Really want to see Flight Of The Conchords in London sometime this May, but they sold out really quickly

They're £38.50 face value, but some evil touters are trying to sell a pair for £399.99 on eBay. Isn't that so harsh? Most of them to be fair are around £200-£250 a pair, but that's still a lot!!

Am I the only one who thinks these people really ruin it for the fans? The fact that they make a business out of buying loads of tickets for shows they're not interested in at all, but do it so they can make shed loads of money on them from lucky rich people, or not-so-rich people who decide to spend a huge chunk of their savings on them, who end up buying them?

Fair enough, some sellers may have actually bought them and realised they can't go for some reason or another. But I don't doubt for a second that the majority of sellers are just heartless ticket touters

Same goes for Lady GaGa tickets. I got online as soon as I could, but they were immediately sold out. And as soon as I go on eBay: "Oooh 8 Lady GaGa tickets, £1000 please" and another one! "2 Lady GaGa tickets...£700!!!"

Really pisses me off. Why has nothing been done to regulate this? Anyone else agree?

No i totally agree on how disgustin prices are. I absolutely adore Gaga. But whoever changed her prices won't be conning me on seeing her with the recent increases.

I doubt there's anyone who disagrees. Something does need to be done, Ebay won't stop it, they make too much money out of it.

Yeah and even if eBay did stop it, they'd just go to the next bidding site.

Can't they do what festivals do? Which is, I think you have your name on the ticket and you have to show ID or something? I can't remember exactly what it was to be honest. Does it ring any bells, anyone?

Yeah! There are a few festivals who are printing tickets with a passport photo of the ticket holder on the tickets. I think that is a great idea personally!

For Glastonbury you have to submit a photo, which goes on your ticket when you buy it.

What happens if you can't go? Do you just lose your money?

I don't really know.

But perhaps a good idea would be to sell it back to the festival and get your money back?

I was so enraged about being fleeced everytime I wanted to go to a concert, that I wrote to my MP demenading action

Got a bog standard reply stating that they did not want to get involved & it was up to the indusrty to police itself

What a f***ing cop out

I know people that do it as almost a supplementary income. Not even really music fans.

They key point is people are willing to pay for it. If nobody brought the tickets on eBay or Seatwave or wherever then they wouldn't bother, and perhaps concerts wouldn't sell out in a minute or two every time...

Indeed.

But I do think that the music industry should do something about it! Surely it's nothing to do with the artists making any extra money as the touter still only pays the face value price. It's us, the fans, that get completely fleeced, like you say. I guess they just don't care though

@ogryn:

That doesn't surprise me, the fact that some people really do do it as a supplementary income. They can make so much money sometimes!!

And although you're right about how maybe if they weren't around, tickets wouldn't sell out in two minutes or whatever, but what does that matter? (Rhetorical. Not actually asking you ) Whether or not Lady GaGa or Arctic Monkeys sell out in two minutes, their fans will always be their fans surely. Why would they care if their favourite artist was so popular that they sell out in record time? Surely it would be more impressive if the touters weren't around, and the then when an artist would sell out in record time, it would be because their actual fans (people who were actually intending on going to see them) had bought them. Know what I mean?

I dunno.. I'm just ranting to be honest as I'm just so upset I can't go see Flight Of The Conchords

Perhaps they can claim tout prices on expenses.

I agree about tout prices and people who buy tickets just to sell they straight on are really bad.

They should not ban the selling on of tickets but only at face value + a small admin fee for the cost of using a website to sell the tickets.

I hate it too. Part of me blames eBay (and the other buy/sell websites) for not doing something to at least regulate it

Don't Ticketmaster also part own a site which also allows people to sell unwanted tickets for stupid amounts?? Unwanted my ass!

Ebays bad. But when you get harassed in the street for spare tickets that is worse.

Ahh this thread has just reminded me to book my Fantasia tickets. Thanks

Oh yea, and damn those ticket touts

Oooh they had dozens of them outside Newcastle Arena when i saw GaGa.

Pissy old tramps crawling around mumbling does not make me want to part with my cash. Having to touch tickets that have been on their person. At least take a wash and dress nicely before attempting to extort the masses!

What annoys me EVEN more is touts who cant get rid of their tickets to a gig because the place is saturated with unwanted tickets. The touts sometimes endup going to the gig, getting very drunk and ruining it for others!!

I have sold tickets on eBay, but only because I couldnt go. I always start my auctions at 99p, no reserve, free p&p, then its up to the bidders how much it goes up to. Most of the times it goes for about £10 over face value. I just want my money back!

Yep, its called "Get Me In" Still well over the face values though, but more secure IMO.

But how would that work? The festival would be in danger of having unsold tickets if you could just return them when you wanted.

When tickets become purely electronic, RFID or a Barcode MMS, then they can just cancel the barcode or particular ID issue a refund and then admission would be refused.

not used this site but says from £67.00 each a bit cheaper
http://www.seatwave.com/flight-of-th...10/perf/310179

That's not my point.

Great minds think alike , Cmon guys do you really want to miss out on performances like these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWzKkK7ncbM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er-Ikfrzo-A

So excited about it! I can never tire of watching that performance of Rock Steady, so fuuunky! Love her performance of Even Angels on Oprah too, gives me tingles!

Ticket touts really annoy me. I wanted to see Lady Gaga in feb so I kept checking ebay for months and as time got closer to the shows, ticket prices kept increasing. There was even a person who said they were selling them because they couldn't go and was wanted to get their money back. So I messaged them offering £20 over the face value price and they replied saying they thought the tickets were worth more...

Something really needs to be done about it. I think ebay would be difficult to regulate but these so called 'fan ticket exchange' sites like Seatwave, Get Me In etc need to be regulated because a lot of the time, they are just as bad.

I've sold tickets on ebay before but that was because I actually couldn't attend the gig and I held a 'buy it now' auction for exactly what I paid. But people that do it to make a profit are scum.