Melbourne rockers The Smith Street Band have warned fans to stay away from ticket scalpers, after tickets to their upcoming national tour were posted online for many times their original price.
The group have spotted a ticket to one of their upcoming Melbourne shows being sold by a serial scalper for $229 on eBay, even though the original price of the ticket would have been $55. Music Feeds has also spotted tickets to the same show being advertised for $345 each on Ticketmaster Resale.
In response, The Smith Street Band took to social media to show fans the $229 ticket, saying, “This is fucked!! Please, PLEASE never EVER buy a ticket to one of our gigs from a scalper!!
“We have always and will always make our shows as affordable as possible. We’d never want people to be out of pocket in order to see us play.”
View the band’s post and the scalped tickets to their Melbourne show, below.
There was bad news for ticket scalpers earlier this week, when the Aussie Senate passed a motion calling for ticket scalping bots to be banned under new legislation, much like they are in the United States.
Ticketmaster Resale and fellow ticket reselling website Viagogo have also been referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), after an investigation by consumer advocacy group CHOICE found they were taking part in “dodgy pricing practices”.
A number of popular Australian tours have recently seen tickets resold for many times their original price, including for local shows by Midnight Oil, Adele, Justin Bieber and Crowded House.
We have always and will always make our shows as affordable as possible. We'd never want people to be out of pocket in order to see us play.
— The Smith Street Band (@smithstband) March 21, 2017
Hey @Ticketmaster_AU why are you letting scalpers sell tickets to our shows at HUGELY INFLATED prices on your resale website?
— The Smith Street Band (@smithstband) March 21, 2017
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