What do you think of scalpers?

Question

Here in Australia, Big Day Out (a music festival) tickets in Sydney went on sale on Wednesday. They sold out in minutes.

Organisers and promoters had a two ticket maximum on all sales to prevent scalping of tickets after last years event sold out in 45 minutes and previous years have also had scalpers scalping tickets.

Now the media is reporting that tickets are being resold online for up to $22,000AU when the actual sale price was less than $150.

What do you think of scalpers and of this practice?

What should be done to remedy this situation? What practices do other countries have in place to prevent scalping?

Answer 1

Concert tickets should be sold like airline tickets - with the person's name on them. Ticketholders would need to show ID when presenting the ticket for entry to the show.

Yes, it would slow things down at the gate, but it would solve the problem. I haven't been to a concert in years because you can't get good tickets.

Answer 2

If you take away the demand for the tickets, scalping would no longer be profitable.

I realize that is easier said than done, but if no one patronized the scalpers of these tickets, they would be back down close to $150 before the concert.

I live near Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The stadium is on the border of Green Bay and Ashwaubenon. One city prohibits scalping, the other doesn't, so they just sit on the other side of the street. The only other answer would be to have federal law prohibiting scalping. That way, borders wouldn't matter.

Answer 3

I personally hate scalpers in all their forms including the people who lined up for PS3's and Wii's just to overcharge people on the internet. It really takes the fun out of the entire experience especially at concerts that you really couldnt afford to go to in the first place

There is no remedy thats just what happens when theres "honest" money someones going to try and find their share of it even if its not legal or ethical.

I think scalping is handled by the security at whatever stadium the performance is but it doesnt work its just meant to be a deterent like most law enforcement.

The only cure would be for people to be willing to miss a show or be happy with just going and not with the seat positions but since all seats are not equal that will never happen

Answer 4

Scalpers must be apprehended and tried in court in order to prevent this perennial problem.

Answer 5

in america we have undercover cops that will attemp to buy tickets from scalpers and then arrest them. i thought you were talking about scalping people at first, hahaha!

Answer 6

i don't worry about it. fight amongst yourselves, no shows i'm interested in are affected. the simple solution is to remove the profitability. $150 was robbery to start with.

Answer 7

capitalism at its finest

consumerism at its worst