Tuesday 30 March 2010

Sophisticated touts

If you have been to any main event in the entertainment or sporting arenas then you would have come across ticket touts. They sell tickets to those who have travelled to the event but have not managed to buy there own ticket. The touts are happy because they have made money. Those who buy off the touts are happy because they managed to get into the event. Everyone is happy.

The problem with this is that genuine fans don't get to see the show. The people who do get to see it are the people who can afford to pay an entrance fee significantly higher than the advertised price. Well that's capitalism you might say, but I thought we had some protection from the rat race. Tickets are often printed "non-transferable" as the promoter wants the profit not some shady characters on street corners. Well there is no shade any longer. Ebay sell tickets but there are now even more sophisticated organisations that will sell on tickets for profit. I saw an advert on TV for one such group yesterday.

If I go to the official website I can pay £35 plus £3.50 fees for a ticket to see Peter Kay (I'm not keen on two prices for one ticket too) or I can go to another website £85 to £409. Maybe the tout asking for £409 had to work hard to get the best seats. Look at it another way and they worked hard to stop the genuine fan getting the best seats.

Change the world

1 comment:

  1. I have recently got tickets for two gigs, at official site prices of £40 and £50, dread to think what the touts would be selling them at. Although my daughter lost her ticket, but the friends she was going with hadn't, and she managed to get a ticket from a tout at less than she orignally paid, mind you, it was only something like 20 minutes to the start of the gig.

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