NZPA: Ban on ticket scalping for major eventsAs a few searches landing here have reminded me, my comments on ticket scalping which I posted last year in relation to ticket scalping at the U2 concert are relevant once again.
Ticket scalping for major events will be banned under legislation proposed by the Government.
Sports Minister Trevor Mallard said the proposed ban would only be for ticket scalping of major events like the Rugby World Cup in 2011, the Cricket World Cup in 2015 and the Rowing World Championships in 2010.
The Government would consider other definitions of major events that were not linked to sports when public submissions were called, he said.
What a lot of nonsense is talked about scalping, most of it due to a combination of economic illiteracy and an overdeveloped banning muscle.
Read on here to see how I said that in much longer form last December.
LINK: Scalping U2 - Not PC (Dec, 2005)
RELATED: Politics-NZ, Economics, Sport
4 comments:
If this is at the request of event organisers, and that is the only plausible motive, why do they need legislation? Can't they issue conditions on the ticket to that effect?
It's not difficult for ticket issuers to use market mechanisms to combat scalping. The solution is in staged ticket sales, with two or three stages of progressively expensive tickets available prior to the event, and a large proportion of ticket sales at the venue on the day of the event.
If a third of tickets were available on the day of the event, there would be no room for scalpers to extract a monopoly margin.
OK, next move- ban retailing
Same thing...
I just don't understand why the Government needs to involve itself in what is otherwise a deal between a willing vendor and a willing purchaser ... unless of course the Government is more interetsed in the the affairs of other parties not related to the deal. The limitation of the ban to "major events" belies in who's interests the Government is acting.
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