Crackdown on ‘rip-off’ online ticket touts

Festival and concert-goers will be protected from rip- off online ticket touts under a proposed crackdown.

The Competition and Markets Authority has called for tougher laws for reselling on websites such as Viagogo and StubHub, which allow tickets to be resold for profit.

Reforms would prevent people being “ripped off ” by “unscrupulous resellers online”, it said. This included tougher laws to force the sites to take more responsibility for how people use their services.

New rules would also ban individuals selling more tickets for an event than they could have bought in the primary “box office” market. Proposals would also force websites to ensure consumers have all the information about the tickets, including any restrictions on reselling.

Previously consumers have purchased tickets for events on resale sites only to be turned away, as their names did not match those on the ticket.

The CMA said without reform illegal reselling practices would become worse. It has called for a new licencing system to identify and take down rogue websites more quickly and impose “substantial fines” when sites resell tickets they should not be.

Ticket reselling is legal, although there are restrictions on certain events such as the Olympic or Commonwealth

Games. But the CMA said no one had responsibility for tackling sharp practices. Illegal activity has included touts using false identities to buy up large batches of tickets and using the websites to make excessive profits.

A spokesman for Viagogo said legitimate reselling had a role to play and an outright ban would lead to a black market. “[Proposals] must be carefully considered and focused on improving the service for customers,” he said.

A StubHub spokesman said: “Discussions should include a review of primary ticket sellers that disadvantage fans with restrictions on transferability or the way tickets are allocated for sale.”