Ticketmaster Scalping Scandal: 15 Things to Know About the Shocking Report

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A recent report from undercover reporters reveals a Ticketmaster scalping scandal.

Ticketmaster Scalping Scandal: 15 Things to Know About the Shocking Report

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Here’s what we know about the scalping scandal affecting Live Nation Entertainment’s (NYSE:LYV) Ticketmaster.

  • Robert Cribb and Dave Seglins went undercover to attend special Ticketmaster events.
  • At these events, the two investigative reporters for The Star and CBC News posed as ticket scalpers.
  • When speaking with representatives for Ticketmaster Resale, they learned that the company allegedly doesn’t try to stop scalpers.
  • The two reporters note that one employee of the Resale division even said the company helps out scalpers.
  • This includes the creation of a new service called Trade Desk.
  • Trade Desk allows scalpers to post hundreds of tickets to Resale.
  • The service also offers benefits for users after reaching certain sales milestones.
  • This includes taking percentage points off from the fees of selling on Resale.
  • The milestone markers are high enough that the average person would never reach them just from selling a few tickets to concerts they couldn’t attend.
  • This promotes scalpers to purchase as many tickets as possible through Ticketmaster to resell on the Resale site through Trade Desk.
  • This violates Ticketmaster’s own terms of use and also goes against public statements company officials have made about scalpers.
  • The company’s policies don’t typically allow users to buy more than eight seats per event.
  • Despite this, scalpers buy more with multiple accounts and bots.
  • This isn’t allowed by the company’s own rules, but it also isn’t working to stop it.
  • Allowing scalpers to make massive ticket purchases and the sell then on Resell allows Ticketmaster allegedly to double dip on those sales.

You can learn more about the Ticketmaster scalping scandal by following this link.

LYV stock was down 1% as of noon Thursday.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story listed Marco Chown Oved as one of the investigative reporters that went undercover. Oved did not attend the Ticketmaster events.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/09/ticketmaster-scalping-scandal-highlights/.

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