Splendour – scalping follow up
SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS would like to advise music fans of the follow-up which has taken place since the quick sell out of the event and the ensuing problems with ticket scalping on EBAY.
SPLENDOUR organisors have sought legal advice and on Wed 12th May proceeded to issue EBAY and their sellers with a ‘cease and desist’ letter. In simple terms this means that we asked both parties to stop selling SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS tickets as they are in breach of the conditions of purchase printed on the back of the ticket. Unfortunately EBAY have chosen not to do this.
After much media focus, the NSW Department of Fair Trading made contact with us and recognised ticket scalping as an ongoing issue for consumers and the ticket industry as a whole. On Monday May 16th, the NSW Department of Fair Trading had a productive meeting with EBAY and will be investigating ticket sellers who are obviously using Splendour as an opportunity to profit from genuine music fans.
The NSW Fair Trading Minister, Mr Hatzistergos said he has instructed the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the reselling of SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS tickets. This includes speaking to outlets where they are being advertised and looking at whether the re-sellers are in breach of the Fair Trading Act.
‘Fair Trading investigators will be contacting newspaper and internet outlets to identify advertisers who appear to be profit motivated,’ Mr Hatzistergos said. ‘While it is reasonable to expect that some fans may have a ticket or two more than they need, genuine fans would not be selling big allocations of tickets for highly inflated prices.
‘People involved in offering tickets they have bought for resale rather than personal use may be in breach of the misleading conduct provisions of the Fair Trading Act.
The Department of Fair Trading will conduct their investigation, which we hope will result in changes to the event ticketing industry by way of introduction of anti ticket scalping legislation in the not too distant future. While this has been a problem for SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS, it is a much broader consumer issue for all music events and sporting fixtures, particularly those that sell out in advance.
SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS will be examining various ways to minimise the chances of this happening in the future. We will look at this AFTER the 2005 event has taken place and make an announcement in the lead-up to the 2006 show. Our aim is to allow genuine fans the chance to purchase event tickets at no more than their set price.
Thanks for your support, please refer any enquiries to EBAY or the Department of Fair Trading.
Thank You,
SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS – ORGANISORS
