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Should we demand the right to sell our Olympic tickets for a profit?
Noble1
Posts: 1 Newbie
People have been complaining about the secondary market for years but only suddenly when the Olympics are on is an 'additionally funded' police team set up to 'protect' us from
over-priced tickets & scams.
Why?
It's because unlike for concerts and festivals, where organisers have little interest in the secondary market, or worse back-door concert tickets on there themselves. For the olympics, the rights to sell tickets at huge, unfairly inflated prices have been sold to Thomas Cook, Jetset & CoSport (We saw on 'Dispatches' how they have access to additional tickets, Olympic lanes & how we the public only get 30-40% of the tickets for the main events (not the 75% we should) so we can only speculate as to what they did to secure those contracts in the first place - the owner of Jetset & CoSport has a particularly colourful history.)
& bearing in mind that the majority of the original tickets were already over-priced thanks to the 'ballot' system (Forcing most to apply for more tickets than they wanted.) The only way these 'legal resellers' can possibly hope to make a profit is by preventing the public from creating a secondary market where you would be able to sell your tickets for a market dictated profit which would be cheaper to a genuine sports fan than their monopolised market enforced by police.
But wait aren't genuine sports fans able to get their tickets at face value through the website? No, rarely for any popular events. If you're like me you work for a living, you might be able to check the website in the morning, lunch-time & evening and perhaps intermittantly throughout the day so it would be like winning a small lottery to log in at the time some high demand tickets came on-line. So who gets them? Well only people who can refresh the site every few seconds, every hour of the day. Who has the time to do that? Obviously only professional ticket touts.
Aren't they at least protecting us from scam/fake websites? No -we have fan to fan ticket exchanges that guarantee the tickets. But by taking these away & as we aren't fast enough to pick up the good face value tickets before the touts do on the site or rich enough to pay the corporate prices of the 'legal resellers', ardent sports fans (especially poor ones who couldn't afford to cast a wide net in the ballot,) are forced more than ever into the dodgy world of scam websites and professional touts.
More people also actually have tickets for events they no longer want that they probably won't even be able to sell at face value through the site, so they will lose money, unless they are willing to re-imburse these people isn't it 'legally/morally' unfair that they should be prevented from selling their popular tickets at a profit to offset these losses?
Does anyone feel as annoyed as I do about this whole process!! Do we actually have to put up with it!!?
over-priced tickets & scams.
Why?
It's because unlike for concerts and festivals, where organisers have little interest in the secondary market, or worse back-door concert tickets on there themselves. For the olympics, the rights to sell tickets at huge, unfairly inflated prices have been sold to Thomas Cook, Jetset & CoSport (We saw on 'Dispatches' how they have access to additional tickets, Olympic lanes & how we the public only get 30-40% of the tickets for the main events (not the 75% we should) so we can only speculate as to what they did to secure those contracts in the first place - the owner of Jetset & CoSport has a particularly colourful history.)
& bearing in mind that the majority of the original tickets were already over-priced thanks to the 'ballot' system (Forcing most to apply for more tickets than they wanted.) The only way these 'legal resellers' can possibly hope to make a profit is by preventing the public from creating a secondary market where you would be able to sell your tickets for a market dictated profit which would be cheaper to a genuine sports fan than their monopolised market enforced by police.
But wait aren't genuine sports fans able to get their tickets at face value through the website? No, rarely for any popular events. If you're like me you work for a living, you might be able to check the website in the morning, lunch-time & evening and perhaps intermittantly throughout the day so it would be like winning a small lottery to log in at the time some high demand tickets came on-line. So who gets them? Well only people who can refresh the site every few seconds, every hour of the day. Who has the time to do that? Obviously only professional ticket touts.
Aren't they at least protecting us from scam/fake websites? No -we have fan to fan ticket exchanges that guarantee the tickets. But by taking these away & as we aren't fast enough to pick up the good face value tickets before the touts do on the site or rich enough to pay the corporate prices of the 'legal resellers', ardent sports fans (especially poor ones who couldn't afford to cast a wide net in the ballot,) are forced more than ever into the dodgy world of scam websites and professional touts.
More people also actually have tickets for events they no longer want that they probably won't even be able to sell at face value through the site, so they will lose money, unless they are willing to re-imburse these people isn't it 'legally/morally' unfair that they should be prevented from selling their popular tickets at a profit to offset these losses?
Does anyone feel as annoyed as I do about this whole process!! Do we actually have to put up with it!!?
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Comments
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Do we actually have to put up with it!!?
Yes if you want to stay above the law. Section 31 of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 makes it an offence to sell tickets without authorisation from the London Organising Committee (LOCOG). The maximum fine is £20,000.
Good luck getting that one overturned in the next 6 weeks.0 -
People have been complaining about the secondary market for years but only suddenly when the Olympics are on is an 'additionally funded' police team set up to 'protect' us from
over-priced tickets & scams.
Why?
It's because unlike for concerts and festivals, where organisers have little interest in the secondary market, or worse back-door concert tickets on there themselves. For the olympics, the rights to sell tickets at huge, unfairly inflated prices have been sold to Thomas Cook, Jetset & CoSport (We saw on 'Dispatches' how they have access to additional tickets, Olympic lanes & how we the public only get 30-40% of the tickets for the main events (not the 75% we should) so we can only speculate as to what they did to secure those contracts in the first place - the owner of Jetset & CoSport has a particularly colourful history.)
& bearing in mind that the majority of the original tickets were already over-priced thanks to the 'ballot' system (Forcing most to apply for more tickets than they wanted.) The only way these 'legal resellers' can possibly hope to make a profit is by preventing the public from creating a secondary market where you would be able to sell your tickets for a market dictated profit which would be cheaper to a genuine sports fan than their monopolised market enforced by police.
But wait aren't genuine sports fans able to get their tickets at face value through the website? No, rarely for any popular events. If you're like me you work for a living, you might be able to check the website in the morning, lunch-time & evening and perhaps intermittantly throughout the day so it would be like winning a small lottery to log in at the time some high demand tickets came on-line. So who gets them? Well only people who can refresh the site every few seconds, every hour of the day. Who has the time to do that? Obviously only professional ticket touts.
Aren't they at least protecting us from scam/fake websites? No -we have fan to fan ticket exchanges that guarantee the tickets. But by taking these away & as we aren't fast enough to pick up the good face value tickets before the touts do on the site or rich enough to pay the corporate prices of the 'legal resellers', ardent sports fans (especially poor ones who couldn't afford to cast a wide net in the ballot,) are forced more than ever into the dodgy world of scam websites and professional touts.
More people also actually have tickets for events they no longer want that they probably won't even be able to sell at face value through the site, so they will lose money, unless they are willing to re-imburse these people isn't it 'legally/morally' unfair that they should be prevented from selling their popular tickets at a profit to offset these losses?
Does anyone feel as annoyed as I do about this whole process!! Do we actually have to put up with it!!?
NO NO NO!!!
At last an event where SCALPERS can't buy up all the tickets and then rip the public off!!!
WELL DONE LOCOG!!!!!
A model for all future Big events, the price on the ticket is the price. Only buy tickets you want!
Resell them at face price thru the resale site as that's all you bought them for!0 -
Being able to resell at large profits wouldn't help anyone - the whole sales policy was fatally flawed from the start but making it a profiteers market doesn't help anyone except touts.0
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Being able to resell at large profits wouldn't help anyone - the whole sales policy was fatally flawed from the start but making it a profiteers market doesn't help anyone except touts.
Fatally flawed??? Ticket system has worked great for the last few months and is working great now.
I got 3 tickets in the original ballot and have now got 18 sessions by keeping looking daily.
Also have used the resale process successfully too:-)0 -
Fatally flawed??? Ticket system has worked great for the last few months and is working great now.
I got 3 tickets in the original ballot and have now got 18 sessions by keeping looking daily.
Also have used the resale process successfully too:-)
I don't know if I'd use the word "great" but it has been easy enough to get tickets these past few weeks/months.
Their "collection" option only lasted a couple of weeks due to problems such as it generating no email confirmation of purchase, which now means if you want to pick up a ticket you get hit for £6 postage every time (most of which will hopefully come back off once they post them out).
With less than 2 weeks to the start I don't want tickets sent out to mey home address, I want to be able to collect them as sending out an athletics ticket for the 11/8 the week before is not much good if you are in London for the games and 200+ miles from "home".
6 sports, 22 sessions here and the opening ceremony ....dress rehearsl!0 -
Well I am glad ukdolfan thinks the ticket sales system is great is is easy to say that when you got 3 tickets in the original ballot but try saying it is great to people living in host boroughs with kids who can watch the daily unveiling of venues but feel totally alienated byt the whole games at they have been unable to get any tickets at anything like affordable prices.0
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Well I am glad ukdolfan thinks the ticket sales system is great is is easy to say that when you got 3 tickets in the original ballot but try saying it is great to people living in host boroughs with kids who can watch the daily unveiling of venues but feel totally alienated byt the whole games at they have been unable to get any tickets at anything like affordable prices.
I got nothing in the first ballot, one thing in the second and subsequently have picked up 5 other pairs of tickets by checking regularly. At not ruinous prices (not really cheap but nothing more than £50 a time though I think children get a discount). And there are loads of cheap Paralympic tickets going.0 -
barbarawright wrote: »I got nothing in the first ballot, one thing in the second and subsequently have picked up 5 other pairs of tickets by checking regularly. At not ruinous prices (not really cheap but nothing more than £50 a time though I think children get a discount). And there are loads of cheap Paralympic tickets going.
Spot on!
Over 300 sessions still available for Paralympics at between £10 and £30.
And still plenty of Olympics tix coming up every day at less than £50.
If you look regularly you can get them, of course if you don't look you won't0 -
Collection at box office is an option on all tickets sold nowI don't know if I'd use the word "great" but it has been easy enough to get tickets these past few weeks/months.
Their "collection" option only lasted a couple of weeks due to problems such as it generating no email confirmation of purchase, which now means if you want to pick up a ticket you get hit for £6 postage every time (most of which will hopefully come back off once they post them out).
With less than 2 weeks to the start I don't want tickets sent out to mey home address, I want to be able to collect them as sending out an athletics ticket for the 11/8 the week before is not much good if you are in London for the games and 200+ miles from "home".
6 sports, 22 sessions here and the opening ceremony ....dress rehearsl!0 -
Collection at box office is an option on all tickets sold now
Yep, picked up a few more tickets last night, just hoping the two sessions that I had no option but to go with postage become available again to allow me to buy new tickets (for collection) and resell the originals before they get posted out.0
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