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E-bay and ticket touts
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Posts: 424
Joined: Dec 2002
Post: #1
14-10-2007 10:59 PM

Posts from old forum ...

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Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Thursday, 10 May, 2007 - 10:26 pm:

For once absolutely nothing to do with SE23. Just had a ad taken off e-bay criticising the selling methods for the Cambridge Folk Festival (hours on the phone trying to buy tickets) and the speed with which the touts were on line selling at twice the price or more. OK this is a bit too morris dancing for many of you but it is even worse for the trendy young people's festivals and sell out gigs. Touts drive up the demand, hence more people cannot get tickets creating a buying frenzy on e-bay. The market is well and truly distorted.

Had around 50 questions, most agreeing with me and some quite witty or with good suggestions (I am in contact with the organisers). Some mild hate mail as well. would be interested in others' views on this - including those who see nothing wrong with the practice, and lets face it I could have bought two extra tickets and this could have paid for the whole family to go.

Oh it was taken off because one of the touts complained to e-bay!

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Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Thursday, 10 May, 2007 - 11:31 pm:

I agree with you but as long as there is a willing consumer market I'm not sure how this can be stopped unless people need to match their identity against their credit card details when entering the venue and presumably this needs to be instigated by the festival organisers in each instance. I think the same happened at the last Make Poverty History concert in Hyde Park but this was stopped by the ebay admin after considerable public pressure. I believe the Streisand tickets are already going for thousands apiece. Ebay is fair in a way as the market tends to find its own level and probably better than dealing with touts on the street. They get everywhere- I could have made a fortune in Sloane Square some years ago by selling my Chelsea Flower Show tickets ( yes that too) at thrice the price I paid. I can see how people make a good living out of this.

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Ooperlooper
Joined 28-06-2006
Posted on Saturday, 12 May, 2007 - 11:47 pm:

Why don't the festival organisers just charge more in the first place?

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the marketing agencies behind events (in the case of Babs Streisand, for example) are buying tickets from themselves on eBay at inflated prices to get into the papers and to make people think the original ticket prices are a bargain.

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Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Sunday, 13 May, 2007 - 12:21 am:

The touts distort markets in that they create artificial demand. This in turn creates a buying frenzy pushing the prices up. There was always geezers around "tickets to buy tickets to sell" but e-bay has totally changed things. Conversely when tickets were overpriced in the first place, or where there are extra perfomances, then the resale price can crash. BD's gripe is when you are in a queue trying to get tickets, they sell out just in front of you and then some 'get' (being polite at the moment) turns round and offers you them for thrice the price (and had no intention of going, just got to the queue before you). Now ticket agencies, love them or loathe them, do carry overheads. Not the same for the modern day tout. But then of course you could argue more fool the people who do pay well over the odds. Saw today that there was a free Radio 1 festival (not that I listen to the station anymore) where people are putting tickets on e-bay. Anyway I am talking to myself here. Surely someone else can be bothered to give an opinion.

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Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Monday, 02 July, 2007 - 09:11 pm:

With most excellent timing the Culture Select Committee launched an Inquiry. BD had some insider information but thought his friends in Government has too non interventionist stance as this is not a market working well for consumers Mr Fingelton etc. He put up some surprisingly well arguments as a non-economist about market distortion. The hearing was last Tuesday, I couldn't make it and as it was in the Thatcher room (Portcullis House) probably a good thing to. They were seeking evidence on the following

? The underlying causes of ticket touting, and its impact on performers, promoters and the public;
? Whether or not resale of a ticket, at face value or at a higher value, should be permitted in principle; and whether the acceptability or otherwise of resale depends on the circumstances in which tickets are offered for resale;
? The impact of the Internet upon trade in tickets;
? Whether or not tickets? terms and conditions banning transfer and onward sale are fair or enforceable;
? The merits of new approaches by ticket agents attempting to prevent transfer of tickets, including wider use of personal ID; and
? Whether or not the existing offences of sale by an unauthorised person in a public place of a ticket for a designated football match, or for events at the London 2012 Games, should be extended to cover other sporting or cultural events.

BD actually cannot understand why they ban touting for footy matches (crowd trouble is generally now a spurious argument) and thinks HMG are being inconsistent. He will put a link to the outcome of the Inquiry if anyone out there is in the slightest bit interested.

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Dave
Joined 11-01-2007
Posted on Monday, 02 July, 2007 - 09:40 pm:

This is a good and interesting thread - keep it up!

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Sherwood
Joined 30-03-2005
Posted on Tuesday, 03 July, 2007 - 09:38 am:

When I was waiting outside the theatre for a friend before seeing the Phantom of the Opera, the touts were still offering tickets for sale five minutes before curtain-up. They said to each other that they were going to lose money that night.
But the moral of the story is "Don't buy tickets fom touts and they will stop buying the tickets in the first place."
Also, a friend bought tickets for the test match at the Oval. The tickets were lost in the post; so the Ground sent him more tickets. When he arrived at the ground there were people sitting in his seats. The stewards removed them because they were holding stolen tickets, which they had bought from a tout.

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Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Saturday, 22 September, 2007 - 11:30 pm:

So around 1000 tickets for the Pistols are on e-bay, that is over 10% of the number, with no doubt more going though that route. I liked the one 'genuine reseller', read genuine 'tout'. Love to know who is so desparate to go. Wish I had been old enough or in the know to go first time round, but feel it is a bit sad 31 years later. My Never Mind vinyl slowly gathers dust and probably hasn't been played for 15 years, and unlike, say the Clash, the Pistols were a one trick pony (however our local band Status Quo managed a thirty five year long career out of one tune).

Should they come down to under a tenner could always be tempted however. But the tenner I paid to see Rachel Unthank at the Spitz last night will not be beaten.

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Mandy_playbox
Joined 25-11-2004
Posted on Sunday, 23 September, 2007 - 01:00 am:

Don't dis the Quo, bro.
'Dog of two head' and 'Ma Kelly's greasy spoon' are great records.

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Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Sunday, 23 September, 2007 - 11:19 am:

I understand that Francis Rossi lived and may have been born in 112 Perry Vale known as ' Ulverston'; - I used to live in a bedsit in this house years ago when I first came to London. If anyone can confirm or dispute this please feel free as I'd like to know either way. If true then worthy of one of our Blue Plaques, perhaps?

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Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
Posted on Sunday, 23 September, 2007 - 04:05 pm:

Now then Mandy, was I dissing them or was this quiet admiration? If I am going to diss anyone it would be U2 who have made billions out of what Steve Gribbin/Skint Video once described as (to the tune of Sunday b Sunday) "Same song b..... same song" "How long, how long must this song go on, how long...." http://www.comedycv.co.uk/stevegribben/index.htm Oh and no doubt some of you will guess where I last saw Steve play...

But please check out my Rockin in Forest Hill thread both to confirmation that the Sedgefield educated boys, at a similar time as Jim Dowd, are from FH and in deed I'll check with Jess exactly what addresses they lived at. There is some talk of a SQ reunion.

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Ab3
Joined 17-03-2005
Posted on Monday, 08 October, 2007 - 01:35 pm:

Just a word of warning on selling tkts on ebay. I recently needed to sell some concert tkts a day before the gig, so put them on ebay. As I didn't think I had enough time to post, I offered collection by hand. Someone accepted my "buy it now" price and agreed to meet to collect. Thinking I was being risk averse, I insisted on the funds clearing my PayPay account before I would meet him. This I did, only to find the money removed from my PayPay account a week later. It turns out that this friendly chap had set up a new ID, and hacked someone elses PayPal account to pay me - ie an unsuspecting ebayer paid for the tkts, and obviously were entitled to their money back.

Ebay didn't want to know since I had not followed their correct procedure, ie send the tickets to a pre approved address by registered delivery. Lesson learnt!

I have since found myself in a similar sitution, needing to sell tickets at short notice, and found a great website - scarletmist.com - which allows tkt buyers and sellers to come together and exchange tkts at face value or less. Making profit is strictly prohibited.

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