scalping
Latest
Ticketmaster caught enlisting pro scalpers for online resales (updated)
Ticketmaster claims it's fighting scalpers tooth and nail, but it may be aiding them in private. Exposés at CBC News and the Toronto Star have shown the company courting professional scalpers, even when it's clear they're using bots or otherwise violating Ticketmaster's terms of service. The company quietly launched a secretive ticket inventory system, TradeDesk, that lets scalpers upload high volumes of tickets and quickly resell them at the price of their choice. Moreover, Ticketmaster salespeople caught on camera were adamant that they didn't verify whether or not TradeDesk users were violating terms of service, including the use of bots -- at least one rep was fully aware of the activity.
Ticketmaster shuts down its UK ticket resale sites
After a UK watchdog threatened legal action, Ticketmaster has announced that it's shutting down its second-hand ticket reselling sites, Get Me In and Seatwave. Instead, the site is launching a fan-to-fan ticket exchange that lets you buy or sell tickets at the original price or less. The new site will roll out in October in the UK and Ireland (and in Europe in early 2019), but as of today, you'll no longer be able to buy tickets for new events on Get Me In and Seatwave.
Gig ticket sellers should learn from Dice's new refund option
Now in its third year, UK gig app Dice has made a name for itself by selling tickets for some of the world's biggest music acts without additional overheads. There are no booking fees and tickets are tightly linked to an account, meaning all you need to do is pay the listing price and show your phone at the door. The process all but eliminates scalpers, but getting your money back when you can't make a gig hasn't been especially easy. With Refund Tickets, however, Dice has introduced a new button for sold out gigs that gives you your money back if someone on the waiting list wants to take it off your hands.
NY Governor Cuomo signs bill outlawing online scalpers
Getting tickets to Beyoncé and Hamilton is already hard enough but it can be nearly impossible if you're competing against the automated purchasers used by 21st century scalpers. These so-called "ticket bots" are specifically designed to get around the strict per-customer purchase limits on sites like TicketMaster and LiveNation, allowing a small handful of individuals to buy a lion's share of a show and then offer them on the resale market for a massive profit. But that's no longer the case in New York where, governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation banning these robots.
'Hamilton' creator Miranda joins the fight against ticket bots
Hate that ticket bots robbed you of a chance to see that big concert or musical? So does Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Hamilton author is teaming up with Senator Charles Schumer to promote a proposed federal bill, the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act, geddit?), that would fine bot users $16,000 for every ticket they sell. That's far harsher than in Schumer's own New York state, where a recently passed law tops out at a $1,000 total fine and no more than a year in prison. Miranda is coming aboard as proof that these bots can do real damage -- scalpers made roughly $15.5 million from Hamilton alone, and jacked prices from $189 to as much as $2,000. It'd also start a task force that would detect these bootleggers.
