Ticket touts: Anyone I can report them to.

IronMan

Hi,

I have been in contact with a number of ticket touts in the past few days, as a result of making enquiries regarding Pearl Jam and Oxygen tickets. These guys (and girls) are charging mad prices for the tickets. I refuse to pay these prices. Is this illegal? Is there anyone I can report them to, who will actually cancel the tickets, persue legal action etc. I have phone numbers, names and email addresses and would love to see these tossers financially out of pocket.

Was at a Inter-AC derby a number of years ago, and a tout was trying to flog a ticket for 4 times the entry price. AC and Inter fans ganged up on him, and knocked all his teeth out. Not advocating violence, but I felt very little pity for the man.

godtabh

IronMan wrote:

Hi,

I have been in contact with a number of ticket touts in the past few days, as a result of making enquiries regarding Pearl Jam and Oxygen tickets. These guys (and girls) are charging mad prices for the tickets. I refuse to pay these prices. Is this illegal? Is there anyone I can report them to, who will actually cancel the tickets, persue legal action etc. I have phone numbers, names and email addresses and would love to see these tossers financially out of pocket.

Was at a Inter-AC derby a number of years ago, and a tout was trying to flog a ticket for 4 times the entry price. AC and Inter fans ganged up on him, and knocked all his teeth out. Not advocating violence, but I felt very little pity for the man.

I saw Inter and AC fans do the same to each other!

Is there an anti touting law out there? If not probably **** all you can do.

DOLEMAN

How are you going to prove they're touts?

IronMan

Email messages with read receipts and text messages. It may not work, but if their is a group/law out there against this, then I am willing to assist, however small and potentially petty my assistance may be.

Dyr

if you're so concerned report f****** ticketmaster while you're at it

Degsy

Well said.Thieving bastards.Same with MCD.These orgainisations are the real reason ticket prices are so high.

FillSpectre

I love the fact the OP was quite prepared to use them and had no morals about using them. Once he sees the price he then chooses to become outraged by the nature of what he was happy to use. Really quite funny:p

IronMan

FillSpectre wrote:

I love the fact the OP was quite prepared to use them and had no morals about using them. Once he sees the price he then chooses to become outraged by the nature of what he was happy to use. Really quite funny:p

Incorrect FilSpectre. I enquired off people on this site, and a number of other sites about tickets they were offering for sale at the original cost price. When the transaction was to be completed, they raised the price. I therefore refused to take the deal any further, as I will not deal with touts.

I wish I could complain about Ticketmaster, but its the one monopoly the EU, don't seem to want to do anything about. That is life.

masterK

There's not a hope in hell of doing anything about them, sure at GAA and soccer matches the touts are selling tickets in full view of the Guards who do Sweet FA about it. If they do nothing when they are actually witnessing the touts in action theres some chance of getting anything done based on some emails.

garthv

Nothing you can do whatsoever buddy
There is no law for re-selling your own property so just pay the money or get up earlier!

Mossy Monk

it is outrageous that there is no law against this ****

FillSpectre

IronMan wrote:

Incorrect FilSpectre. I enquired off people on this site, and a number of other sites about tickets they were offering for sale at the original cost price. When the transaction was to be completed, they raised the price.

I could only go with what you said which was you were in contact with them and were then unhappy with the price. I have never ever heard of somebody offering tickets at face value and then suddenly push up the price last minute. Maybe that is how they do it now. I don't get last minut though as it is pretty straight forward
"have you go the tickets?"
"Yes"
"Grand I have the money"
"Oh wait the price is now three times the face value"

Not last minute just high price. I don't get how it matches up as it sounds so odd and differernt from your first post.

I don't care either way as people think a free market should apply on tickets while others disagree hence there is little in the way of prossecutions for what they can charge them with. Simply some people want them.

garthv

Mossy Monk wrote:

it is outrageous that there is no law against this ****

Why?
I understand that the price they sell that tickets at is ridiculous but you must understand this.

There is a market for this. If you idiots will stop buying from touts then the touts will stop selling them. We all know thats not going to happen though.

The problem isn't the touts. Its the idiots who agree to pay 4 or 5 times the price of original sale. Touts wouldn't sell the tickets at that price if they knew they were'nt going to get it.

IronMan

GaRtH_V wrote:

Why?
I understand that the price they sell that tickets at is ridiculous but you must understand this.

There is a market for this. If you idiots will stop buying from touts then the touts will stop selling them. We all know thats not going to happen though.

The problem isn't the touts. Its the idiots who agree to pay 4 or 5 times the price of original sale. Touts wouldn't sell the tickets at that price if they knew they were'nt going to get it.

I think that is slightly unfair. People want to attend concerts and sporting events. They have an interest in the band, team etc. And given human nature, if the desire is strong enough, then people will pay silly amounts for a ticket. They dont like having to do so, but they do. Expecting a teenager, groupie etc to have enough control to refuse an overpriced ticket, is the totally wrong way to try and solve the problem.

If legislation or controls were in place, to actively discourage profitering from tickets, then genuine fans could get the tickets, and not those in it to make a quick buck. If a tout knew that a ticket he was trying to flog could be cancelled or that he could be fined very heavily then the risk would surely outweigh any potential profit.

Right_Side

Stop moaning.

It's just the free market in action. Would you prefer a situation where if you missed out on the inital sale you had no opportunity to attend the event. Even if you would, many are prepared to pay so... all hail laissez-faire.

Just The One

IronMan wrote:

Hi,

I have been in contact with a number of ticket touts in the past few days, as a result of making enquiries regarding Pearl Jam and Oxygen tickets. These guys (and girls) are charging mad prices for the tickets. I refuse to pay these prices. Is this illegal? Is there anyone I can report them to, who will actually cancel the tickets, persue legal action etc. I have phone numbers, names and email addresses and would love to see these tossers financially out of pocket.

Was at a Inter-AC derby a number of years ago, and a tout was trying to flog a ticket for 4 times the entry price. AC and Inter fans ganged up on him, and knocked all his teeth out. Not advocating violence, but I felt very little pity for the man.

Hey, I hate them too but you don't HAVE to pay these prices. Why not report everyone on ebay too.... €2,000 for rugby and soccer tickets there

Tony Danza

For Sale:

Pearl Jam ticket - €500

Oxegen Camping - €1000

jaggeh

if you were buying tickets from this website then

1) off thread dealing - bannable (you may also receive a ban for this)
2) touting - bannable


report it to the for sale mods

HelterSkelter

Tough shít as far as I'm concerned.If there is a demand for the tickets I don't see any reason why someone shouldn't sell them for a profit. As someone else said earlier it's the free market in action.

cerebis

thats the price you pay when you didnt get them first time around...;)

Mossy Monk

GaRtH_V wrote:

If you idiots will stop buying from touts then the touts will stop selling them

who are you calling an idiot and where did i say i purchase from touts

honru

I'm not too fussed because touting brings bad karma anyway. And I usually get my tickets before they sell out.

Redrocket

the touts outside concerts are what annoys me, its so annoying to see someone sell a tout a ticket for under face value, and then 10 seconds later mr tout turns around and sells it for twice face value. people are stupid, never mind buying, why do they sell tickets straight to touts????

HelterSkelter

stevenk wrote:

the touts outside concerts are what annoys me, its so annoying to see someone sell a tout a ticket for under face value, and then 10 seconds later mr tout turns around and sells it for twice face value. people are stupid, never mind buying, why do they sell tickets straight to touts????

Reminds me, my bro has a spare ticket for the last oasis concert in the Point. Touts would only offer a tenner, not one of them would offer anymore. So he said he'd rather tear it up than give it to them, and that is what he done, on front of them!!!

monkeyfudge

stevenk wrote:

the touts outside concerts are what annoys me, its so annoying to see someone sell a tout a ticket for under face value, and then 10 seconds later mr tout turns around and sells it for twice face value. people are stupid, never mind buying, why do they sell tickets straight to touts????

Yeah... I ended up selling a ticket to a tout yesterday. I wasn't too happy about it, but the ticket would have gone to waste otherwise... I even tried giving it away for free here on boards yesterday.

But I wasn't prepared to walk up and down outside the olympia shouting if anyone wanted a free ticket... so selling it to a tout was the least hassle for me.

I sold the ticket for a tenner... which was pretty much all I paid for it as I picked it up cheap here on boards yesterday myself. But I made sure to ask the guy who sat next to me how much he ended up paying for it, and he said €45... face value was €25. It's annoying... but that guy wouldn't have been able to get my ticket if I hadn't sold it to the tout.

Ideally everyone should have boards.ie accounts though... that way we could all be nice to each other and sell tickets at fair prices.

adonis

touting -- agreed...you pay the price for missing the deadline for selling out..
I have sold tickets for more than face value, and i have also paid more than face value for some tickets..its the nature of the market im afraid...

Fighting Irish

Who cares? Everyone to their own, if you want a ticket queue early like the rest of us

sturgo

IronMan wrote:

Hi,

I have been in contact with a number of ticket touts in the past few days, as a result of making enquiries regarding Pearl Jam and Oxygen tickets. These guys (and girls) are charging mad prices for the tickets. I refuse to pay these prices. Is this illegal? Is there anyone I can report them to, who will actually cancel the tickets, persue legal action etc. I have phone numbers, names and email addresses and would love to see these tossers financially out of pocket.

Was at a Inter-AC derby a number of years ago, and a tout was trying to flog a ticket for 4 times the entry price. AC and Inter fans ganged up on him, and knocked all his teeth out. Not advocating violence, but I felt very little pity for the man.

Nobody is forcing you to buy their tickets. Maybe you should have bought the tickets while they were officially on sale.

rick_fantastic

its the old tale of supply and demand. people will always pay the money. ive got 5 spare tickets for oxegen and i plan on selling them for at least 250 euro each and have a free weekend

Blisterman

I was going to see Judas Priest, and I had a spare ticket, so I went to a tout, to try and sell it. And he offered me £5, so I said no way. I paid £30 for the ticket.
Then a guy came up to him looking for 2 tickets. The Tout said £50 each. They guy then said "I'll give you £25 each, tops.
I went over to him, and said "I'll sell you mine for £25. The tout overheard it, and said to him "You buy that ticket off him, you're not getting any off me."
The guy said "**** this", walked off, without buying any tickets off anyone.
And the tout said "You try any of that **** again, I'll kick your ass"
So **** them. I don't mind people buying a few extra tickets, to cover the cost of their own tickets or maybe a few drinks but these guys set up automated systems to buy hundreds of tickets.
Even worse are the "Ticket Agencies", which are basically touts in shops.

Angels

It always happens with tickets for Munster rugby matches, Gaa games etc. People exploit the fact that they got a ticket try to make a huge profit on it etc. A PACK OF **** i say they should not be allowed to buy tickets for anything !!

adonis

Angels wrote:

It always happens with tickets for Munster rugby matches, Gaa games etc. People exploit the fact that they got a ticket try to make a huge profit on it etc. A PACK OF **** i say they should not be allowed to buy tickets for anything !!

I dont think rugby fans would take to kindly to being called ****.

indiewindy

The most worrying thing about the huge demand for these pearl jam tickets on ebay is the fact that MCD seeing that so many people are willing to pay over €100 a ticket, may decide to increase the already high cost for future concerts where they are guaranteed to sell out straight away. The summer festivals here and in the UK are already much more expensive than those in the rest of Europe and usually the line ups are not as strong as the promoters know their guaranteed to sell out quickly.

Guy:Incognito

Mossy Monk wrote:

it is outrageous that there is no law against this ****

Why should there be? Should tehre be a law against charging too much for a car , or anything else for that matter? You own it, if someone is willing to pay a particular price then so be it. Iv'e never sold tickets over face value and would'nt. I've also never bought them at inflated prices either, I choose not to but if someone else wants to, fair play to them, they know they are being ripped off but choose top go ahead anyway, whos getting hurt?

ronbyrne2005

the ticket sellers should use dynamic pricing or a dutch auction type process.
i wonder would those complaining about free markets would be unhappy about accepting an increase in their house price? although personally i detest big time touts i also detest overpriced houses due to "free markets" and "supply and demand"

Redrocket

yeah the touts are generally scumbags, just one look and you can tell. everyone has a job in life, but their way of making money is by being a scumbag, and rubbing it in your face too.

i had an extra ticket before for something, tout came over and asked if i was selling it, i said yeah, he said ill offer you 30quid for it, i said no chance, sold it to someone else within seconds for face value, not lookin for a profit. just try keep it out of the touts face. seriously though, your outside a slayer concert, whats a tout gonna do? hit you???? yeah right

blu_sonic

there is a difference between a pro tout and a guy flogging a ticket that he bought with the intention of going, the reason we pay x amout over the odds is because the touts have the gigs sold out in a matter of minutes

conky_05

Stekelly wrote:

whos getting hurt?

those people who want to actually go to the event, but can't because to money hungry touts have all the tickets sold out before you can say rip off !

jskellington

Readin through the various posts I can see that there have been various people advocating being first in the queue and making sure that you get your tickets. There were less than 1000 sold through the old queuing system. The vast majority of them were sold on the internet. Having spoke to various people the same old s*** seems to be happening with ticketmaster. Firstly their servers and phone systems cannot cope with demand. Secondly they couldn't care less who actually buys the tickets as long as they are sold. Prior to the ticket release date internet "agencies" were advertising tickets for sale with seat numbers for Christ's sake. Admittedly most of these probably do not exist but here's something that does. Within an hour and a half of the sold out message going up on the ticketmaster site a pair of tickets on eBay were already up to $600. The dollar sign is significant as this person was offering tickets that he didn't have for sale from the USA. And so the day continued and more and more tickets went on sale. Personally I don't like touts but faceless w****** operating from a computer and purchasing through a company that seems to have the morals of a drunk dubya really pisses me off. In this day and age there are various ways to stop this crap from happening but are tickemaster bothered. Don't seem to be.
The oroignal question was, Is there anywhere to complain to. Yeah, everywhere! A good place to start is eBay, auctioning items not in your possesion is a breach of policy and ticketmaster's policy is to send tickets out eight weeks after order unless the gig happens before that. Consumer Affairs, Watchdog, Marion f****** Finucane, monopolies commission, EU, local TD. The problem of course with all this is that if you you don't have numbers they couldn't be arsed. I am leaving my email address up, if you're interested in trying to do something. I've started but again it's only one voice.:)

Tony Danza

Tony Danza wrote:

Oxegen Camping - €1000

Holy ****.

Market capitalism works!

Anyone want to buy a camping ticket

biko

OP, if you see touting on bords, report to moderator.
IRL, ask the Gardai or a solicitor.

Ticket prices are too high imo, hence I rarely go anymore.

killswitch

as regards the whole ticket prices being rediculous over here....i paid in total nearly €40 for my Deftones ticket...my bro is going to see them when he is on his J1 on the Family Values Tour....price for one ticket to the gig is $10 and u get to see Korn do a headlining show aswell

killswitch

as regards the whole ticket prices being rediculous over here....i paid in total nearly €40 for my Deftones ticket...my bro is going to see them when he is on his J1 on the Family Values Tour....price for one ticket to the gig is $10 and u get to see Korn do a headlining show aswell

ruprect

It shouldnt be illegal, but ticket master could do more to stop it. I view them like stockbrokers taking their cut. A gig is like a company, certain amount of shares/tickets are sold. many will buy at the beginning, if they are that interested/much of a fan and think they will sell out/rise in price, they will buy early on. Then the tout/shareholder runs the risk of no market and a drop in price or a rise in price.

the tout is like the stockbroker, in that they buy and sell at the current market value and sell on at a higher price so they always make a profit.

pleba

whilst I don't agree with touts ....(ie: people deliberately buying tickets in bulk with the sole purpose of selling them on at an inflated price)....I don't really have a problem with people selling on tickets that they no longer have use for, even at an inflated price.

That said though, are touts really any different from an investor who buys property with the sole intention of selling it on at an inflated price?

Degsy

pleba wrote:

whilst I don't agree with touts ....(ie: people deliberately buying tickets in bulk with the sole purpose of selling them on at an inflated price)....I don't really have a problem with people selling on tickets that they no longer have use for, even at an inflated price.

That said though, are touts really any different from an investor who buys property with the sole intention of selling it on at an inflated price?

I thinkon the whole "investors" are more destructive...a friend of mine was at a property launch recently only to find that two investors had bough all the apartments in order to sell them on later,its not like these bastards need the money,they're just plain greedy!

Angels

adonis wrote:

I dont think rugby fans would take to kindly to being called ****.

I was not calling rubgy fans ****. If these louts were rugby fans they would not sell tickets for over face value as you can report them to the clubs.

Please stop trying to twist my words. Just read clearly next time with your glasses on

FillSpectre

In fairness it isn't that simple. Ticket touts actually restrict the avalibility of tickets making it difficult to buy tickets when they are on sale. Proffessional ticket touts have more resources to get tickets thatn an average person. A person just selling their tickets should be allowed sell them but actual ticket touts are paracites. I get the free market idea but they aren't opperating in a free market.

Neuro

IronMan wrote:

Is this illegal?

No. Welcome to the wonderful world of free market economics - it can work for you (by driving down prices of products/services) or against you (by driving down wages, or by allowing those who value a product more than you do to purchase alot of said product). :cool:

Fighting Irish

rick_fantastic wrote:

its the old tale of supply and demand. people will always pay the money. ive got 5 spare tickets for oxegen and i plan on selling them for at least 250 euro each and have a free weekend

I would do the exact same, so would 80% of the country, everyone likes making money

jskellington

Due to where I work had a bit of a coup with regards to the american eBay mofo's who bought up a good percenatge of the tickets on release day. Firstly they were unable to access their funds due to being unable to provide proof of delivery (a policy I don't necessarily agree with, but useful in this case) because they din't have the f**king tickets in the first place. They were then further investigated and following constant sales of a similar ilk have now been banned from trading on eBay. Of course they can set up under a different name but they would want to watch where they are accessing their accounts from.
On a personal level, got my own Pearl Jam standing tickets I finally got through eBay from what I have to say is one of the few genuine guys I have come across on that ulimately completely useless site. Guy was a first time seller,Irish, had tickets in hand and put up a buy it now price of E140 for the two tickets including registered postage. Couldn't go himself and just wanted to offload. Tickets arrived in post the following day after him giving me tracking and popping down to the post office an hour after the auction closed. What's the moral here? People are constantly looking at power-sellers and **** like that to get stuff they want because they are pretty sure that they will get waht they order. Not always the case but even if you do, be assured that the item you've bought is probably available cheaper elsewhere. First time sellers are generally not touched with a ten foot barge-pole and in some cases rightly so, but if you contact the person, talk to them and it feels ok, then it probably is. Sorry to get all hippy and crap but don't make the mistake of always trusting someone with feedback of 98 and above and if they change their delivery details, make sure you put in a dispute. It may work out ok after, but at least the money is on hold. Here endeth the lesson.