Chugg Entertainment warns fans not to buy Elton John tickets from 'reseller' websites

Elton John presale tickets went on sale Thursday via authorised websites Moshtix and Ticketmaster, however, websites like the Swiss-based Viagogo, Stub Hub and the Australian owned Ticketmaster Resale were also selling tickets.

These sites claim to offer fans a way of disposing of unwanted tickets to music and sporting events, though are also used by scalpers.

“It’s sucking the life out of the industry,” said Chugg Entertainment spokesman Matthew Lazarus-Hall.

He said fans should also be wary of scalpers on Gumtree and Ebay, but reseller websites were taking advantage of grey areas in Australian legislation and often at the expense of peoples wallets.

Mr Lazarus-Hall said sometimes the same seats could be sold multiple times and at highly inflated prices.

On Thursday Viagogo also claimed to have tickets to Midnight Oil’s Wollongong show on November 13 (at two and three times the price), even though promoters said it sold out within an hour of going on sale.

It comes as Choice Magazine lobby’s the consumer watchdog to take action. They’ve lodged a complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission against Viagogo and Ticketmaster Resale.

The ABC reports Frontier Touring, which is promoting Midnight Oil's reunion tour, is also preparing a submission to the ACCC focusing on what it called "misleading sales tactics and language" used by some resale sites.

A spokeswoman for NSW Fair Trading said the majority of complaints in 2016 about ticket scalping and reselling services were about heavily marked up ticket prices, booking fees not being disclosed and tickets being sold which did not exist at the time of sale or had been cancelled by the issuer.

“Ticket reselling is often raised at the time of high profile and popular events with some consumer frustration in tickets selling very fast through ticketing companies but then appearing through the secondary market,” the spokeswoman said.

“While the Australian Consumer Law can address instances of misleading conduct, it does not prohibit the practice of reselling itself.”

Illawarra Mercury