For anyone who missed Channel 4’s Dispatches excellent investigation on ‘Secondary Ticketing Web Sites‘ then you should watch the videos below. You will be amazed what you see, I knew it happened hence my previous blog, but even I was taken back what they unearthed in this compelling programme. They had two reporters infiltrate Viagogo and Seatwave companies who both claim to be ‘Fan To Fan‘ web sites. This statement couldn’t be further from the truth.
MP Sharon Hodgson has been trying to get a private members bill passed through Parliament. This is to limit resale of tickets to a maximum mark up of 10%, which seems fair enough. For supporting this bill I recommend you look at her website and contact your local MP, it can be done. The show reveals the reselling of tickets is corrupt and it’s beyond belief with promoters, venues and touts (brokers as they call them) clearly showing they are making full use of these sites. Even though both sites claim to be ‘fans‘ selling tickets they can’t use, right!
Watch this and leave comments but more importantly make an effort and help this bill get off the ground. If want to see arrogance then just watch the beginning of video part 4 below. If you’ve ever paid over the odds then now is the time to act. Lets hope it also sorts out other things which are wrong with ticket sales in the UK like transaction fees and booking fees! For further reading check the Guardian’s Paul Mills post, he was one of the undercover reporters for the Channel 4’s Dispatches programme – a very good read it is.
Note: Viagogo failed to get an injunction to prevent Channel 4 showing this programme.
StevoMusicMan - Ramblings Of A Music Man 
To check you’re buying tickets from a proper authorised (not secondary site) check out Safe Concerts website
Money-sucking leeches.
It’s still happening – support Sharon Hodgson’s campaign to get this practice stamped out. Radiohead have an interesting solution – they are selling a maximum of two tickets per applicant. I’ll find out tomorrow if it works….
Good luck in getting your tickets … yes good idea
Also I maybe wrong but credit cards need to be registered to one address – so logic says to me surely the booking system can note if the same postcode is used to buy the same concert tickets? But then again if your next door neighbour buys some to then it may fall down too. There’s no easy solution – hence it needs to be put through the House Of Commons.