Ticketmaster New Zealand won't take anti-scalping measures here, despite UK and Europe arms doing so

August 14, 2018
Tickets to one of Lorde's New Zealand concerts being offered for sale on Ticketmaster at a hugely-inflated price - the face value was $95 each.

Ticketmaster will not switch to a face value resale service in New Zealand, despite the company doing so in the UK and Europe.

It is common for event tickets in hot demand to be snapped up by "scalpers" before being listed for sale on various sites minutes later at vastly inflated prices.

"We know that fans are tired of seeing tickets being snapped up just to find them being resold for a profit on secondary websites, so we have taken action," a Ticketmaster UK spokesperson said.

Ticketmaster itself has been operating its own resale operation, taking both the initial sale price, as well as a portion of the scalper's inflated resale price.

Some NZ event promoters are angry Ticketmaster has set up a website allowing people to sell their tickets for inflated prices.

Public backlash overseas and political scrutiny has led Ticketmaster to close down their 'Get Me In!' and 'Seatwave' ticket resale arms, and they will switch to a system where the maximum price a person can re-sell a ticket for it what they paid for it.

However, the new system will include a 15 per cent booking fee on resales.

A spokesperson for Ticketmaster Australia, which operates the New Zealand arm, confirmed no such system will be rolled out in New Zealand.

"The face value exchange is only rolling out in the UK and Europe," spokesperson Jackie Antas said.

The Irish government last month backed a bill which would ban the resale of tickets for more than face value, and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority is also investigating the secondary ticket sale market while considering legal action against resale outlet Viagogo.

Ticketmaster is an American company owned by Live Nation Entertainment, and the New Zealand arm made about $5.1m in profit in the year to 2017.

Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi has this year said he is interested in combating the practice of ticket scalping, saying "we are working on specific measures to address wheel clamping and ticket scalping/scamming, because we know that these have been left unabated and have been difficult for the increasing number of New Zealanders who have fallen victim in recent years".

"While these improvements may not be directly supporting business, they are supporting consumers."

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