tickets sold count, which the programme claimed were two thirds sold by large players and one third by consumers for one period examined.
Viagogo, best wishes for your success in restructuring your business during and after the further strife which seems likely to be heading your way. A reliable consumer reseller site that does not support touts has real potential to improve the situation of fans, hopefully profitably. I'm fully supportive of your expressed desire for transparency in this market. - No doubt they will now be more careful when taking on new staff and checking them thoroughly in case it is another undercover stooge.
- Basically ticket touting under another name.
Reselling tickets for football matches and the Olympics illegal. Viagogo lobbied MPs not to include other sporting events and concerts.
There you go, our elected MPs acting in our interests. - Once again ' Rip Off Britain'
- Hardly surprising, for anyone who has tried to purchase tickets online is it!
Its called creating a false market and gives the impression of more demand for tickets than there is...... On the stock exchange it would be illegal. - I use this site to buy man utd tickets. It says face value but they add a service charge at the end which is about Ј20.
- I said exactly what the MP who is campaigning against this said.
The whole thing is sorted by making it illegal to sell a ticket for anything for more than face value plus say 5-10% to cover postage/cost etc. This would stop these sites, the promotors and the various other sellers ripping people off. But still allow for genuine people who have tickets to an event and can't go to pass the tickets on/resell them for what they paid.
Ali x - Two important questions need to be asked now:
1) Can fans who were misled into thinking they were purchasing tickets from other genuine fans, while in fact they paid over the odds to ViaGoGo, demand a refund or a compensation from ViaGoGo ?
2) Can Ed Parkinson (UK Director of ViaGoGo) be prosecuted for running this fraud and possible receive a custodial sentence ?
Despite clear evidence of highly unethical or even fraudulent activity in ViaGoGo the company continues selling tickets, did not even bother to issue an official statement on their website and keeps on deleting posts from their facebook website to shut up angry fans - this is arrogance beyond belief. - Great example here.
One Direction Tickets went on sale (i belive) at 9am this morning. 9.06am this morning I get an email from Viagogo "Following their BRIT Awards win One Direction announce a UK arena tour. Don't miss your chance to see them live near you. Get your tickets here!"
Click through and the cheapest tckets are Ј46! (Most are between Ј80 - Ј100)
Note that if somebody wants to purchase one ticket for a concert with a face-value of Ј25, this is likely to cost them nearer Ј35 once all the fees have been added - adding 40% to the cost!!
Additionally, if that same person wants to purchase tickets to two different concerts - even if it's the same band - then they have to place two separate orders. None of the websites for the agencies above allow ticket orders to be combined. The result? Additional Handling Fees and Secure Delivery Fees.
Note that Secure Delivery is often not an option. It's the only way an agency will send out tickets for many concerts - usually triggering a Ј5.45 charge.
I've personally stopped going to as many gigs. I used to see somewhere between 50-60 bands per year but the costs have increased immeasurably. Where I can, I will purchase tickets for a gig at the venue itself before the night of the gig - this way, tickets can be purchased for the face value price - no admin fees, no secure delivery charges, no booking fee - just the price on the ticket. Now that sounds fair.
I'm hoping that some bands/musicians watching last night's C4 show will think twice before engaging with SJM Concerts and Live Nation in future. They're not only allowing these companies to profiteer from their success but they're also potentially jeopardising their own futures by creating a backlash of angry fans who really want to see them but say "enough's enough".
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