KEY POINTS:
Scalpers are demanding up to $550 a ticket for tomorrow's Big Day Out event on the internet.
Organisers are warning concertgoers not to buy the tickets from the racket.
Should ticket scalping be illegal?
Send us your views
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Here is the latest selection of your views:
John B
Scalping should be illegal full stop. Tickets should only be allowed to be resold at face value. Scalpers have no right to profit from other peoples events.
Colin Yates
There are genuine buyers out there being put under pressure by these scalpers, but then if they are foolish enough to pay the more then over rated price then the more fools they are. It is the same with the Mission Concert (Eric Clapton).
Andrew
Heres an easy solution to the scalping problem. The event promoters could just sell all the tickets themselves on Trade Me auctions.
John Plunkett
No I dont think ticket scalping should be illegal.
If it were to be illegal it would add another layer of red tape to make sure that Joe Public didn't buy a scalped ticket. Will we all have to be at the venue sixty minutes before hand to go through ID checks? It is a simple case of supply and demand. Finally here is a question for the anti-scalpers who own houses. When you sell your house will you sell the house at the price you brought it because you cant make a profit?
Stu Hellier
Scalpers seek to make a quick buck by purchasing tickets that someone else would have bought anyway and flogging off to those same people who wanted to buy. This is essentially theft of opportunity and cannot be argued against as typical speculation. Unlike property or currency concert tickets are not enduring or plentiful and only have a short period where they have value. Therefore ticket scalping is little more than blackmail. Ticket scalpers are insidious, parasitic lowlives whose energies would be best put into some other enterprise apart from standing in queues profiteering off a captured market whose only crime is to love music.
Karla Sopp
Just be thankful that the Big Day Out is not a huge problem like Glastonbury Festival or Reading Festival where tickets usually sell out within less than 24 hours. Youd be lucky to get one with the amount of overloaded phone lines. Tickets to the Big Day Out have been on sale for at least 3 months and have only just sold out. Im guessing in most people's books this is enough time to save up enough cash and get tickets in plenty of time. If people are desperate enough to want to go and are willing to pay these ridiculous prices, there will always be scalpers. It basically comes down to supply and demand. If no one buys tickets from scalpers, we wouldn't be seeing these inflated prices on Trade Me.
KC Christini
Tough luck to all the people who were too lazy or too slow or too stupid to get a ticket. Welcome to the real world!! If the big day out was that important then they should have got the tickets when they first went on sale 3 months ago and not start bleating the week of the event that people are selling them at a mark up. I sold my tickets for double what I paid for them because someone was willing to pay that for them.
Johannes van Der Bing
Limit the amount of tickets that can be bought per person when they go on sale. That will help reduce scalping, but to be honest, I have no problem with scalpers. As the old saying goes, first in, first served. If you really want to go to the BDO, you'll pay for it. Simple. My ticket is up for sale to anyone that is interested (barring all you emo losers)- $600; not negotiable.
Carl Forster
Let the buyer beware. If another wants to pay above market price for tickets over the internet then that should be their choice. One thing I will say; each person should be allowed only 2 tickets (stop one person being able to purchase a large number. If he is purchasing for a group the he should be required to produce the names and ID of the others, this would probably stop a lot of scalping. Or even better the persons name could be added to each ticket.
Simon McGrath
Whats the problem? If you snooze, you lose. If I uy a TV and then decide to sell it to someone who wants to buy it for more than I paid wheres the drama ?. Likewise, a ticket to an event, its mine to do with what I please.There must be some kind of infringement on peoples rights if they start to ban scalping of tickets. If I was to end up in hospital the day before an event, the government is now saying I cant recoup my losses of this ticket. This is ridiculousnes gone to the extreme. If someone misses out on a ticket in regular selling time, then thats just to bad. Do we all have to cry for this person. Harden up NZ !!
Lisa
I think this practice is just plain wrong. If you dont want the ticket, dont buy it. Genuine buyers are missing out because of peoples greed!!
Ian
The only issue is whether there should be a limit on ticket sales to individuals, regardless of game, concert etc. The simple answer is yes. This needs to be controlled at time of tickets being released for sale.
This would largely resolve this particular problem. If people then want to pay over inflated prices then this is a choice that they make. For the rugby union or other body to whinge about scalpers is all very noble, when they probably could have avoided the problem in the first case, and they are getting their cut. In economic terms it is simply a case of supply and demand, if you can you will and if you cant get over it.
Bernard Taylor
It will always be necessary to on sell tickets where circumstances change and the owner is unable to attend the event. There are two ways to combat scalpers; make it illegal and force organisers to give full refunds; place a limit on the per cent increase of face value a ticket can be onsold for, maybe 10 per cent. Whilst scalping continues, these people will hoard tickets making them unobtainable to the people who want to purchase them and then force true fans of an event to pay stupid money to attend. It is just not right!
Vinay Gupta
It is fundamentally illegal. The Government should take steps to move the appropriate Court of Law in New Zealand to put a forcible stop to such activity.
David Taylor
I definitely believe scalping tickets should be made illegal in this country. The number of people who purchase several tickets with the sole intent of selling them on for a higher price is disheartening, especially to those of us who have to work hard for every penny only to find that the only tickets available are well out of our reach. I understand that in some situations, ticket holders may be unable to attend an event, in which case they should be entitled to sell at the original purchase price.
Brenda Hunter
I do not think that ticket scalping should be illegal as some people sell tickets because they can not go to the concerts/events. I am against people demanding more money for tickets when it should be the price that is recommended from the stores or Ticketek. I was disgusted to find out that someone I know had sold their Big Day Out ticket for $250.00!!! Punish the people that are not trying to help people out by selling the tickets at a lower or equal price!!
