The Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Trish Blake has said that while Western Australians will be enjoying a number of major sport and music events in the coming months, there is a downside.
“I have no doubt ticket scalpers and scammers will come crawling out of the woodwork to offer tickets on resale sites that either don’t exist or are at illegally inflated prices,” Ms Blake said.
“Competition for tickets to the likes of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Coldplay and P!NK has been fierce, so it’s never been more important for consumers to stay on the ball when trying to secure their own seat or spot.”
She said the safest option was always to buy tickets through the authorised ticketing agent, or via its authorised resale site.
“Before snapping up tickets to any event, it’s important to check whether they come with a resale restriction,” Ms Blake said.
“If they do, it means you cannot sell them for more than a 10 per cent mark-up and you may have issues transferring them into a different name should you no longer be able to attend.”
She said that when advertising tickets with resale restrictions, resellers must also remember to include the original ticket cost (including booking fees) and details of the seat row and number.
“Event goers can rest assured that when major concerts or sporting competitions are advertised, our compliance officers proactively monitor resale sites and online classifieds for fake tickets and to ensure genuine resale tickets comply with the legislation,” Ms Blake said.
This was in addition to investigating complaints about misconduct.
Following one such investigation earlier this year, Consumer Protection issued five $2,000 infringement notices to scalpers who illegally advertised tickets to the Ultimate Fighting Championship event for up to 430 per cent more than they originally paid for them.
