Ebay ticket touts ? Whats the problem ?

Question

Whats really wrong with ebay ticket touting ? I mean, people say they just buy tickets and then sell them for a higher price, which is wrong, but Sainsbury's does the same thing with bread and milk and nobody complains.
I believe it's called capitalism. If you have something you don't want and somebody else is prepared to pay a lot of money for it, you'd sell it wouldn't you ?
If there weren't any buyers, there wouldn't be any ticket touts.
Are people just getting upset because they don't like parting with their own money, and are annoyed with themselves for missing out on tickets when they went on sale ?
I've bought tickets off touts in the past for gigs I didn't know I'd be able to get to and that had sold out. I was more than happy to pay double face value to see Interpol in Brixton because I'm usually in Manchester and I wouldn't otherwise have been able to go as it sold out quickly (and not because of touts).

Answer 1

Firstly, it is illegal to make a substantial mark-up on event tickets in many places. Secondly, it is the genuine fans who are behind the change in legislation in the UK.

How do you think ticket touts got all the good seats anyway? It's easy to figure out. Firstly, they do not work for a living, they collect the dole and do not declare the income they make from their (black market) ticket sales. Secondly, they purchase tickets using several different names and addresses because most venues and promoters limit the number of tickets they sell to events. This usually involves fraud - i.e. using "borrowed" credit card numbers and before changes in the law, even stolen ones, asking for the tickets to be sent to an address other than that of the credit card holder. When the touts realised that some bands were releasing allocations of tickets to fans via their websites, then the touts registered as though they were genuine fans and secured tickets that way, then turned round and sold them. U2, among many other bands, and the Royal Albert Hall, among many other venues, cracked down by only honoring the tickets on the day of the show if the credit card holder was among the attendees. Ebay touts got round this by keeping one ticket for themselves and selling the rest on the condition that the buyers had to pretend they were friends!

The thing that really ticked me off is when my assistant wanted to see her favourite group. The day tickets went on sale, they were ALL snapped up by e-bay sellers, and the prices they were asking were 10x the face value and way beyond what she could afford.

How is THAT fair?

You say you wouldn't be able to go to gigs because the gigs sold out quickly and not because of touts. What on earth makes you think it's not because of touts. Of course it's because of touts!

Answer 2

Hi I'm yet another person in the same situation as many of you . We booked 4 tickets for Leeds on the day they were released as we just missed on the leeds site . My sister got through to the London office and they said the tickets would be sent out after the V Festival this week end . I 'm really not holding out much hope for them materialising. To make matters worse we've booked into Tangerine Fields which is an extra £60 each that we stand to loose . I'm gutted . I will post as soon as we know any more . Really really concerned that there will be hundreds of us turning up at Leeds with no tickets and being seriously let down by these people. They are also still selling tickets for Leeds and Reading which is even more worrying !!

Answer 3

The buyers cannot sell the item in the higher price because there are llisting policy of eBay about tickets, you can only sell the ticket on the exact price that can be found on the ticket's print out. and the other seller that sell tickets higher that the ticket's sale price may get ssuspended on eBay. you can contact the eBay live help to confirm this information.