Ticket touts. The line above the venue.
Three people in Germany, Latvia and North America are selling over three quarters of all the tickets touted across 300 Manchester gigs, and none of them owns a single one. Whoever's above the venue is the venue.
THE GIST ON TICKET TOUTS: "Ticket Touts"
How does the touting game work?
You pay Google, so when someone types in the venue's name, you appear above them in the search. They buy from you thinking you're the box office. Then you go and get a real ticket at face value and pocket the difference.
You never hold anything and you never take any risk. You just cream off the top.
Why does the tout not care if the show sells out?
Touting is meant to apply to sold out shows, or things so in demand that people will pay over the odds. These aren't. But when it costs you nothing, you can scatter listings far and wide. Whether somebody wants a ticket or not doesn't matter, because you've got no risk anyway.
How does a £30 ticket become £5,899?
That's how a 30 pound ticket gets listed, and I'm not joking, for £5,899. A markup of nearly 20,000%. It will never sell, and it doesn't matter, because it doesn't really exist anyway.
Is it just tickets?
You see it everywhere. A passport renewal site charges you £40 to fill in a document the government gives you for free. It's the same business. They jump the queue, taking advantage of the fact that you haven't checked and you're buying without knowing.
The venue makes the music. The tout owns the line above. Guess which one of those is the better business?
Should reselling tickets above face value be illegal?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
How do ticket touts get ahead of the venue?
They pay Google so they appear above the venue's name in search. Buyers think they are the box office, and the tout then buys a real ticket at face value and pockets the difference.
How big is the markup?
Huw cites a 30 pound ticket listed for £5,899, a markup of nearly 20,000%. It will never sell and it doesn't matter.
Is it only tickets?
No. He says a passport renewal site charging £40 for a form the government gives out free is the same business.
See you on the next one.
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