Dispatches- The Great Ticket Scandal, C4 Thursday 9pm

[dondo]

Just seen this trailered and looks as if it could be interesting

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-108/episode-1

To quote

" Fans queuing for hours to buy tickets get turned away empty handed while tickets for the same 'sold out' events appear online shortly afterwards, sometimes at astronomical prices.

Channel 4 News correspondent Morland Sanders investigates the multi-million-pound world of online ticket reselling where fans desperate not to miss out on in-demand concerts, festivals and sporting events often buy their tickets.

Leading 'fan-to-fan' ticket exchange websites say they allow 'real fans' to sell on tickets they can no longer use.

Dispatches sent reporters undercover inside two major 'fan-to-fan' ticket exchange websites to investigate who is selling via their websites and why so many tickets appear at over the face value so soon after the box office sells out."

Not a huge fan of Dispatches as a programme but this looks like it could be worth a watch

[dondo]

Dispatches is a terrible program in my opinion. They make out norms to be huge shocking scandals...

You had to pay £5 admin me and £5 delivery!!!! SCANDAL!!!!!

When you think about it... It costs about £5 to send something special delivery.... and £5 per ticket admin fee is hardly end of the world....

So hope it goes deeper than that...

[eFestivals]

from what's posted above, it sounds like they might have got people working for the likes of Viagogo, and that their public claims are completely different to what they say within those companies.

If they've managed to get stuff like that, good on them.

[Smally]

The advert shows employees buying tickets upon offical realse then reselling on sites like ebay straight away.

Should be an intresting watch.

[dondo]

from what's posted above, it sounds like they might have got people working for the likes of Viagogo, and that their public claims are completely different to what they say within those companies.

If they've managed to get stuff like that, good on them.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Still cant believe that Seatwave have opened an office near the O2.

[Gre]

Having seen the trailer Neil I think that is the kind of stuff they may have

[eFestivals]

Yep - words used by staff in the trailer include 'highly immoral'.

I don't think any of this will be a massive surprise to many people on here, but may finally lead to some regulation in the industry. (I can wish, right?)

It really doesn'ty need regulation, it just needs ticket buyers to get a brain.

All anyone achieves by going along with the touts is ever higher prices for any tickets they buy. The only time to buy from touts is when you buy at less than face value so they've made a loss.

It really is that simple.

Any attempt at regulation will simply be high-jacked by promoters to ensure that new-comers into the market can't ever get their foot in (so we might as well keep the touts ) - the promoters have already proven that's what they want by their previous attempts at lobbying govt about this.

[kaosmark2]

Agree with Neil...

Never have and never would buy a ticket above face value (I would cover off someone's liabilities like admin fee / postage they might of paid)...

I also never sell a ticket above face value (plus the admin fee / postage)...

Its just bloody wrong, selfish and a little bit nasty...

If there wasn't a market these arseholes wouldn't be able to operate...

[eFestivals]

(street touts, I hate them less than Viagogo etc.)

They're far less scumbags than the likes of viagogo and the people who buy tickets to sell on there.

At least street touts have to put some work in, standing outside, often in the cold. And generally they buy & sell from the queue, dealing with genuine spares rather than buying tickets only for the purposes of touting which denies tickets to genuine buyers.

The fact that street tours had to put actual real work into their touting was what kept every tom dick and harry from doing it. Via the work they put in they do actually 'add value' to what they sell - the people going to the gig don't want to work at selling their spares which is where the street touts come in.

The explosion in touting is due to the net where almost no work is involved - which gets to show that such people are simply profiteers with nothing honest about them.

[kaosmark2]

They're far less scumbags than the likes of viagogo and the people who buy tickets to sell on there.

At least street touts have to put some work in, standing outside, often in the cold. And generally they buy & sell from the queue, dealing with genuine spares rather than buying tickets only for the purposes of touting which denies tickets to genuine buyers.

The fact that street tours had to put actual real work into their touting was what kept every tom dick and harry from doing it. Via the work they put in they do actually 'add value' to what they sell - the people going to the gig don't want to work at selling their spares which is where the street touts come in.

The explosion in touting is due to the net where almost no work is involved - which gets to show that such people are simply profiteers with nothing honest about them.

[jump]

I can't remember but I think I read somewhere once that Viagogo or Getmein are losing money. Is there any truth to that?

[eFestivals]

I can't remember but I think I read somewhere once that Viagogo or Getmein are losing money. Is there any truth to that?

nearly all the sites like that have burnt their way thru amounts of seed/investment money.

[Ed209]

I've used street touts a couple of times. Never paid too much over the odds, and in some instances have got them at a steal. I find them quite a useful service actually.

There was this one occasion when I was with a group of 5 mates going to see J5 at Brixton, we were standing in the queue and my mate who had all the tickets handed them out to us. All 5 of us had our tickets in hand, job done. As we were still waiting in the queue my mate saw a spare ticket on the ground. Thinking he could make a bit of money on it he went and sold it to a tout for £15.

We get to the front of the queue and we all get in fine except the friend who handed out the tickets. What he thought was his ticket was actually the receipt. Yup, he had sold his actual ticket to the tout. He had to go and buy it back off him for £50!

Fair play to the touts for capitilising on such stupidity. Oh how I laughed .... for a very long time

[dondo]

Interestingly found this statement from seatwave online

To All Seatwave Customers,

As you may be aware, this Thursday’s edition of Channel 4’s Dispatches is devoted to the ticketing industry (‘The Great Ticket Scandal’, 9pm). It is the second in their February series looking at the way event tickets and prices are managed by private companies.

The programme is almost certain to include some coverage of Seatwave. We know now that Dispatches sent in an undercover reporter some months ago, to pose as an employee and surreptitiously film and record how we do business ‘behind the scenes.’ As we’ve been told to expect by the programme producers, there will probably be a selection of Seatwave employees appearing on-screen and speaking – unfairly, and likely out of context, in my view – about the company.

For the record: Seatwave has done nothing wrong, and in no way do we accept that surreptitious filming was justified in the development of this programme. If they had asked us, we would have been happy to answer their questions. We’re aware of the concerns some people have about the secondary ticketing market in general, and as such, we take our reputation for transparency, protecting fans, and responsible business behaviour very seriously.

What we do as a business is pretty simple: Seatwave helps fans get better access to tickets in a safe, transparent way. Our mission is to ensure that people get to see their favourite band or sporting event – without ever having to venture into a car park with a wad of banknotes again.

From the outset, we set up guarantees to ensure that fans would get the tickets they paid for (TicketIntegrity™), and wouldn’t be out of pocket if an event they’d bought tickets for was cancelled (TicketCover™). With guarantees like these, we have consistently led the ticketing market towards more customer-friendly practices. Transparency and security were, and still are, our top priorities.

Anyone who wants to understand what Seatwave is really about, should read our manifesto.

We will be watching closely on the night of broadcast, and as a Seatwave customer we encourage you to do the same. I will likely be Tweeting on the night, and may even add a blog post to our site. Follow me at @SeatwaveJoe and I will tweet the link if that happens.

For now, we will wait for Thursday and watch the broadcast with great interest. Until then, I encourage you to share any thoughts or concerns, and ask me any questions you may have. Please email me at joe@###### and I will be happy to answer them.

All the best,

[kaosmark2]

Looks like an attempt to preemptively deflect criticism.

[Katster]

It really doesn'ty need regulation, it just needs ticket buyers to get a brain.

All anyone achieves by going along with the touts is ever higher prices for any tickets they buy. The only time to buy from touts is when you buy at less than face value so they've made a loss.

It really is that simple.

Any attempt at regulation will simply be high-jacked by promoters to ensure that new-comers into the market can't ever get their foot in (so we might as well keep the touts ) - the promoters have already proven that's what they want by their previous attempts at lobbying govt about this.

[grumpyhack]

I appreciate that it wouldn't work for general gigs but with major festivals the Glastonbury approach for all the hassle of pre-registration and passport photos does seem to work.

[kaosmark2]

I appreciate that it wouldn't work for general gigs but with major festivals the Glastonbury approach for all the hassle of pre-registration and passport photos does seem to work.

[eFestivals]

Didn't I say this years ago?

I am pretty sure you disagreed with me. Many people certainly did!!

Not me.

You can search this site and find efests news items on the issue of touting from years ago taking the same line as I've laid out there. I've been 100% consistent with what I've said about touting and possible regulation ever since net touting has become an issue.

[jump]

From the outset, we set up guarantees to ensure that fans would get the tickets they paid for (TicketIntegrity™), and wouldn't be out of pocket if an event they'd bought tickets for was cancelled (TicketCover™). With guarantees like these, we have consistently led the ticketing market towards more customer-friendly practices. Transparency and security were, and still are, our top priorities.

[Katster]

if half the tickets for a popular show go to touts, how else are people supposed to be able to get tickets?

[jump]

They don't. And for a time it would mean you miss out on bands you want to see but long term it means you get to see bands you want for a more reasonable price.

Due to the ridiculous costs of tickets I have had to miss out on bands I want to see for years so welcome to my world.

[Katster]

Why don't you wait till the very last minute and then get them off a tout? I can normally get sold out tixs for face value or less by waiting and just did it last night and got 3 Rammstein tixs for £78 when they are £45 face value.

[jump]

you can't rely on that...

maybe it's just Rammstein...?