A Word on Viagogo

[Explosions_In_The_Sky]

A mate of mine who missed out on the main sale bought a weekend ticket off these guys last night (for around £300). I immediately thought he was a bit ill advised to do so due to all the negative reaction I've read on the net. Anyway I decided to have a closer look at their buying process to see how well he's protected.

It seems to be the common consensus on the net that your actually more safer paying the same price for a ticket on eBay. I've actually seen a fair few threads on other forums where people who have bought a ticket through viagogo are now panicking as everyone's telling them there is no guarantee the ticket will arrive. However, from reading it seems that only the most braindead rip-off merchant would attempt to operate through Viagogo:

1) The seller doesn't get paid until the buyer has confirmed that they have received the tickets they have ordered. People keep saying on the net that Viagogo is a nice way to have an interest fee loan until August. This just isn't true.

2) The seller has to provide bank details in order to sell, and if the transaction doesn't go through they will automatically be whacked with a fee. In keeping with the rest of the site I think it's fair to assume that this fee would be quite substantial to Del Boy's piggy bank.

3) The delivery of the ticket is handled by Viagogo. They send for the ticket to be collected, and forward it on with Special Delivery each way. Your not relying on someone to send it who may be a bit simple who ships it standard delivery.

Moreover, with Viagogo being an official sponsor, and FR making a killing on recommissioned tickets they've already sold once before, it seems likely that they will have a batch of tickets held over for f**kups. FR are going to want this beautiful partnership to run smoothly so they can make even more on it next year!

Now I don't want to seem to be advocating legalised touting, I don't like touting full stop but I understand the concept of supply and demand enough to not get militant about it like many people on forums. It's got to the stage where people who have a ticket with viagogo are making topics (mainly on the official boards) saying they aren't getting excited about the festival as they are buying into all the nonsense of 'whilst they can guarantee you your money, they can't guarantee a ticket'. Whilst a ticket can never be 100% guaranteed to arrive before the festival (even if you bought it from SEE) I'd say it's sure a lot safer than dealing through Ebay. If your Ebay ticket don't arrive in time, your generally screwed. If you Viagogo one is delayed, you head down there anyway and meet some bloke in dodgy shades with a clipboard outside the gates...

Guess my message is if you already bought a viagogo ticket to relax and look forward to the festival with the rest of us. Ok, you've paid a little more than the rest of us, but I'm sure that won't bother you come late August. Also, if your looking for a ticket, I'd say use them above eBay (and certainly above other scam sites) if the prices are the same. Certainly don't use the dodgy unofficial resellers that disappoint loads of people every year.

And no I don't work for them, it just seems people are discouraging people to use the safest way to buy resold tickets because they don't believe it's ethical or that it's hypocritical for FR to jump into bed with such a company. All that's going to do is scare people towards the even worst rip-off sites.

[thomasowen]

I brought a girls aloud ticket for my sister from Viagogo and it was a delight to use, ticket came very early and well packaged, and was as described. Only downside was having to pay tripple the price. There is definatley a more reasuring feeling to using this site than ebay (the one time I got a ticket on there was a disastor)

Edited April 23, 2009 by thomasowen

[DougalMcGuire]

But there are still weekend tickets available from Seetickets at face value aren't there? For £186.75?

[beLIEveR]

My problem with Viagogo is simple.

Seetickets, as an example, aim to deliver a week before an event, but only guarantee to have it there 48 hours beforehand, and that's assuming nothing goes wrong. Which it can- you may not be at home to sign or they may simply get lost in the post.

Now if you're the person buying from seetickets that's just an inconvenience, you go to the box office, get your tickets, bam. But as a buyer, if that happens, that's very nice but you have no ticket and you won't get your money back until after the event, so you won't be able to try touts at the actual venue (not that I condone that either). And as a seller, if seetickets let you down, Viagogo are probably going to charge you a fee, whether it was your fault or not, and fight as hard as possible not to pay it back on the basis that it's your fault, unless you can prove otherwise.

I agree, if you're desperate enough that you HAVE to buy online, Viagogo is the least bad option, but they should be forced to remove the 100% guaranteed claim on the basis that they cannot 100% guarantee them.

That is false advertising, which last time I checked was illegal. However high their success rate is, it's not 100%. And if 100% of buyers don't get the ticket they paid for, it's not a 100% guarantee, even if you get your money back.

Edited April 23, 2009 by beLIEveR

[hearing_aid]

I think one of the other problems with the site, and with festival republic now being connected with them, its making touting a legitimate and even an acceptable thing to do. Its just a massive step in the wrong direction.

With Glastonbury making positive steps to stop touting it shows it can be done, tho I know it is impossible for all gigs and festivals to take the steps Glastonbury.

Though I can see their are some positive to this sites compared to other places, ebay, etc it just strikes me as Festival Republic seeing how much secondary tickets go for and now they have found a way to get some of the profit from it. Potentially even worse I assume now festival republic will be abl to see how many people use Viagogo and what they sell tickets for thus giving them a way of judging how much they could charge tickets for in future years.

In the short term for individuals I can see how this site can be a 'good' or 'less bad' option but like I said, making touting an acceptable, even professional thing to do is a really bad thing. I can only see other companies following in this way, in fact I think ticket master already has something similar?

[Paul ™]

Tickets on sale from official sources, why use these sites?

[hearing_aid]

Tickets on sale from official sources, why use these sites?

[beLIEveR]

There is another, far bigger problem I have with Viagogo and its competitors existing.

The fact that this sort of thing will become common practise, meaning fewer tickets at face value in the first place

[Dropkick Murphy]

The government need to step in and take action, make it illegal to re-sell tickets. Regardless of how safe Viagogo may be, its not the point. Festival Republic are taking advantage of the lack of laws against touting by being massive hypocrites and taking a massive profit in the process.

This is a new low.

Edited April 24, 2009 by Dropkick Murphy

[shoptildrop]

The problem is people on message boards such as this are very informed on the situation, but we are very much in the minority. Just look at how many people attend the festival compared to the users of these boards.

Most people who now go to see tickets or the official site will see Sold Out and think, right, thats it, its sold out. They won't be aware that tickets go back on sale etc. The natural things for them to do is go to ebay or a place like Viagogo for tickets.

[thomasowen]

The government need to step in and take action, make it illegal to re-sell tickets. Regardless of how safe Viagogo may be, its not the point. Festival Republic are taking advantage of the lack of laws against touting by being massive hypocrites and taking a massive profit in the process.

This is a new low.

[Dropkick Murphy]

The problam is some people have genuine reason to resell tickets, and they should be allowed to resell them at face value.

[thomasowen]

The merchant can cancel orders and refund the customer's funds, then put the ticket back on sale. Simple.

[Calm Like A Bomb]

I was interested to read Trent Reznor's thoughts on ticket re-sellers the other day. Click here to have a look.

Reading that opened my eyes to a few things that I hadn't quited twigged before.

[tomisnothere]

scarletmist, as far as i'm concerned, is the only "ethical" reselling point. people sell tickets they can't use for face value. so they get their money back, and someone gets a ticket. it's all very fair.

sites like viagogo, though maybe quite secure, are still essentially promoting touting. because of that, i can't bring myself to condone them.

[Dropkick Murphy]

Exactly, the Glastonbury style registration process will eliminate touts.

However, Melvin Benn is such a greedy bastard that he will not do this by making excuses such as "the crowd that go to Reading/Leeds are younger than those that go to Glastonbury, and most will not have photo ID" - Melvin knows that by not employing this process that his festival will sell out immediately due to touts, resulting in a massive pay-day for himself and FR - then the greedy bastard has decided to make even more money on the tickets through the re-sale on Viagogo. It stinks.

Edited April 24, 2009 by Dropkick Murphy

[Delinquent]

It stinks.

[DougalMcGuire]

However, Melvin Benn is such a greedy bastard that he will not do this by making excuses such as "the crowd that go to Reading/Leeds are younger than those that go to Glastonbury, and most will not have photo ID" - Melvin knows that by not employing this process that his festival will sell out immediately due to touts, resulting in a massive pay-day for himself and FR - then the greedy bastard has decided to make even more money on the tickets through the re-sale on Viagogo. It stinks.

Edited April 25, 2009 by DougalMcGuire