Clampdown on ticket touts means you won’t ever pay more than face value
After calls from top artists to cap ticket resale prices, change might be coming soon
You may never have to pay extra for resale tickets soon as UK ministers plan an aggressive crackdown on touts and resellers who significantly increase the price of admission.
Plans to outlaw the reselling of a ticket above face value will be announcedon Wednesday, the Financial Times was told.
Last year, the substantial profits made by resellers were highlighted whenthousands of Oasis fans complained about the cost of buying tickets to see the band’s first tour since their 2009 split.
Some tickets for Oasis shows at Wembley Stadium in London were listed well above their original value at more than £4,000.
Thousands of Oasis fans complained about the extortionate cost of resell tickets to see the band last year (Picture: Big Brother Recordings)
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The new legislation will also cap service fee charged by resale platforms in a bid to stop price limits being undermined by hidden additional costs.
Also, there is the desire to make it illegal for people to resell more tickets than they were allowed to initially buy, as an attempt to end touting where bots are used to buy up tickets to then resell.
Viagogo and StubHub are just two platforms that would be dealt a heavy blow if these proposed changes go ahead.
A spokesperson for StubHub International told the Financial Times that ticket transactions will move to a black market, where only bad things will happen for consumers.
Following a large public outcry over the price of resell Oasis tickets, thee was a ‘Putting fans first: consultation on the resale of live events tickets’ in January.
During this consultation, a multi-factored approach was considered where the government would tackle excessive prices, support better enforcement of consumer protection laws, improve platform accountability and increase transparency for fans.
The new rules are expected to shave up to £40 from the average cost of a resale ticket, according to the Financial Times.
Coldplay were one of the artists who called on Starmer to cap ticket resale prices (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was called upon by artists such as Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead who asked him to cap ticket resale prices and websites used by touts.
A campaign started by Virgin Media O2 called Let’s Stamp it Tout found that touts cost gig-goers about £145 million a year in elevated prices.
It also said that one in five tickets sold ended up on a resale platform.
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