CHOICE and consumer groups are launching an international action on the dodgy ticket resale market to stop consumers being ripped off by the likes of Viagogo, Stubhub and Ticketmaster Resale.
From outrageous ticket price mark-ups to denying refunds and selling fake tickets, the time has come to say fair’s fair and stop these resale websites ripping off consumers.
Have you been ripped off by a ticket resale site? Help our campaign and report it at choice.com.au/tickedoff
This is ABC’s The Checkout exposing Viagogo in a very hilarious way…
Yes, been crucified by Viagogo the rotten sods.
Would love them being taken to task !!
Ye I feel like I have been ripped off what is the booking fee all about and why in this electronic age of processing why is it not free?or incorporated Into the price.
More reasons to be mad at Viagogo.
Affirmative. Almost crucified by Viagogo. Our Viagogo-sourced tickets for Book of Mormon were $250- apiece whereas the patrons alongside us paid $80- apiece through the theatre’s booking office.
Thanks for posting @marks - I’m assuming you weren’t denied entry to the venue? I’ve heard a few stories from people who bought resale tickets who didn’t even make it in to Book of Mormon (they’re being quite strict on resold tickets).
Mark-ups are a pretty big problem and we’re certainly looking at that as a part of our investigation.
No I just believe they are double dipping when they charge a booking fee as well as the charge for the ticket. Bryan
Bad news for Viagogo and ticket resellers:
A year later, and unfortunately people are still being turned away thanks to dodgy tickets sold by Viagogo. The ACCC’s court case against the ticket reseller is ongoing.
Perhaps the Shonky Awards do not have the high profile they should, or human nature continues to believe ‘eyes wide open but it cannot happen to me’ 
It would be great if Choice had the resources to run adds across the commercial networks to promote the outcomes targeted. Some legal risk perhaps?
A possibly better solution, but looking a bit more like bacon in the clouds would be for the regulators to
(A) more aggressively prosecute and fine,
and
(B) pool the revenue so the ACCC or Depts of Fair Trading etc can place the adds.
After all they would be doing a public service to make the public more aware. If an enterprise can endlessly promote a dodgy product it seems only fair that the public guardians sponsor an equal level of response?
A third twist might be that 10% of all media advertising revenue goes to a responsible regulator and independent consumer advocates to use to provide “ consumer education media including targeted advertising “.
As an incentive, the more issues and dodginess in business the greater the advertising community education contribution. The better behaved, the less.
Win Win, no not the TV broadcaster, just well behaved business and reliable honest advertising leading to a zero imposed cost! Consumers may not have a bill of rights, but neither does a business?
… about time …
Court finds ticket reseller Viagogo misled consumers
18 April 2019
The Federal Court has found ticket reseller Viagogo AG made false or misleading representations and engaged in conduct liable to mislead the public when reselling entertainment, music and live sport event tickets, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
The Court found Viagogo misled consumers by claiming tickets to certain events were scarce when the scarcity only referred to the tickets available on its resale platform and didn’t include tickets available elsewhere.
“Viagogo’s claims misled consumers into buying tickets by including claims like ‘less than 1 per cent tickets remaining’ to create a false sense of urgency,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
The Court also found that using the word ‘official’ in its online advertisements was misleading. As a result of this, consumers were misled into thinking they were purchasing tickets from an official site, when in fact Viagogo is a ticket resale website.
“We urge consumers to only buy tickets from authorised sellers, or they risk their tickets being dishonored at the gates or doors,” Mr Sims said.
I had to spend some time on the credits. Trebuchet operator?
A few months ago one of my economics podcasts repeated an old episode about ticket prices in the US. Apparently performers could put tickets on sale and they would be sold before any actual fans managed to log into the website! In response, many performers are coming up with new ways to deter scalpers.
Victoria’s Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Martin Pakula, has issued an early warning to ticket scalpers aiming to gouge cricket-loving consumers. The Boxing Day Test at the MCG has officially been declared a major event, meaning tickets can’t be advertised or resold for more than 10% above their original value, as stipulated by the Major Events Act 2009.
The state government has also launched a new dedicated website to give consumers up-to-date information on the latest declared major events, which includes features that should make it easier for people to report ticket scalping.
Fines for such an offence can range from $806 all the way up to $483,500. Other events protected by Victoria’s anti-scalping law include the AFL Grand Final and other finals games, the Anzac Day game between Collingwood and Essendon, the Australian Open tennis, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
My wife unknowingly purchased tickets to Elton John (see our story in the July issue) from viagogo. Since then we resold the tickets on viagogo at a small loss, but at least we got our money back after 2 months of arguing with their customer support. They didn’t want to return our money until after the event in December even though we weren’t the original seller. They argued that we wouldn’t be paid if the new purchaser couldn’t get in, and we countered that the risk should be on the original seller or viagogo themselves. It took perseverance and over 40 emails but got there in the end.
Have since got real tickets via the authorised agent.
Feel a bit guilty but as these tickets were for my elderly parents travelling from interstate it was just not worth the risk to put them through a possible denial of entry.
