Secondary ticket market a big problem despite closure of Ticketmaster resale sites

Ticketmaster’s decision to close its resale sites in the UK and Europe has been welcomed by Australian operators – but they say the secondary market for concert tickets remains a big problem.

From October, the ticketing giant will replace its resale sites Get Me In! and Seatwave with a fan-to-fan ticket exchange on Ticketmaster, where unwanted tickets can be sold at the price originally paid or less.

However, Ticketmaster was unable to say whether the platform whether the new exchange platform would be launched in Australia and local operators and promoters say companies like Viagogo still pose a major threat.

Twickets founder and CEO Richard Davies says it encouraging to see the biggest ticketing company in the world take this step and he hopes the new Ticketmaster platform will enable people to sell on tickets they no longer need to other fans at face value.

Twickets founder and CEO Richard Davies

“However, the battle to create a fairer, more transparent, resale market continues,” he adds. “Companies such as Viagogo and StubHub, and Ticketbis in Europe, still tout tickets on an industrial scale, placing profit ahead of fairness to consumers. We will continue to be the one-stop resale solution for fans across the globe.”

A fan-to-fan ticket exchange would go some way to allay the concerns of promoters that ticket sellers are not doing enough to prevent companies such as Viagogo from buying tickets and reselling them at vastly inflated prices.

However, some argue that there would be no need for resale companies if ticket companies were prepared to issue refunds for people who had a genuine reason for not being able to attend a concert they had previously bought a ticket for.