Stop The Ticket Touts Petition

mike230652

Just looked at the site ......set up by some guy who tried to buy concert tickets for Take That for his girlfriend and couldn't get them....................poor boy!

So...what is the difference between a " ticket tout" and an official approved re-seller of tickets??? I dunno...........some of the official outlets sell for 4, 5 or more times face value.

Please don't regale me with tales of how ticket touts may not have tickets etc..the only way I've bought tickets on eBay has been through well established sellers with excellent feedback...and most eBayers are aware of the pitfalls of dealing with poor feedback sellers.

Sometimes prices are ludicrous ( James Blunt tickets being an example ) but i also managed to pick up two front and centre row tickets for My Chemical Romance at less than face value and Peter Kay at Manchester MEN for half price. I also SOLD tickets for U2 for a ridiculous sum......they were absolutely prime seats and I had 3 sets of bidders chasing them... before anyone bleats about profiteering and touting they were only for sale since the couple we were going with split up and both refused to go!!!!

Like others have said...... it's a free commerce market and everything has a value , be it high or low.......no-one forces people to buy!

mike

nightswimmer

rdwarr wrote:

The "ticket tout" issue merely exposes eBay's facilitation of the "everything has a price" ethic. eBay has given everybody the chance to make a fast buck on a deal, something that was previously the realm of a select few.
Things that previously would have been given away are now sold, whilst bargain products are often snapped up purely to be resold by amateur traders.
Underpriced tickets are one of these "bargains". No point selling at a low price if fans still have to buy for five times that from eBay touts. So are Tesco misprices, Dell specials and other similar deals.
eBay has given us all the opportunity to replace compassion with profit. Many of us have tried it and like it. Fortunately there are also many who still prefer to give than receive or that food you have worked hard to buy tastes better than that which was obtained immorally.

So, what your saying is, anything sold for a profit is wrong/immoral?

ScrumpyJackRussell

The ticket companies hold some of the blame. When they sell a ticket it is non refundable. I have just bought tickets for the whole family to go to a concert which cost me £120.

If it turns out we cannot go, do I just have to kiss goodbye to my £120?? Or do I put them up on ebay and hope to get the face value back, and any more they make is a bonus?

If ticket companies offered refunds up to a reasonable time before the concert, people could send their tickets back, and the ticket companies could put them up for resale instead of them having to resort to ebay.

As for the touts who buy deliberately to sell tickets on ebay, I agree that something is only worth what people want to pay, there are loads of over inflated goods on ebay, someone mentioned pound shop items sold for many tmies over cost price - what makes tickets any different?

Sofa_Sogood

MSE_Archna wrote:

If you feel you're being unfairly charged sky high ticket prices due to greedy touts have a look at the website Stop Ticket Touts.

It's a website designed to put pressure on the auction sites and if you agree you can show your support by signing the petition.

I'd love to stop ticket touts MSE Archna, but it's supply and demand isn't it? It might be the way bread and butter are put on tables for some people - but that's me being generous in spirit probably?

Ticket touts who make fortunes are anathema to me ... but I don't know their circumstances. People will always pay what they want to pay, unfortunately.

True fans are often left outside looking in, but is it the ticket touts or the bands/artists to blame?

I'd never pay too much to see anyone if that counts, and if I can't afford it, then it's out of the question. But maybe ticket touts and the like just might be driven away if some sort of management was implemented?

It's just a thought, but I'll sign a petition, if only to get rid of those people that drive big cars and live in big houses, through the proceeds of bands/artists that they don't even back or support.

As an afterthought, I tried as soon as tickets became available, on this site, to get Take That tickets and Oasis. Credit card details were left on two sites, but I never heard a thing. Yet they still have credit card details ...

It leaves people feeling very vulnerable.

Thanks anyway and good luck

rdwarr

nightswimmer wrote:

So, what your saying is, anything sold for a profit is wrong/immoral?

Not at all. We live in a capitalist economy which only works because of profit. I run a business myself and rely on profit to feed my family.
What I don't like is when, for example, concert tickets are put on sale at a cheap price for the benefit of the band's fans. Many tickets are bought not by fans but by those motivated solely by profit. Richer fans can buy tickets at the higher "market value" but any goodwill in the original pricing has gone to the touts. eBay just makes these situations far more common as we all have the chance to take part.

highguyuk

The supply should be there for those who demand it.

The economy is all about supply and demand - and it shouldnt be regulated to stop that in this case.

I recently bought tickets off eBay for £62.50 including p+p - face value of £45. However, thats not the full story. The seller had bought these off eBay previously for £90 off someone so he was making a loss just to get rid of them as he couldn't go. Also, the official ticket agency adds booking fees and p+p on top of the face value which is often forgotten about - so in reality £60 was about the going rate.

If people want to pay - then let them! If people want to sell - let them earn a living.

SurfBowlSC

shellnsteve wrote:

From what I gather from reading the e-Bay forums, the life long fans of bands/singers/football clubs feel angry because they can't get a ticket for whichever gig because all the tickets have gone to touts.

That's not true, if you are a die hard fan of whoever, you make sure you get a ticker ASAP as they come out to make sure this doesn't happen, and well, if they have all gone, a die hard fan would pay any price to see their hero/s wouldn't they?

Utter rubbish I'm afraid.....
Let's not forget that there are always more people trying to get tickets than are available.

Then people get greedy when they get through online or via phone and instead of ordering the 2 they need, they take up whatever the limit is (4/6/8 etc).
They do that in order to sell at a profit for themselves KNOWING that they've taken them away from other fans.
Therefore for a 10,000 venue, you could easily have half being taken up by greedy people looking to make an extra £30+ on each ticket.

I have previously sold tickets on eBay, but have always started just below the face value. However, they were only sold because we couldn't go in the end and ticket agencies don't do refunds unless the concert is cancelled.

I wanted to go with my wife to Bon Jovi at Wembley on 11th June, but at the time tickets went on sale we were unsure whether a) we good afford it; b) whether we could get a babysitter.
We didn't buy and when we realised we could go, it was too late. Ebay was the only place and there's no way I'm paying £150 for a £30 ticket!

Fortunately they added the 10th June and we have got tickets.

The real culprits though are the ebayers who have accounts set up that evidently show them to be independent ticket sellers only. THOSE people ARE ripping off others and should be banned completely.

People who are selling because they can't go, I'm happy to see on eBay, so long as they're not also looking to make a huge profit from a fan who couldn't get a ticket.

Just watch for people with 5/6 auctions up, each claiming that they are because they can't go...... but you bought 10 tickets in the first place??!?!

I have no issue with tickets being sold at just above face value, but sometimes it goes WAY too far!!!

twice

i don't care what people sell on ebay or anywhere else no one forces anyone else to part with there cash
i don't understand what the big thing with tickets is if you have paid for them then surely they are yours to do with what you want
it's like buying a cheap mobile then selling it on for a profit no one classes that as wrong so whats the difference between that and selling tickets on for a profit

mike230652

SURBOWL............

You need to make your mind up ..... You're harping on about people making money out of tickets but you yourself sold tickets...ignore the start price of just below face value you started at.........what you're telling us is that if someone had come along and bid 2 or 3 times the face value you'd have turned them down?? If so..then why didn't you put the tickets up at a BIN price of their face value???..then you wouldn't be profiteering from selling tickets.....since it's obviously anathema to you if someone else sells on for profit!!

SurfBowlSC wrote:

I have previously sold tickets on eBay, but have always started just below the face value. However, they were only sold because we couldn't go in the end ..........
People who are selling because they can't go, I'm happy to see on eBay, so long as they're not also looking to make a huge profit from a fan who couldn't get a ticket.

Just watch for people with 5/6 auctions up, each claiming that they are because they can't go...... but you bought 10 tickets in the first place??!?!

I have no issue with tickets being sold at just above face value, but sometimes it goes WAY too far!!!

..and where exactly do people buy up 10 tickets at a time? Most gigs restrict you to 4 or 6 max. Yes, there are people out there who sell a fair few tickets..I somehow doubt they make a living out of it.........plus if you know when to bid you'll nearly always get tickets at face or less. Those who rushed in to buy Rolling Stones tickets are catching colds since there are still tickets on Ticketmaster......but at £150 + booking fee Mick & co will have to manage without me....lol!

Doesn't matter what you say...it's a capitalist world, and people will only pay what they think something is worth to them.......

mike

the_tired_one

Surely the worst touts are the Corporate Hospitality folk!

They buy up thousands of cheap tickets and sell on for '000% profits.

Do the same people criticizing touts object to finding an online bargain (eg cheap Mobile from Amazon and then selling it on ebay at a huge mark up) wrong?

My husband is a an avid rugby and football fan - he goes to 'minor games' at a low level and that loyalty entitles him to international tickets - most people complaining have probably never supported a team at the grass roots level, yet want premium tickets handed to them on a plate!