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New South Wales proposes banning the resale of tickets for profit
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 10 October 2017
The government of Australian state New South Wales is proposing new consumer rights laws that would basically make it illegal to resell tickets for profit.
The proposed new anti-touting rules wouldn’t stop people from selling tickets on to other parties, but would make it illegal to profit from such reselling. And while transaction costs could be added on top, they would be capped at 10% of the original ticket price.
The state’s Minister For Better Regulation Matt Kean recently laid into the shadiest of all the secondary ticketing platforms, which is obviously Viagogo, although he says he is concerned about the wider practice of ticket touting too.
Discussing the proposed new anti-tout regulations, that also include the customary bots ban, making it illegal to use special software to buy up large numbers of tickets off primary sites, Kean said: “I’m sick and tired of consumers being taken for a ride by shonky operators looking to make a quick buck at the expense of ordinary fans. No ticket to a NSW sporting or entertainment event should be resold for more than 10% above its original price”.
As much previously reported, secondary ticketing has popped up on the political agenda in a number of countries in the last year or so, with law-makers seemingly much more willing to regulate the ticket resale market now than they were when online touting first became a big thing in the mid-2000s.
Just last week, ministers in the Canadian province of Ontario published their proposals for regulating the secondary ticketing market, which include limiting the mark-up on any resold ticket to 50% of face value. The draft new rules there also include a bots ban – which was first proposed in Ontario last year – plus other regulations including forcing ticket resellers to publish the face value of the ticket being resold.
The province’s Attorney General, Yasir Naqvi, told reporters: “Stronger rules for buying and selling tickets will help give fans a fair shot at getting music, sports or theatre tickets. Our proposed changes will ban bots and excessive mark ups, prevent fraud, and provide more information in the ticket industry. We are putting fans first by making the industry more transparent and tickets more affordable”.
