Scalpers unpopular

Amelia Wade at NZ herald reports:

Sold-out tickets to boy band One Direction’s concerts are selling in online auctions for more than four times their face value.

But some Trade Me users are fighting back against the large profits and are sabotaging the auctions by placing large, “silly” bids with no intention of paying.

One mother of a disappointed 12-year-old girl who missed out on a ticket has questioned whether it’s fair that reselling Rugby World Cup tickets was illegal but reselling One Direction tickets is not.

Maybe she should raise the issue with the then Minister who introduced the anti-scalping law?

Of course there is a significant possibility that the former Minister is one of those buying up tickets to One Directions and onselling them for a profit to 12 year olds.

The $92 tickets for the three April shows in Auckland and Wellington sold out in minutes but within hours some had been listed on Trade Me. The bids have sky-rocketed as more tickets were listed. Last night there were almost 40 listings, with pairs of tickets costing as much as $735.

Do any of them have buy now prices? I understand they are very difficult to work out how to do.