Why is selling tickets illegal

More information about the enforcement action that may be undertaken is on the ticket reselling page. Some tickets will not have resale restrictions. For example, events that are not anticipated to be in high demand will generally not have a resale restriction on tickets. You are breaking the law if you sell your ticket for a higher price than 10 per cent above the original cost and you could be penalised.

From 10 September , advertisements that do not meet all the above requirements are banned. If you see any prohibited advertisements, you should report them to the resale site operator by sending them an email. They should then take it down. Some websites have a 'report' function to trigger an investigation into suspicious or non-compliant advertisements.

You should also report non-compliant advertisements to Consumer Protection on or email. You can find out the original ticket cost by checking comparable seats with the official ticketing agency or the event promoter. Do your own calculations to make sure you are not being charged more than 10 per cent above the original cost of the ticket. You should contact Consumer Protection on or email if the original cost was not disclosed in the advertisement for the ticket. You should contact the resale site operator in the first instance.

If you have evidence bots have been used to purchase tickets please report this to Consumer Protection on or email. Tickets can sometimes be sold as part of a package with additional services such as hotel accommodation, meals or transport. Resellers can seek to disguise the real price of tickets by providing them as part of a package. The Act prohibits the selling of packages unless they are authorised by the event organiser. Other packages are prohibited under the Ticket Scalping Act If you buy a ticket with a package that is not authorised by the event organiser your ticket may not be valid.

If your ticket is subject to a resale restriction but is resold in breach of the anti-scalping laws, the event organiser is within their rights to cancel the ticket and refuse your entry at the venue.

You could also lose your money. The venue has no role in the price charged by the reseller. However you could check with the venue to find out if you will be admitted to the event and to verify your ticket is authentic. Contact the reseller first to confirm they have not made a mistake.

You can also contact the ticket resale website's customer complaints section. If you bought tickets with a credit card and you never received them or they were not legitimate, submit a chargeback claim with your card provider as soon as possible. If the tickets were purchased using PayPal, contact their Resolution Centre and see if there are any protections offered through your PayPal Buyer Protection program or by calling Be aware the original supplier of the tickets the official ticketing agency or the event organiser is not legally obliged to give you a refund, as you did not transact directly with them.

Your sale contract is with the reseller of the ticket. Live Performance Australia has ticketing codes of practice which provide more information. No, not for tickets that are first sold from 10 September These laws apply to sporting and entertainment events held at venues within WA.

It does not matter where the buyer or seller lives. If you are being sold a ticket that includes a resale restriction to a WA sporting or entertainment event for more than per cent of the original ticket price, that is against the law. You could report the sale to the resale website to alert them to non-compliant advertisements being hosted on their website.

The simplest way to find out the official ticket seller for an event is to visit the artist, performer or sporting team's website, the website of the touring company or event promoter or the website of the venue where the event will be held. These websites will typically provide consumers with a direct link to the official ticket seller. You can also sign up to the mailing lists of your favourite artists, performer or teams — these emails will generally provide direct event and purchasing information.

Typically, official ticket sellers assign terms and conditions against resale to most event tickets. Understand that if you are purchasing your ticket from a secondary reseller, in most parts of Australia, your ticket may be subsequently cancelled by the official ticket seller or the event organiser if it is found to be resold.

From 1 June , the new laws in New South Wales include a protection for consumers that prevents tickets being cancelled if they were sold at or below face value plus 10 per cent. If you are purchasing from a ticket reseller, check their terms and conditions to see if they have any buyer protections in place.

You should ensure that you keep all information you have in relation to your transaction, in case of any later dispute. Make sure that the final price is in Australian dollars or that you know the equivalent price in Australian dollars.

Unless you are purchasing tickets to events in New South Wales , be aware that the price you may pay for the ticket could be significantly above or below the original value of the ticket. The original value is generally easy to find on the official ticket seller website and can be a good comparison tool. Touts have built multimillion-pound businesses, some based offshore , on the back of this. Over the past few years there have been many examples of major secondary ticketing companies breaching consumer laws.

For instance, some have not disclosed to buyers that the terms and conditions of their ticket could result in them being turned away at the door, if a promoter or venue has a strict anti-touting policy.

Other firms have sold tickets that do not carry any information about where the seat will be. The government recently tightened up the law, implementing legal changes that require sellers to furnish buyers with as much information as possible about the tickets and that sellers disclose any restrictions.

Meanwhile, the Competition and Markets Authority is conducting an investigation into whether the secondary market is fair and has said it is considering legal action against Viagogo. It raided the London offices of the Switzerland-based firm and competitor StubHub last year. National Trading Standards, the government agency that tackles rogue traders, is looking into whether the actions of touts are lawful and made four arrests last year.