Coast on scalpers’ radar
Consumers warned off using ticket resale sites
HUNDREDS of tickets for Gold Coast events are being scalped online for up to six times their original price.
Controversial ticket reseller Viagogo has listings for tickets to almost all coming concerts at The Star Gold Coast and 2018 Commonwealth Games swimming, netball, hockey and diving events – most of them at greatly inflated prices.
The site had tickets this week to Star shows including Boney M (October 20) from $499, The Led Zeppelin Experience (November 17) from $499 and The Human League (December 16) from $499. None of those shows have sold out yet. Ticketek still has tickets for sale to Boney M for $79.90 to $119.90 (+ booking fee), to Human League from $99 and to The Led Zeppelin Experience from $59.90.
Other Viagogo listings included three-day event and camping passes to the now sold-out Byron Bay Falls Festival from $2900 (original sale price $432) and gold tickets to November 12’s sold-out Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders concert at Sirromet Winery from $1075 (originally $199.90).
Federal and state governments have all warned punters to boycott secondary seller sites such as the Swiss-based company Viagogo and Ticketmaster Resale.
A spokesperson for The Star Gold Coast said all concerts and shows playing its theatre are listed on the property’s website with direct links to authorised sellers. She said people could also visit The Star’s on-site box office to buy tickets to any show in Australia being sold by Ticketek.
Consumer watchdog Choice said the sites have come under fire over hefty mark-ups, hidden fees, cancelled events and for failing to issue refunds for ‘fake’ tickets.
Scammers are also using the sites to potentially resell the same ticket/seat to several people, sometimes making the original purchase with a stolen credit card. Patrons are left disappointed when they find themselves refused entry to an event, with the invalid tickets seized or cancelled without refund or exchange.
A Choice study of 1051 complaints across Australia, New Zealand and the UK found 75 per cent of participants paid more than the original price of the ticket using a resale site while 56 per cent said they were slugged hidden fees.
Respondents said they were tricked into believing the website they were using was the official ticket seller in 79 per cent of the Australian case studies.
The study found 66 per cent of participants said they were linked to resale websites via a Google search but only 20 per cent could identify the reseller website and the official seller.
Consumers aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch from online ticket resale channels, with ticketing agencies and the live performance industry also calling for action to halt the increase in ticket fraud.
The Competition and Consumer Commission is taking Viagogo to court after receiving hundreds of complaints from customers. It alleges the company breached Australian Consumer Law when reselling tickets to music, entertainment and sport events.
Attorney-General and Justice Minister Yvette D’Ath said the Queensland Office of Fair Trading received 49 complaints from consumers about Viagogo – 43 of them in the past 12 months.