Ticket resellers will soon be unable to price resale products above their original cost, according to reports. As part of a new law, the government is set to crack down on websites that relist tickets for live events, sometimes for thousands of pounds above the initial price. The move will cover music, theatre, comedy and sport tickets and comes after the government was put under pressure to target rip-off prices.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is expected to announce later this week that ending industrial touting will make resale tickets £37 cheaper on average and save fans £112m per year in total. The legal onus will be on resale sites to monitor their platforms and ensure compliance with the new legislation.
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, told the BBC that high resale prices were “hugely damaging to individuals having to pay through the nose for tickets” and that the government was “committed to outlawing it”, though he did not elaborate on the specifics of the reports.
Why are the new rules being introduced?
It has become increasingly common for big-ticket live events in the UK, such as the recent Oasis reunion tour, to sell out almost instantly, only for tickets to quickly appear on resale sites at significantly higher prices. These dramatic markups can leave consumers paying as much as six times the original price and cost UK music fans an extra £145m a year, according to research from O2.
Ending this practice was a Labour general election manifesto pledge, and now, with some added pressure from a few big names, they seem set to take action. Last week, artists including Dua Lipa, Sam Fender, Coldplay, Radiohead and Robert Smith of The Cure joined a campaign demanding the government "restore faith in the ticketing system" and "help democratise public access to the arts". This push, alongside other signatories including the Football Supporters’ Association, seems to have been enough to remind the government of the scale of the problem.
The move also aims to target the fraudulent practice of 'speculative selling'. This is when touts list tickets they do not even have, hoping to use the proceeds to buy them from other touts closer to the event date, usually at a reduced cost.
Will it still be possible to resell tickets?
Yes, but anyone selling a ticket will not be able to demand more than the price they paid for it, or offer more tickets than they would have been allowed to buy from the original seller. You can still sell your ticket if you are unable to attend an event, but you cannot make a profit from doing so, or amass hundreds of tickets if the seller has a limit of two. There will also be a cap on any extra fees to prevent platforms from profiting by inflating the costs. Unfortunately for frequent concert-goers, who are depressingly familiar with sky-high service and transaction fees, those charges are not being eliminated entirely.
The rules will apply to all major ticket resale sites, but also social media sites, where a lot more informal reselling takes place. If a seller uses a particular site to illegally profit from ticket resale, that platform will be legally liable for the breach, with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) tasked with enforcing the new legislation.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, has backed the move, saying: "Live Nation fully supports the Government’s plan to ban ticket resale above face value.
"Ticketmaster already limits all resale in the UK to face value prices and this is another major step forward for fans. We encourage others around the world to adopt similar fan-first policies."
Unsurprisingly, major ticket reselling platform StubHub is not a fan, warning that "With a price cap on regulated marketplaces, ticket transactions will move to black markets."
Will live events get cheaper?
Attending live events in the UK has become significantly more expensive over the last decade, especially to see big-name stadium acts and the top Premier League football teams. An average reduction of £37 may be welcomed by some, but it is not clear how eliminating the exorbitant prices of secondary market tickets will reduce the amount people who buy directly will pay.
Many regular concert, sport and theatre attendees will point to dynamic pricing, 'VIP' packages and seller transaction fees as areas that should be the focus of any legislation aimed at making live events more affordable.
However, similar rules have been in place in countries like Ireland and Australia for some time and should bring more tickets to the market for fans unable to pay the inflated prices offered by touts.
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