F**KING Touts

Is there anyway of preventing this?
I can't imagine a photo registration system a la Glastonbury working. Unless you register and have picture,thumbprint etc logged previously with the original ticket sellers.
All ticket sellers would have to use the same system. It would rule out spontaneous buyers.
Gigs like Springsteen and the forthcoming LZ one are a bloody goldmine for these leeches.

Howard

At a slight tangent, be warned of a system used by www.seetickets.com during "exceptionally busy times". In these days of tickets for really popular gigs or festivals selling out within 20 minutes of going on sale, they don't do the authorisation on your card at the time you first book in order to speed up online processing. Fair enough, but just be sure you type ALL your card details in correctly. Otherwise your order will be cancelled and you will have to re-book. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me that authorisation had failed until 4 hours after the original booking when all tickets had sold out :-/

Tickets for the Belfast gig were limited to 4per person ,Hard to believe they sold all online tickets in under 5mins

Not sure what % of tickets are available for 1st day sale.Don't forget all the industry,groups freebies. Venues also have some as do other ticket agencies.
How big are the Belfast and London venues?

They could start by limiting it to 1 ticket per applicant. Inconvenient I know but ultimately fair.

Chaps

This really is a stupid topic. The easiest way to stop touts is not to buy from them.

They only exist because droveloads of mugs buy from them.

Dead easy solution ..... don't buy.

Regards

Mick

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps

This really is a stupid topic. The easiest way to stop touts is not to buy from them.

They only exist because droveloads of mugs buy from them.

Dead easy solution ..... don't buy.

Regards

Mick

Oh if life was that easy Mick ...we on here may not ever buy from touts ..but the great unwashed will

.....ebay simply needs to stop selling tickets. OR be only allowed to sell at face value or less (as is the case on many bands own forums e.g. Steely Dan's)

The point Mick is trying to stop the touts either getting the tickets or not being able to profit from them.
You usual simplistic answer misses the point, consistent but not useful.

First let me say I detest touts and would like to see them curtailed. It is extremely galling to see tickets being snapped purely up to be sold at a profit, thus depriving the true fan of obtaining them. I have, however, when the alternative has been to miss the opportunity of attending an event I really wanted to go to, used the services of touts. I was fortunate enough to get hold of tickets for Steely Dan in July but would have bought from touts if that was the only way to see the once a decade visit of one of my favourite bands.

However, the uncomplicated Tory philosophy that Mick expounds on this forum is, that where there is a profit to be made, it is up to entrepreneurs to exploit it. This is the simple law of supply and demand that Mick admires so much. Remember, touting is not illegal. Why then would he recommend we do not patronise them? After all, are not ticket agencies with their exorbitant booking fees, simply touts with a legitimate veneer?

If you admire and promote the profit motive then it seems inconsistent to apply it to certain areas of the market but not others.

Chaps

The point I am making is that anyone who pays a high price off a tout is a total mug and deserves to be fleeced.

This is a free market economy and there is nothing to stop you or I buying up a thousand tickets and flogging them off.

Your choice.

What I find strange is that everyone moans about touts and then goes off and buys from them.

Regards

Mick

I thought it was illegal to resell a ticket at more than its face value - if it isn't then it should be. I agree that touts are the scum of the earth and I would never buy a ticket from a tout.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
I thought it was illegal to resell a ticket at more than its face value -

Nope, you would probably be breaking a bylaw by selling on the street but there is nothing to stop a private (or public, via ebay) transaction between two individuals involving concert tickets.

You do break the law if you tout football tickets (and there's a very good reason for that, in that it is intended to keep fans separate and thus prevent violence).

As far as concert ticket touting goes, I haven't the slightest problem with it. It only occurs because there is a gap in market: tickets are being sold below their market price and the tout is exploiting that. In a free market this is bound to happen and moaning about ebay's policy or the law is unlikely to have much effect, what would is concert promoters selling the tickets at market price.

Of course, the argument that usually comes in here is in my view bizarre, namely that this would price genuine fans out of the market. In many cases this is doubtless true. But what about somebody earning minimum wage who is a genuine fan of Ferrari cars or diamonds - we don't see this argument applied to anything else. (And before I get flamed for my hideous values, lack of compassion, etc., I would just point out that I write that as someone earning below the national average.)

There was an interesting article about all this a while back in the Economist.


regards, Tam

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:I would never buy a ticket from a tout.

Not even if ISB reformed for a one-off gig at Royal Festival Hall doing 5000 Spirits and Hangman's Beautiful Daughter in their entirety.

quote:

Originally posted by Malky:

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:I would never buy a ticket from a tout.

Not even if ISB reformed for a one-off gig at Royal Festival Hall doing 5000 Spirits and Hangman's Beautiful Daughter in their entirety.

I'd be up for that but probably wouldn't need to buy off a tout!