Save Money This Summer: Avoid Ticket Scams
Annie
nineteenth Apr 2024
Studying Time: 8 minutes
The summer time is all the time a riot on the subject of leisure. From native out of doors festivals to large occasions like Glastonbury, there’s a ton of enjoyable available within the sunny months. Nevertheless, tickets will be costly – and that additionally makes it simple to get sucked in by ticket scams. Discover ways to lower your expenses in your summer time leisure tickets with out being fooled by ticket scams.
Consider Cashback Sites to Save
Why Ticket Costs Rocket
There was an enormous hoo-haa when Taylor Swift, Harry Types, and bands like BlackPink had been revealed to make use of one thing known as ‘dynamic pricing’. Which means that the extra individuals which might be making an attempt to purchase the tickets, the upper the worth would rise. Whereas some artists denied permitting this technique was their selection, utilizing verified ticket retailers that do that (like Ticketmaster) will be seen as implicit settlement to utilizing dynamic pricing in ticket gross sales.
What this implies for you, the shopper, is that you just may need budgeted round £300 for a pair of live performance tickets for your beloved’s particular birthday. You sit within the ticket queue ready for them to be launched… after which these tickets now value £600! And, as a result of dwell music has die-hard followers, there are a lot of who will take the hit on the upper worth as a result of the expertise is a once-in-a-lifetime likelihood for them.
There are not any guidelines in opposition to dynamic pricing within the UK. And whereas it’s purported to be a technique to ‘cease touts and provides extra again to artists’, what it’s really doing is pushing second-hand ticket gross sales by the roof at even greater costs. And the individuals who can afford to purchase these tickets to resell? They’re usually the ticket touts this technique is designed to cease.
Use a Verified Retailer
So, how will you be sure you’re not a sufferer of ticket scams? Effectively, sadly, some venues and a few artists will solely use a single ticket gross sales outlet like Ticketmaster. This implies you possibly can solely formally purchase a ticket by them. Whereas it provides you some purchaser safety, for instance if the live performance is cancelled you possibly can declare a refund, it does restrict your choices.
Nevertheless, utilizing a verified retailer is way safer than shopping for tickets second-hand from public sale websites or your native Fb Market. Many tickets will not be transferable to others, and have to be bought again to the unique ticket vendor company if the client can now not attend. Which means that the ticket you’ve purchased from Mr. Mysterious down the native pub won’t allow you to contained in the venue, and also you gained’t have any recourse for a refund from him both.
Whereas utilizing a verified retailer means it’s important to pay the worth they set, you do get purchaser protections. Additionally they have resale platforms that are official, so if you could resell your ticket you are able to do so correctly with out risking dropping your cash or getting scammed.
Frequent Ticket Scams : The Final Minute One
Ticket scams additionally come within the type of ‘final minute’ gross sales – somebody says they will’t make it on the final minute, however you possibly can meet them on the venue to get the ticket off them for those who ship them money to ‘reserve’ it first.
Once more, tickets are often for the client solely – however even when they aren’t, assembly a stranger to get a ticket isn’t going to finish nicely (they usually often gained’t even flip up). In the event that they do flip up, they could demand more money from you earlier than handing the (dud) ticket over.
Frequent ticket web sites embrace TicketMaster, LiveNation, See Tickets and StubHub. TicketSwap and ViaGoGo are verified ticket reseller web sites. TicketSwap caps resale costs at 20% above face worth to keep away from ticket scams.
Get Cashback on Tickets
We discuss cashback websites quite a bit on Moneymagpie – and for good motive! It’s a good way to basically get a reduction on something you should buy by them. Whenever you’re shopping for a gig or competition ticket, that would quantity to a pleasant chunk of change again in your pocket, for doing nothing!
All you could do is signal as much as a cashback web site and discover the ticket gross sales web site by it. So, for those who use TopCashBack, you’d log in and search ‘TicketMaster’ or take a look at the ‘Tickets and Occasions’ class to discover a ticket gross sales retailer that offers you cashback. Click on the hyperlink and purchase as standard – simply bear in mind to pick ‘enable all cookies’ while you get to the ticket web site, as this implies your buy shall be tracked by the cashback web site. It wants to do that so it may pay you the correct amount of cashback.
Going by a cashback web site is one other approach to keep away from tickets scams as you’ll be assured to solely go to a verified ticket retailer.
Frequent Ticket Scams: The Money Solely Provide
If you happen to assume you’re on a verified retailer web site, however it’s important to pay by financial institution switch or acquire with money in particular person, STOP!
Paying in your tickets on a credit score or debit card provides you consumer protections if one thing goes unsuitable – whether or not that’s since you’ve been scammed, or as a result of the live performance has been cancelled, or related. Your financial institution or card supplier has an obligation to you underneath these safety legal guidelines to make sure a refund is processed – however for those who pay by financial institution switch or money, you don’t get this safety.
Search for Companion Tickets
When you’ve got a incapacity, you can be entitled to a free companion ticket for occasions. The Cinema Companion Card is a nationally-recognised scheme, for instance. Theatre venues may also usually supply companion seats, although you could purchase by the venue on to guide.
For stadium occasions, some ticket websites may have disabled seats with companion seats, however remember: generally, this implies an empty house subsequent to a seat, as a result of the idea is that the disabled particular person wants house for a wheelchair. Whereas this feels very inclusive, it clearly excludes plenty of disabled individuals (corresponding to those that require mobility aids however want to sit down down for lengthy intervals of time). Verify upfront with a venue about their disabled seating preparations, and whether or not they supply free or discounted companion tickets.
Frequent Ticket Scams: Scattered Seats
You may assume you’ve discovered a tremendous group ticket take care of an enormous low cost on seats for the theatre or a gig… however while you get the tickets, you realise they’re single seats all through the venue and also you’re not going to be sitting with your mates.
Scammers that do that supply attractive group reductions, usually utilizing social media posts that hyperlink to what appears to be like like an official web site, as a result of single seats at venues are all the time diminished. So, they purchase all the one seats up in a present and promote them to you as a gaggle bundle. If you wish to go along with a gaggle that’s bigger than the utmost ticket allowance on the verified ticket retailer, contact the venue immediately to rearrange reductions.
Save Cash on Live performance Tickets
There are a couple of extra methods you possibly can attempt to save cash on shopping for a ticket in your favorite artist’s world tour or one of many large music festivals this summer time.
Signal As much as Mailing Lists
Search for the occasion mailing record AND the artist mailing lists. Arrange a brand new e mail handle only for these, for those who don’t wish to get plenty of additional spam. These newsletters will inform you how one can lower your expenses with group reductions, provide the likelihood to win tickets and VIP experiences, and in addition be sure you’re the primary to know when tickets will go on sale.
Verify Your Cellphone Supplier
It sounds unusual, however some cell phone suppliers give you the possibility to save cash on live performance and competition tickets, in addition to leisure just like the theatre, for his or her clients. O2 Precedence is a well known instance, ensuring clients get unique entry to some presales and different affords.
Use Loyalty Scheme Factors
Do you know that you can earn loyalty factors to spend in your dream competition or live performance ticket year-round? Loyalty schemes like Virgin Red will let you just do that.
American Express clients might do one thing related, with unique entry to specially-reserved seats at every kind of experiences and leisure nights.
Attending to and from festivals and live shows additionally usually entails plenty of journey. Ensure you’re utilizing your Tesco Clubcard or your Nectar factors to save cash on the journey and lodging in your gig weekend.
How you can Keep away from Ticket Scams
There are a couple of steps you possibly can take to guard your self from ticket scams, each saving your self some huge cash and frustration – and never being dissatisfied while you get turned away from that live performance of a lifetime you’ve been wanting ahead to.
- Use a verified retailer – for those who’re unsure the place it’s protected to purchase a ticket, the venue will all the time have this data, so use their web site. You may as well verify the Secure Tickets from Authorised Retailers web site or the Association of Secondary Ticket Agents to see if a web site or reseller is on the record.
- Don’t use social media – don’t purchase tickets from somebody on-line in a discussion board, native promoting group, or perhaps a web site that advertises too-good-to-be-true resale costs.
- Use your debit or bank card – by no means pay money or financial institution switch in your ticket.
- Verify your ticket Ts & Cs – official tickets may have resale or refund directions
- Verify the ticket Ts & Cs BEFORE you purchase – take a look at tickets from the ticket retailer to see if they’ve a resale coverage, buyer-specific QR codes, or something that identifies the ticket purchaser as this might imply you might be shopping for a dud ticket (for instance, a QR code ticket will be bought to a number of individuals as a rip-off, however just one particular person will be capable of get contained in the venue with it).
- Search for dodgy hyperlinks earlier than you click on – all the time hover over a web site hyperlink earlier than you click on it and if the URL displaying shouldn’t be the web site you wish to go to, don’t click on!
- If a web based fee fails, DO NOT pay once more – contact the ticket gross sales web site to verify in case your transaction went by. A rip-off web site is not going to have customer support you possibly can discuss to, and will take a number of ‘failed’ funds from you.
Volunteer As an alternative
Tickets for any sort of leisure are costly, even when yow will discover methods to save cash on them whereas avoiding ticket scams. Nevertheless, there’s one path to entering into your required competition: volunteering.
Pageant volunteers work a shift (often 4-6 hours every day) and will be something from site visitors wardens to crowd management. In return for his or her work, they get free tickets to the competition (often together with tenting tickets in a particular workers space, too). It does imply you may need to compromise on which acts you get to see, in case your shift is scheduled for a selected time, however it’s a great way to see issues totally free. Pageant volunteering is bodily demanding, nonetheless, so that you’ll have to be in prime situation to do it!
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