217 posts
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Post by Rozzi Rainbow on Aug 21, 2016 18:04:49 GMT
I think the big difference is between people buying tickets with every intention of going to the event, and then at the time not being able to go, and people who buy tickets purely to tout at hugely inflated prices. I have no objection to the first, and don't mind if the price is inflated slightly due to demand. I bought a resale ticket for the tennis at the O2 last year. (The exact players you see aren't confirmed till a couple of days before, so I didn't know which day I wanted to go, by which time it was sold out. So I was pleased to get a ticket from someone who presumably wanted different players. I did pay more than face value, but it was for the front row and was amazing, worth every penny.) It the second option which really needs clamping down on. I do feel for the people who were turned away, if they were happy to pay an extortionate amount for their tickets they should have been allowed in. I do agree that it's possibly the only way to avoid the excessive profits being made by touting though, so I don't know what an ideal solution would be. I did actually consider buying a resale ticket for HP as I've been unable to get one the normal way, but they were too much. I'm glad in a way now I didn't, as it would be much worse to have a ticket but not get in.
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217 posts
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Post by Rozzi Rainbow on Aug 23, 2016 17:36:48 GMT
My humble ideas are:
Only allow tickets to go on resale sites within a certain timescale of the event date - e.g. two weeks, or a month. This allows for those who can no longer go, but touts have to wait much longer - over a year in the case of Harry Potter - before they can make their money. Means they're out of pocket in the meantime, and don't have the cash to "invest" in more tickets.
In the case of Harry Potter, buyers have to pass a quiz to confirm they are a genuine fan and not a tout before being allowed to buy tickets. (Not really being serious here.)
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81 posts
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Post by addictedtotheatre on Aug 28, 2016 10:43:04 GMT
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4,156 posts
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Post by kathryn on Aug 28, 2016 12:01:48 GMT
Touting is rarely as much of a problem for theatre as it is for gigs. For some really hot acts touts will auto-buy huge numbers of tickets for re-sale, which means the shows sell out incredibly quickly and normal fans can't get hold of tickets. They then whack them on re-sale sites at incredibly inflated prices - so inflated that they don't manage to sell many of them. People then turn up to a gig that 'sold out in less than 30 minutes' and that you can't book a ticket for from the official seller to find swathes of empty seats!
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5,707 posts
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Post by lynette on Aug 28, 2016 14:50:34 GMT
I'm thinking Harry P will run for yonks, so eventually and perhaps within my lifetime the tix will be readily available.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 13:57:18 GMT
Was just about to post that too! Really enjoyed that article and found it very interesting as I didn't think that sort of thing happened often. I've never been a victim of ticket touting before (touch wood!) but I find it nice that the box office clerk upgraded them to premium seats considering they had paid £105 for upper circle seats |
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999 posts
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Post by Backdrifter on Dec 19, 2018 13:56:09 GMT
^ Hahaha!
That said, I've been in entry queues many times when touts have patrolled it, offering to buy unused tickets.
I've been to a lot of "sold out" concerts and never via buying from touts or resale sites. I've simply played the long game, kept checking the venue and agency sites, and on one or two occasions just showed up on the day to buy day tickets. On one of those occasions, I got into a set-to with a bloke who might as well have worn a sandwich board saying I AM A TOUT, who'd pushed into the queue. Greasy hair, bad skin, grubby windcheater, truculent disposition. He clearly made the mistake of thinking Radiohead fans were all thin, pale, sorrowful weeds. I've seen them, at the merest hint of queue-jumping, turn into the screaming monster from that Aphex Twin video. Heaven help anyone who might bump them one barrier spot further away from Saint Thom.
Anyway, we dispatched him and left the Shepherds Bush pigeons to pick over the scraps.
On that tour, when they were playing small venues for the first time in a long while, they cancelled any tickets for sale on ebay and resold them just before the gigs and on the day which is how I got to see them.
For sold-out plays I've either dayseated or again, checked the venue website for returns in the week or so prior.
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