New Report Suggests Punters Are Being Tricked By Ticket Resale Sites

As the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) prepares to take ticket resale company Viagogo to court for breaching Australian Consumer Law, a new report has suggested punters are indeed being misled by the resale industry. 

The study, issued by consumer advocacy group CHOICE, reported that of 1051 complaints by participants across Australia, New Zealand and the UK, 75% said they paid more than the face value of their ticket from resale sites and 56% said hidden fees were included in their purchase. 

The report also shows 79% of Australian case studies were tricked into believing the website they were using was the official seller. 

Meanwhile, 11% of complaints said their credit card had been over-charged or that they never received tickets and 8% reported that they had received fake tickets.

It should be noted too, that 66% of participants reported that they were linked to resale websites through a Google search; just 20% were able to identify the ticket reseller website and the official seller.

One user reported, "Viagogo was the first site to come up in my Google search for Harry Styles Brisbane, and the description said ‘Official Site’ so I assumed it was the official ticket site for the concert".

The report comes after tickets to Falls Festival hit Viagogo within hours of selling out for more than double the original cost price. 

Read more about the CHOICE campaign here.