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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that Ticketmaster should not be allowed to operate like this....

105 replies

itsgoodtobehome · 16/01/2017 10:22

DH and I decided that we would like to go and see the U2 Joshua Tree concert in July. Tickets went on sale at 9am this morning. I went on the site just before 9, and at 9am exactly I hit the 'buy tickets' button. I went into a 'virtual queue' for about 5 minutes, and then the page came up where you choose your tickets. I selected 2 'at any price' and it immediately came back with 'there are no tickets available'. However, it then offers you a link to a resale site where you can get tickets 'from £200 to £800'!!

So basically, within 5 minutes of the tickets going on sale, Ticketmaster have managed to sell them all to a bunch of touts who are now flogging them on-line for upto 8x the original price. This seems to happen whenever a big gig is announced that is likely to be sold out. It just seems really unfair on the average person who is basically priced out of going to see a gig they would really like to see. I don't know how Ticketmaster are allowed to get away with this. They are just making ticket touting legal.

Angry - needing to vent!!

OP posts:
LumpySpacePrick · 16/01/2017 10:26

To be fair they do have a limit on the numver of tickets you can buy per customer, but they have to balance that with customers who want to buy tickets for a group of people.

So you can't go online and buy 20 tickets for the same gig but you could buy 4 or 5 in one transaction.

I'm not sure what else they can do but I agree it's annoying.

FlyingElbows · 16/01/2017 10:28

I'm not sure how new it is but when we bought tickets for a big name band they were strictly limited and you need to bring id and the card you bought them with. I don't think it's fair to suggest they're being handed over to touts. They were also released to u2 fan club members first so a good number will have gone then.

NormaSmuff · 16/01/2017 10:29

i think i read this recently in a Robbie Williams concert.
it is down to U2 allowing it AFAIK

inniu · 16/01/2017 10:34

It was really really easy to get U2 tickets last week through the fanclub.

Long term members could get them on Wednesday but even if you only joined last week you could buy tickets in the presale on Thursday.

ipswichwitch · 16/01/2017 10:35

It's frustrating when you see a gif sold out within 5minutes, but the site ticketmaster links too (also owned by them) is full of sellers of those same tickets, at a vast mark up.

It's pretty obvious that a large number of people make a living out of this, I mean, who buys tickets to a gig then decides 5 minutes later they can't go and gets them on sale again right away? Most of these people who do make a living doing this will buy the maximum number of tickets allowed, and also buy additional by either getting someone else in on the act to buy more, or they have different ticketmaster accounts set up to enable more purchases.

Yeah it's not illegal, but it's fucking annoying.

Original poster
itsgoodtobehome · 16/01/2017 10:36

FlyingElbows - I think the fact that there are loads of tickets available on re-sale sites for hundreds of pounds means exactly that they have been bought by touts. Genuine fans would not be offering them for re-sale 5 minutes after they had bought them.

OP posts:
NormaSmuff · 16/01/2017 10:37

www.thesun.co.uk/news/2586043/robbie-williams-tour-2017-tickets-resale-sites/

Blush only link i can find.

Blame Their management if you like

ImCatbug · 16/01/2017 10:38

It's not down to Ticketmaster, it's the artist/venue/promotors who decide the ticket limits and how they work.
Tickets for the musical Hamilton go on sale via Ticketmaster today at noon, and the theatre have decided that they will use paperless tickets and enforce a strict limit of 4 per person so you cannot resell tickets. You need your ID and payment card to pick them up the day of performance and any resold tickets are void.
Ticketmaster are sticking with these rules, so it's obviously not them who make the rules for individual events.

BrieAndChilli · 16/01/2017 10:40

Little mix are playing at our local castle, tickets go up for sale this week on Thursday via ticket master etc
The council are selling a limited number of tickets to local residents on Wednesday if you go I. Person to the local leisure centre. It's a really good way of doing it and gives us a chance before the tours get their hands on tickets!

MackerelOfFact · 16/01/2017 10:41

That's really annoying. The one time I genuinely couldn't attend an event I'd bought tickets for months previously (a festival, so about £300 a ticket) it was a complete bloody ballache and I didn't receive the tickets until the morning of the event. Luckily I was able to sell it on Facebook to someone local, but fuck me, it was stressful. So I'm amazed it's a viable business model for touts.

maddiemookins16mum · 16/01/2017 10:42

I had the same problem, gutted as I love U2 and The Joshua Tree is my second favourite album (after Unforgettable fire). Keeping everything crossed they announce a second date.

MrsArchchancellorRidcully · 16/01/2017 10:58

I had same for Little Mix, playing in North Wales in july - on sale at 10am Sat morning. Got onto ticketmaster at bang on 10am no problem and there were literally 1 or 2 single tickets left!! Local theatre website also selling crashed. I don't know how they manage to do this, who buys these?

Luckily lovely DH reminded me about See tickets webiste, which is smaller. Got 3 tickets that I wanted by 10.05am.

CheerfullyIndifferent · 16/01/2017 11:04

Another disappointed one here. Even sent DH on the school run so I could get tickets for me and a couple of friends to go, only to be told 5 past 9 that "we don't have the tickets you're looking, how about these at 300 quid each?" Angry

CheerfullyIndifferent · 16/01/2017 11:07

Second concert has been added to U2's website, btw. No link for tickets yet.

NotThrowAwayMyShot · 16/01/2017 11:08

I'm currently waiting for Hamilton. But it's ticketless (you need ID to get in) so fingers crossed.

sparechange · 16/01/2017 11:09

It's worse than that - the resale site they redirect you to is Get Me In, which THEY OWN!

So they buy up all the cheap tickets, transfer them to their own touting site and then try and make you buy them from them at vast, vast mark up

Crispmonster1 · 16/01/2017 11:10

It seems the ticket touts are a ticket master owned company too. I thought this had all be made illegal and I haven't had this problem before with other gigs. I am surprised that U2 allow their tickets to be sold like this and their fans to be financially abused in the way.

prh47bridge · 16/01/2017 11:13

You have misunderstood what it going on here.

Ticketmaster Platinum is NOT a resale site. Tickets available on Ticketmaster Platinum are being sold direct by the artist (U2 in this case). Pricing on Platinum is adjusted according to supply and demand so that artists get the best possible price for their tickets. This makes it difficult for touts to operate as the people who are willing to pay the kind of prices touts charge can now get their tickets direct from U2. Of course, that doesn't help those who can't afford to pay hundreds of pounds for a ticket.

My guess is that there was an allocation of fixed price tickets which sold out within 5 minutes. The remaining tickets are now being sold by U2 at an inflated price due to the high level of demand.

If Ticketmaster were operating as you describe you might have a point. They aren't. They are doing exactly what U2 want. Direct your complaints to U2.

MrsGWay · 16/01/2017 11:13

Yes, so they are against touting by limiting the number of tickets you can buy. They have a resale arm which encourages touting.

hellocleveland · 16/01/2017 11:14

I am a member of U2 fan club and couldn't get tickets for London in the presale. I also couldn't get them this morning. I'm hoping I'll have better luck for the new Sunday show just announced.
I am also waiting for Hamilton at 12.

MrsGWay · 16/01/2017 11:15

X post, so now multimillionaires U2 don't have enough money so are pricing genuine fans out?

Original poster
itsgoodtobehome · 16/01/2017 11:15

Looks like they are going to add another date on the 9th. It's a Sunday though, so not so good if you don't live in London, so need to stay over and somehow get back to do the school run on Monday Sad

Seetickets don't seem to be doing the U2 tickets which is a shame as they are usually easier to get tickets from.

OP posts:
BillSykesDog · 16/01/2017 11:16

The remaining tickets are now being sold by U2 at an inflated price due to the high level of demand.

Bono being a graspy greedy fucker? Who'd a thunk it? Bet he doesn't pay any tax on the income either.

prh47bridge · 16/01/2017 11:19

It seems the ticket touts are a ticket master owned company too

They are not ticket touts. Ticketmaster Platinum allows the artist to sell their tickets direct to the public at a price driven by supply and demand. If demand for tickets is low the public benefit by getting cheap tickets. If demand for tickets is high the artist benefits by getting more money for their tickets.

Ticket touts resell tickets they have bought from a licensed seller. U2 are selling these tickets. They cannot be described as ticket touts for selling their own tickets.

I thought this had all be made illegal

Reselling football tickets is illegal unless the organiser of the match has authorised it. There are no laws against reselling tickets for any other event in the UK. And there are definitely no laws that prevent an artist selling their own tickets to the highest bidder.

Original poster
itsgoodtobehome · 16/01/2017 11:19

prh47bridge - I'm not talking about Ticketmaster Platinum (although that seems like a con to me too), I'm talking about Getmein.com which is a ticket re-sale site owned by Ticketmaster. They are selling tickets on there for £800!! These are being sold by people who have purchased tickets from the regular TM site and are now re-selling them at vastly inflated prices. Nothing to do with U2 I don't think.

OP posts:
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