Twickets e-ticket - no protection for sellers?

Shreddie_Muncher

Hi all

My wife bought e-tickets to a gig but, due to a change in work shifts, was unable to go and so sold the e-tickets on Twickets. We were contacted after the gig by the buyer of the tickets, who said that they had written evidence of having been denied entry to the venue as the tickets had already been used. PayPal have found in their favour, leaving us out of pocket by over £90.

We know we didn’t use the tickets or sell them more than once. It seems possible that an unscrupulous buyer could make multiple copies of an e-ticket and go to the venue with multiple people; one person per ticket to go to the gig, and one to get proof of non-entry in order to claim the cost of the ticket back. There is no evidence of our innocence, or the buyer’s guilt; this points at a potential flaw in the Twickets system.

My frustration is that Twickets are allowing e-tickets to be sold as though they are physical tickets (i.e. a competitive good which can only be in the possession of one person), but provide no protections for the seller. E-tickets are different to a physical ticket as they are infinitely duplicable; I had presumed that Twickets would have a system to protect the site’s users, but this seems to not be the case.

The Twickets customer service team have said that the judgement is down to PayPal and there is nothing they can do, but my sense is that Twickets are profiting from an insecure marketplace and have a duty to protect their users from fraud. Paypal have said without new evidence there is no appeal to be made. Can anyone offer any advice for a next step in 1/ claiming the money back, and 2/ protecting others from the same issue?

Thanks!

JP._2

Based on just a quick look, Twickets says, "Where PayPal is used, you're covered by PayPal's Seller Protection policy." So, it's PayPal's conditions that apply not Twickets's.

Under the PayPal user agreement, section 9.3, seller protection only applies to "a physical, tangible good that can be shipped", which e-tickets are not.

If those are the terms and conditions that you agreed to, that's probably how it's going to be. Sorry I can't offer more hope. Move on; don't let it get you down.

Shreddie_Muncher

Thanks for taking the time to look into it JP -- I appreciate your advice. I think we will have to move on, as you suggest, and to deal with physical tickets only if selling to Twickets.