Concert tickets resold at rip-off prices online

UP to a quarter of tickets for many popular concerts, theatre and sporting events end up being resold at rip-off prices online, an investigation found.

Many people can now only get tickets by using sites such as Viagogo, GetMeIn!, Seatwave and StubHub, according to consumer group Which?. It found 26 per cent of tickets for comedian Jack Whitehall’s upcoming Hammersmith Apollo show ended up on the four sites.

Around 17 per cent of tickets to see Lady Gaga at the O2 Arena in London and Tony Bennett at the Royal Albert Hall were also being resold.

Tickets for the first night of the BBC Proms with an original cost of £38 were being sold for £152 on GetMeIn!.

The law states the websites should list the original face value of tickets and any restrictions on seats. But Which? found 49 per cent of consumers thought they were official sellers despite repeated warnings to the sites, which act as intermediaries for third party sellers.

Ticketmaster, which owns GetMeIn! and Seatwave, said resales make up a very small proportion of its business and that it always seeks to be transparent.