Just bypass the criminals and get the ducats from the actual performance venue if you can and the beauty part about it is that you will save $ or Euros !

Quote
TheGreek
Just bypass the criminals and get the ducats from the actual performance venue if you can and the beauty part about it is that you will save $ or Euros !

Easier said than done sometimes … but I take your point !

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Ticket touts found guilty of fraud:

[www.theguardian.com]

Quote
Green Lady
Ticket touts found guilty of fraud:

[www.theguardian.com]

Good let’s hope they receive a sentence of eleven million years hard labour.

Nate

Quote
gotdablouse
Black Keys blocked access to resell tickets by using the Ticketmaster App with "rotating" barcodes, smart !

[www.rollingstone.com]

As long as that doesn't keep us from reselling extra tickets to offset the insane "regular" prices.

Mike


[www.flickr.com]

StubHub to pay $1.3M penalty for misleading about fees tacked on to ticket prices

Canada's Competition Bureau has been investigating practice since 2017.

Ticket reseller StubHub will pay a $1.3 million penalty for making it seem as though some concert and game tickets were available at prices that no customer could ever obtain once fees are tacked on.

Canada's Competition Bureau said Thursday that StubHub Canada Ltd. and StubHub Inc. have agreed to pay the penalties after the bureau investigated "misleading pricing claims in the online sale of tickets to entertainment and sporting events."

The bureau found StubHub was advertising misleading ticket prices across various websites and mobile apps.

"The bureau found that consumers could not buy tickets at advertised prices because StubHub charged consumers mandatory fees in addition to the prices advertised," the bureau said.

As far back as 2017, the bureau warned ticket vendors not to engage in what it calls "drip-pricing," when vendors hide the true final price of a product by not attaching fees, commissions and other charges until the very end of the buying process. Previous investigations found such fees can add between 10 and 57 per cent to the initially advertised price.

In StubHub's case, the bureau says, the only way customers could see the true cost of tickets before the last step of finalizing a sale was by turning on optional filters.

"Moreover, the bureau found that, in some cases, consumers who filtered results to see inclusive pricing were still asked to pay more than the prices shown as inclusive of fees," the bureau said.

As part of the deal, StubHub will ensure that tickets to Canadian events on its service "will now include all mandatory fees throughout the ticket purchasing process." The agreement is binding for at least 10 years.

In a statement to CBC News, StubHub, says the agreement was "co-operatively reached after productive conversations with the Competition Bureau."


[www.cbc.ca]

Quote
Green Lady
Ticket touts found guilty of fraud:

[www.theguardian.com]

Parasites. I hope they get tarred and feathered and a custodial sentence. They produce nothing themselves, add zero value and are no better than thieves piggy backing on the efforts of others.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-02-14 00:02 by grzegorz67.

rage against machine
[www.blabbermouth.net]

[www.google.co.uk]

Don't really understand why the law seems willing and able to throw the f***ing book at individuals, and yet despite years and years of being heavily critical of Viagogo's business practices - it still permits them and their like to trade and doesn't prosecute the company's director(s) !?

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

[www.theguardian.com]

Touts who made millions from reselling tickets are jailed

Peter Hunter and David Smith used multiple identifies and bots to harvest tickets

Two touts who made at least £11m selling tickets for concerts by artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift have been jailed, after they were found guilty of fraud at a landmark trial.

Peter Hunter and David Smith, trading as Ticket Wiz and BZZ, used multiple identifies and bots to harvest thousands of tickets to gigs and West End shows such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

The pair, who conducted their business via secondary ticketing websites including Viagogo and StubHub, were found guilty of fraud earlier this month.
Hunter was jailed for four years at Leeds crown court on Monday while Smith, his husband, was given a 30-month custodial sentence.

Hunter was first exposed by a Guardian investigation into touts and their relationship with so-called “secondary ticketing” websites, which allow people to resell tickets and take a commission on the price, which is often vastly inflated.

National Trading Standards, which brought the prosecution, began investigating the pair several months later. The verdict could have major implications for the practice of touting and secondary ticketing websites.

Hunter and Smith were found guilty of three counts of fraud, for using techniques that previous reporting by the Guardian has shown are common among professional ticket touts.

These include the use of multiple identities and credit cards to bypass restrictions on the number of tickets that one person can buy, reducing the number of tickets on sale to the general public.

They sold tickets for events at which resale was banned, putting buyers at risk of being refused entry at the turnstile.

The pair also listed tickets that they did not yet own, a practice known as “speculative selling”.

A jury concluded that these methods were fraudulent, while it also found them guilty of possessing articles for fraud, namely software used for harvesting tickets.

Lord Toby Harris, the chair of National Trading Standards, said: “Today’s sentences send a strong message to similar online ticket touts: these are criminal offences that can lead to prison sentences.

“I hope this leads to a step change in the secondary ticketing market, making it easier and safer for consumers buying tickets in the future.”

The music industry campaign group FanFair Alliance lauded a “fantastic” result for National Trading Standards and called for further investigation into secondary ticketing.

“By facilitating the activities of online touts, there must be concerns that the platforms themselves are profiting from the sale of tickets unlawfully acquired by their biggest suppliers.

“This should be investigated as a matter of urgency and lead to action against those platforms if they have benefited from the proceeds of criminality.”


That's the bit that I don't get. If individuals like these two can be prosecuted under the law, then why the hell can't the platforms that make it possible for them to ply their filthy trade also be ? Seems to be a major case of "double standards" ! It beggars belief that VIAGOGO is still in business, and for that matter STUBHUB too - given that they were bought by VIAGOGO and therefore now pursue the same disgusting deceitful business practices.

If you're gonna put these a**holes out of business, put them all out of business ...

If you're gonna jail 'em, jail 'em all ...

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Ticket Touts Jailed! HOORAY!!

[www.theguardian.com]

--
Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan

great news but how come no directors of viagogo are jailed, they do the speculative selling thing to, and inflate prices, always one rule for joe public and another for company directors.

Quote
buttons67
great news but how come no directors of viagogo are jailed, they do the speculative selling thing to, and inflate prices, always one rule for joe public and another for company directors.

EXACTLY !! I asked precisely the same question in the post three above yours ?

<<< “By facilitating the activities of online touts, there must be concerns that the platforms themselves are profiting from the sale of tickets unlawfully acquired by their biggest suppliers.

“This should be investigated as a matter of urgency and lead to action against those platforms if they have benefited from the proceeds of criminality.”


That's the bit that I don't get. If individuals like these two can be prosecuted under the law, then why the hell can't the platforms that make it possible for them to ply their filthy trade also be ? Seems to be a major case of "double standards" ! It beggars belief that VIAGOGO is still in business, and for that matter STUBHUB too - given that they were bought by VIAGOGO and therefore now pursue the same disgusting deceitful business practices.

If you're gonna put these a**holes out of business, put them all out of business ...

If you're gonna jail 'em, jail 'em all … >>>

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Good let’s hope they have to share a cell with Harvey Weinstein.

Nate

How about all the organizations that are in cahoots with all these secondary markets. All the college and pro sports teams ,concert promoters and many venues are also guilty. There are plenty of stubhubs located right on the property of the game or show you are attending. Stubhub gets 33% on the listed price, they charge the seller 15 and the buyer 18 then throw in the F U fees and who knows what they are profiting.


Ticketmaster ; you or I can by tix for a particular event and 2 minutes later you can post it on ticketmaster for resale at any price you like and TM takes a percentage of that. So they make a nice profit along with fees twice on the same ticket.
Both Legalized scalping

Quote
virgil
How about all the organizations that are in cahoots with all these secondary markets. All the college and pro sports teams ,concert promoters and many venues are also guilty. There are plenty of stubhubs located right on the property of the game or show you are attending. Stubhub gets 33% on the listed price, they charge the seller 15 and the buyer 18 then throw in the F U fees and who knows what they are profiting.


Ticketmaster ; you or I can by tix for a particular event and 2 minutes later you can post it on ticketmaster for resale at any price you like and TM takes a percentage of that. So they make a nice profit along with fees twice on the same ticket.
Both Legalized scalping

This is exactly what I was thinking...we're now in the age of legalized scalping, where ticketmaster is paid a distribution (convenience) fee for facilitating.

The 'end of ticket scalping coming into sight' was just the light of an oncoming freight train.

Quote
virgil
How about all the organizations that are in cahoots with all these secondary markets. All the college and pro sports teams ,concert promoters and many venues are also guilty. There are plenty of stubhubs located right on the property of the game or show you are attending. Stubhub gets 33% on the listed price, they charge the seller 15 and the buyer 18 then throw in the F U fees and who knows what they are profiting.


Ticketmaster ; you or I can by tix for a particular event and 2 minutes later you can post it on ticketmaster for resale at any price you like and TM takes a percentage of that. So they make a nice profit along with fees twice on the same ticket.
Both Legalized scalping

Absolutely true.

Mike


[www.flickr.com]

Quote
treaclefingers

Quote
virgil
How about all the organizations that are in cahoots with all these secondary markets. All the college and pro sports teams ,concert promoters and many venues are also guilty. There are plenty of stubhubs located right on the property of the game or show you are attending. Stubhub gets 33% on the listed price, they charge the seller 15 and the buyer 18 then throw in the F U fees and who knows what they are profiting.


Ticketmaster ; you or I can by tix for a particular event and 2 minutes later you can post it on ticketmaster for resale at any price you like and TM takes a percentage of that. So they make a nice profit along with fees twice on the same ticket.
Both Legalized scalping

This is exactly what I was thinking...we're now in the age of legalized scalping, where ticketmaster is paid a distribution (convenience) fee for facilitating.

The 'end of ticket scalping coming into sight' was just the light of an oncoming freight train.

<<< The 'end of ticket scalping coming into sight' was just the light of an oncoming freight train >>>

Seems so. Close one platform or means of scalping, and another pops straight up. The current 'industrial strength ticket scalper' appears to be Ticketmaster themselves ...

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Quote
virgil
How about all the organizations that are in cahoots with all these secondary markets. All the college and pro sports teams ,concert promoters and many venues are also guilty. There are plenty of stubhubs located right on the property of the game or show you are attending. Stubhub gets 33% on the listed price, they charge the seller 15 and the buyer 18 then throw in the F U fees and who knows what they are profiting.


Ticketmaster ; you or I can by tix for a particular event and 2 minutes later you can post it on ticketmaster for resale at any price you like and TM takes a percentage of that. So they make a nice profit along with fees twice on the same ticket.
Both Legalized scalping

Only for high demand shows. Otherwise you are barred from selling on their platform so they can sell their tickets first.

was a hearing in washington dc today with the large event companies

[energycommerce.house.gov]
with video
[www.youtube.com]

Seems Ticketmaster adapts..
During the last pre-sale, as least for San Diego, one could only buy printed tickets to be picked up at the venue, or digital tickets to be downloaded from Ticketmaster.com to your cell phone.
"No PDF tickets" it said
Maybe one could resell a digital ticket to be downloaded on a mobile phone, but you certainly cannot resell it on Viagogo.

Quote
artedm
was a hearing in washington dc today with the large event companies

[energycommerce.house.gov]
with video
[www.youtube.com]

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Ticket Scalping is now becoming the oldest profession in the world other than prostitution. There was probably ticket scalping at the Roman Chariot Races and there is no end in sight.

Quote
Chris Fountain
Ticket Scalping is now becoming the oldest profession in the world other than prostitution. There was probably ticket scalping at the Roman Chariot Races and there is no end in sight.

Yes I know someone that got ripped off with a fake at Circus Maximus.

Nate

Quote
The Joker
Seems Ticketmaster adapts..
During the last pre-sale, as least for San Diego, one could only buy printed tickets to be picked up at the venue, or digital tickets to be downloaded from Ticketmaster.com to your cell phone.
"No PDF tickets" it said
Maybe one could resell a digital ticket to be downloaded on a mobile phone, but you certainly cannot resell it on Viagogo.

Actually they rolled this out several years ago and was really prevelent in the last 2. You can sell screenshots or just use the transfer feature to send to customer. If Safetix, transfer only.

Quote
daspyknows

Quote
virgil
How about all the organizations that are in cahoots with all these secondary markets. All the college and pro sports teams ,concert promoters and many venues are also guilty. There are plenty of stubhubs located right on the property of the game or show you are attending. Stubhub gets 33% on the listed price, they charge the seller 15 and the buyer 18 then throw in the F U fees and who knows what they are profiting.


Ticketmaster ; you or I can by tix for a particular event and 2 minutes later you can post it on ticketmaster for resale at any price you like and TM takes a percentage of that. So they make a nice profit along with fees twice on the same ticket.
Both Legalized scalping

Only for high demand shows. Otherwise you are barred from selling on their platform so they can sell their tickets first.

Actually you can sell for almost anything if it fits whatever their criteria is. Ticketmaster would rather get another fee for a close ticket than force someone to buy row XYZ from them for the Village People. Some people even know what red dots appeal to the average buyer and easily flip low demand events.

[www.theguardian.com]

Tickets website Viagogo provides an armoury of tools that experts say make it easier for ticket touts to commit fraud, evidence obtained by the Guardian has shown.

The findings, which prompted a call for a criminal investigation, emerged after a disillusioned former tout lifted the lid on Viagogo’s “inventory manager”, an online portal available only to people who sell multiple tickets.

The portal appears to make it possible to deploy similar techniques used by the touts Peter Hunter and David Smith, who were jailed for fraud this week after being exposed by the Guardian.

One of the counts of fraud related to “speculative selling”, when touts advertise tickets that they do not yet own, on the assumption they will be able to procure them later. The practice can lead to sales being cancelled, leaving buyers disappointed and potentially out of pocket on travel and accommodation costs.

But Viagogo’s inventory manager, a toolkit available only to touts, appears to make speculative selling possible.

With the help of the former tout, the Guardian was able to compose a listing for tickets to the All Points East festival in London – headlined by acts including Kraftwerk and Massive Attack – before they had gone on sale.

During the listing process, sellers are allowed to tick a box marked “I own the tickets”, even though this would not have been possible.

Separate information, provided by a second source, offers further evidence that speculative selling is taking place on Viagogo. Screenshots from the website show that the company advertised tickets to see Simple Minds at the SSE Arena, Wembley.

But tickets with the same section, row and seat number were still on the website of the official ticket seller, AXS, appearing to indicate that the person advertising them on Viagogo did not actually own them.

Hunter and Smith, who used sites including Viagogo to sell at least £11m worth of tickets, were also convicted of a separate count of fraud for using multiple identities and credit cards to bypass restriction on ticket purchases. Such limits are imposed to deter anyone planning to harvest tickets with the sole purpose of selling them on for profit.

However, Viagogo’s inventory manager offers tools likely to appeal to any touts who wish to ignore these restrictions. One function, entitled “Clones”, lets the seller duplicate a listing multiple times, meaning anyone who has managed to obtain dozens of tickets can sell them in smaller batches.

The inventory manager also allows touts to give “employees” access to their account, indicating that touts could pay staff to ensure they get their hands on as many tickets as possible.

The case against Hunter and Smith, brought by National Trading Standards, referred specifically to the illegality of using friends, family or other people to bypass ticket restrictions.

The Labour MP Sharon Hodgson said the Guardian’s findings should prompt action from regulators and law enforcement.

“As well as calling for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate these new revelations, I now believe that there should be a full criminal investigation into the conduct of prominent resale platforms and their links to touts committing offences.

“It is of upmost importance that law enforcement ensures that these platforms are not benefiting from the proceeds of crime.”

Reg Walker, a ticketing expert from the security consultancy Iridium, said: “These tools, which are designed specifically for touts and are not available to genuine fans, facilitate fraudulent trading. They make it easier for you to bulk list tickets and to list tickets you don’t have or that don’t exist.”

The Viagogo inventory manager also offers a variety of other tools that touts can call on. These include a “market research” page, displaying information about upcoming events, some of which are categorised as “high demand, low supply” with a dollar-sign symbol indicating likely profitability. Touts are also given a summary of their transaction activity that assists them with bookkeeping.

The former tout said: “You can see what events are likely to sell out that week, anywhere in the world. It makes it really easy to decide which ones to buy. It makes it a lot easier [to resell tickets].

“It just allows you to do a massive volume and save lots of time. If people make a few grand a year from it, it’s not an honest way of living but in this era where a lot of jobs don’t have much value, I don’t think it’s that bad. It’s when the secondary ticketing companies are making an absolute fortune and getting rich off it.”

Viagogo said it would remove listings and fine or block sellers if it was notified that they did not comply with its rules. “We would welcome the opportunity to work directly with event organisers and venues to eradicate speculative listings and fraud all together,” it said.

The company did not comment on its inventory manager tools.


I just don't get how these days - with this much known about how industrial scale scalping actually works in the modern era - this company (Viagogo) hasn't as yet been prosecuted and put out of business. It really does beggar belief ….

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

Quote
Nate
Good let’s hope they have to share a cell with Harvey Weinstein.

Nate

, No , Harvey should be by himself as he is a threat to every human being . Anyway I think it's more cruel to have him not be able to socialize with other humans !

Quote
The Joker
Seems Ticketmaster adapts..
During the last pre-sale, as least for San Diego, one could only buy printed tickets to be picked up at the venue, or digital tickets to be downloaded from Ticketmaster.com to your cell phone.
"No PDF tickets" it said
Maybe one could resell a digital ticket to be downloaded on a mobile phone, but you certainly cannot resell it on Viagogo.

they sell those tix on viagogo

Life's just a cocktail party on the street