A global coalition of Australian, British and New Zealand consumer groups is launching an international investigation to gather information about the burgeoning ticket resale market.
The Australian consumer group Choice is leading the push, amid growing concerns about ticket resale organisations that are exploiting consumers who, at times, have limited protections available to them.
A Choice series in Australia reported on excessive fees for purchasers and found that in some cases consumers had received fake tickets after buying them through ticket resellers. The group referred several organisations to the Australian consumer watchdog to ask it to investigate the sales.
Choice will team up with the British-based Which? and Consumer NZ to draw up a global report on the experience of ticket buyers who have dealt with resale organisations.
The group of organisations is seeking information about consumers’ experiences through an online survey. It asks resellers’ customers to set out any problems with their ticket purchases, including whether they were charged hidden fees, received fake tickets, or never received their tickets at all.
“From outrageous ticket price markups of up to 327% to denying refunds and selling fake tickets, the time has come to say fair’s fair and stop these resale websites ripping off consumers from Melbourne to Manchester,” said Choice’s head of media, Tom Godfrey.
“Whether you’re a fan, an artist or part of the industry, we want to hear more about your experience of the ticket resale market.
“Clearly it’s not in the interests of fans, artists or venues to have ticket holders turned away from venues, having fallen victim to the dodgy business practices of ticket resale sites.”
