How to change the secondary ticketing market: Part 2 — Crafting the Solution
This is the second piece discussing the issue of touting and TicketSwap’s unique approach to making the secondary ticketing market better for fans. Written by TicketSwap UK Market Developer, Daniyal Ahmad.
The recent media focus on widespread touting by professional touts, portrays an industry seemingly running rampant and unchecked. Yet action is being taken to fight back against their activities. Investigations have been launched by the UK government into the practices of huge secondary marketplaces utilised by touts and the possible under reporting of income from ticket resales. Late last year, the US government signed a law criminalising the use of Bots to acquire tickets and the UK government looks set to follow suit. Representatives from Viagogo, universally recognised by fans, lawmakers and artists as the worst culprit in the secondary ticketing market, were called to testify yesterday in front of the British parliament in response to widespread allegations of unfair practices and violations of consumer protection law (watch the full hearing here and check out an earlier hearing from November 2016 here). [Unsurprisingly, Viagogo was a no show for the hearing but British lawmakers and other witnesses went on to condemn the practices of the site and the secondary ticket market more generally.]
Additionally, a ban on resale from the Italian government, and upcoming lawsuits brought to court in Spain illustrate what a truly international issue touting has become. These recent actions shed a light on the varied approaches governments and industry actors are employing to combat touting. The multilayered complexity of this problem means that a combination of government enforcement, industry reform and consumer-oriented solutions will be required to change the secondary market. In the midst of all this action and discussion, TicketSwap’s stance is simple and focuses on empowering consumers: the best way to beat touts is to create an alternative that is fairer, safer and more transparent.
While the issue of online ticket touting may seem like a new issue, many secondary websites have operated for well over a decade. During this time, the activities of these sites — namely their policies of providing preferential treatment to professional touts, their lack of transparency on pricing and sellers identities, the lack of customer support , and of course their exorbitant fees and prices — have provided an opportunity for new approaches to ticket resale emerge and make the secondary market fair, safe and less opaque for normal fans.
After all, the fundamental reason that a secondary market for tickets exists at all is because there is actually a genuine need among fans. With concert, club night and festival ticket sales routinely occurring 4 to 6 months before the actual event and demand for tickets higher than ever, fans are forced to buy tickets way in advance without having a clear idea of whether they will be able to attend or risk missing out. As the event approaches, fans unable to attend are left without any safe and equitable way to recoup the money they’ve invested. The first impulse when combating touting is to eliminate the flexibility of fans to buy and sell tickets altogether and make tickets non-transferable or linked to individual names. Yet these approaches place an unfair burden on fans to either see months into the future or risk losing the money they’ve spent on a ticket. Instead, the live events industry needs to increase consumer flexibility and provide safe avenues to buy and sell unused tickets transparently.
Thus, TicketSwap’s mission is to be the safest and fairest way to buy and sell secondhand tickets. Since 2013, we’ve provided an honest alternative to fans looking to buy tickets to see their favourite artists or attend popular festivals. We’ve accomplished this by providing fans who have a genuine reason for selling — such as no longer being able to attend, buying the wrong ticket, having spare tickets etc — with a safe and easy alternative to trying to sell their ticket to strangers on Facebook or outside the venue. By creating and connecting this marketplace of fan buyers and sellers, TicketSwap increases the pool of fairly priced tickets available to fans and reduces the potential market share for touts.
Here’s an illustrative example: Justin Bieber’s two 2016 tour dates in the Netherlands sold out immediately after going on sale on December 17th 2015 — just as they did throughout Europe and the UK. Yet between going off sale and the actual performances (October 8th & 9th 2016), over 7000 tickets were resold between fans on TicketSwap, nearly 10% of the 76,000 total tickets sold over the two dates. All of these transactions occurred within our 20% price cap, meaning thousands fans got a fair chance to buy tickets they originally missed out on without having to pay exorbitant prices. Turns out, most fans don’t want to be professional touts charging crazy prices, they just want their money back for a ticket they can no longer use.
Additionally, our partnerships with a variety of ticket companies, venues, and organisers direct more fans to the platform, further increasing the pool of fairly priced tickets and helping industry actors take back control of the secondary market. In cooperation with these partners, our Secure Swap system seamlessly replaces each valid ticket sold through the platform with a brand new and unique barcode. This approach makes secondhand tickets 100% safe, helping protect fans from both scams and touting.
Of course, touting still continues outside of TicketSwap as professional touts continually get their hands on tickets either through the use of Bots or backroom deals with ticketing companies. With thousands of fans desperately looking for tickets, some will always be tempted to pay over the odds for tickets. The TicketSwap marketplace directly helps diminish this overall demand for overpriced tickets: in the Netherlands, where TicketSwap’s platform is already the go-to resell marketplace, touting websites are being forced to change their game to compete with the plethora of fairly priced tickets available via TicketSwap’s thousands of fan-sellers. The next chapter of the TicketSwap mission is to replicate this positive change around the world; TicketSwap is now active in 13 countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, and Hungary. All the more reason for you to resist the temptation to pay inflated prices on touting websites; check out what fairly priced tickets are available through TicketSwap in your country!
Next Up Part 3: Fair Pricing & the 20% Rule.
Missed Part 1? Read it here.
