Ever wondered why you couldn’t get a ticket to that gig you want to go to? Well that’s because the chances of you getting one are a lot harder than you think.
A couple of weeks ago CEO of Seatwave, Joe Cohen, told me over a rather large bowl of coffee that, sometimes, nearly 70 per cent of tickets are allocated before they go on general sale.
This figure is made up of pre-sale tickets (offered to newsletter subscribers or fan club members), corporate tickets and those allocated to promoters and sponsors.
This means that if you want to buy a ticket to a popular event, like the Rolling Stones or Take That, then the chance of getting one at face value are often slim.
I can't get no satisfaction: Fans often left sad and angry when they can't get tickets to a popular event. But if they knew how many tickets were on sale they might have realistic expectations.This is where re-selling websites come in. Websites like Viagogo, Seatwave and GetMeIn re-sell tickets to events – often at drastically inflated prices.
The upside of this is that fans can get a ticket, even if it means paying over the odds, and can sell tickets safely if they can't use theirs. (It also means that some people will be able to pay less for not-so-in-demand events too).
One of the revelations made during a Dispatches programme in February this year, which This is Money helped supply information for, was that promoters were giving batches of pre-sale tickets to secondary websites before they went of general sale.
This means that fans are NEVER given the chance to buy these tickets. They go straight from the promoter to the reseller.
Joe told me that Seatwave doesn’t strike these sorts of deals with promoters anymore. In fact, he said it wasn’t commercially successful as they would often have to stump up money for the tickets and take a gamble on the price that they would sell at all. He also conceded that it wasn’t fair on customers either.
He said: ‘We believe that pre-sales have the effect of limiting access for fans as they are only open to a small number of event-goers. Limited access usually has the effect of raising prices.
'Our view is that everyone, fans and ticket sellers alike, should have equal access to tickets. At the very least event organisers should disclose how many tickets are offered in pre-sales and how many remain available for the wider public.’
However, it is my suspicion that this still going on elsewhere.
Let me entertain you: Tickets to Robbie Williams went on general sale today - but re-selling website Viagogo already has tickets listed.When tickets to Robbie Williams went on general sale this morning there were some that had already been listed immediately on rival reselling website Viagogo for several hours. Of course, some could have been from people who bought tickets during the pre-sale process.
So we asked Viagogo where they had come from, and more importantly if they were 'primary' tickets that had not been on sale before.
Viagogo would not explain where the tickets had come from. Furthermore, they did not deny that 'partnerships' with event organisers existed.
A Viagogo spokesman said: 'We have a wide range of different partnerships with sports teams and rights owners across the world.
'Our wish is always to be as transparent as possible as is evident from our official partnerships with half of the English Premier League, half the German Bundesliga and major music acts like Madonna.
'There are other times where for any number of reasons, including commercial confidentiality, we are unable to comment on whether or not we have an arrangement with a rights owner.’
Interesting.
What I’d like to see is ticket websites improving their transparency. Why can’t they tell us how many are on sale and where they have come from? If I know my chances are depleted I might not be so angry or upset next time that must-see gig sells out before I get a ticket.
