Scalping a moral matter rather than one of legality
His Trade Me account shows he has been a member of the site since 2005, and has sold plenty of tickets in the past.
He went from defending himself and shunning the ‘‘scalper’’ label to appearing red-faced on television.
‘‘It doesn’t look too flash, does it?’’ he told Campbell Live. ‘‘It’s clear that I’ve cocked up.’’ But even a ribbing from colleagues during question time in Parliament was given light-heartedly.
ECONOMIC Development Minister Steven Joyce was grinning widely when he said scalping may have been taking place ‘‘from a red-painted ticket sales office in Naenae’’ – a reference to Mr Mallard’s electorate office, where he exchanged the Homegrown tickets for money from three young music fans.
‘‘It is possibly part of a chain of offices all across Lower Hutt,’’ Mr Joyce said to uproarious laughter.
Mr Mallard laughed along as Mr Joyce continued, saying: ‘‘Notwithstanding that the perpetrator has been quoted in the paper as saying, ‘It’s not what it looks like,’ I think in this case it is what it looks like, and what it looks like is a clear case of do as I say but not as I do.’’ But that is as far as the debate went. Because it is, after all, a question of morality not legality.
Trade Me spokesman Paul Ford says ticket on-selling is about supply and demand. A limited supply makes a secondary market inevitable, even if it is a small market.
It goes against the grain of Trade Me to regulate pricing. We leave it to [members] to decide what an item is worth. If they see something they like the look of, they bid. If they think it’s too expensive or not their cup of tea, they don’t bid. PAUL FORD, TRADE ME SPOKESMAN
‘‘A couple of years ago we polled the Trade Me community about whether we should allow the on-sale of tickets.
‘‘The result was an overwhelming yes, 81 per cent, so we decided to continue to allow their sale.’’
But anyone wanting tickets to anything protected under the Major Events Management Act – such as the Rugby World Cup, World Rowing Championships, Volvo Ocean Race Auckland stopover – cannot turn to Trade Me since on-selling is prohibited.
And there are strict conditions around providing ‘‘proof of goods’’ for tickets not covered under the act – like those for One Direction concerts, Mr Ford says.
But once they are proven to be legitimate, the sky is the limit on bids.
A Wellington fan proved this when $2010 was paid for two One Direction concert tickets, which had a face value of $93.50 each.
‘‘It goes against the grain of Trade Me to regulate pricing,’’ Mr Ford says. ‘‘We leave it to [members] to decide what an item is worth.
‘‘If they see something they like the look of, they bid.
‘‘If they think it’s too expensive or not their cup of tea, they don’t bid. We’d be reluctant to intervene and impose constraints here, as it is a slippery slope.’’
Another act trying to prevent this ‘‘slippery slope’’ is the Commerce Act, preventing pricefixing, he says.
‘‘If it became illegal to scalp tickets in New Zealand, then these items would automatically breach our terms and would be removed as we don’t allow anything that is illegal to be sold on Trade Me.’’
Tickets are a tiny money-spinner for the online trading website, so revenue is not a factor in deciding whether to continue to do so.
‘‘In terms of the moral position, the reasons for sale can vary from one person to another.
‘‘We’re not into making moral judgments about members.