One of Ireland’s leading music promoters has warned fans not to buy tickets from secondary ticketing outlets such as Seatwave and Getmein.com.
Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions said secondary ticketing sites, which resell tickets, cannot guarantee that the would-be seller actually has them for sale.
“You don’t have to prove that you actually have tickets,” he said. “In all my years, I have never met anybody or spoke to anybody who got two tickets off Seatwave at face value. The minute tickets go on sale they go on Seatwave. You’ve got to remember that a lot of those tickets you see are people speculating. They don’t actually have tickets.”
He said he is constantly hearing of fans disappointed because tickets they bought on some secondary website have not come to fruition including at one concert where there were 100 tickets that did not exist.
“When it becomes reality, it is really upsetting,” he said.
Mr Aiken maintained the only thing that secondary ticketing sites can guarantee is that fans will get their money back if the tickets do not materialise.
He issued the warning in advance of the Ed Sheeran concerts at the 3Arena which he is promoting.
The dates on Wednesday and Thursday night sold out in minutes.
He cautioned against fans attempting to buy tickets from any third party, unofficial selling sites or even individual sellers.
The cheapest ticket on Seatwave for Sheeran’s concert costs £195 (€227), almost three times the face value of the ticket, which is €86. It includes a booking fee plus VAT charged by Seatwave at £30.99 (€36.20).
The most expensive ticket is £511.43 (€596) for a ticket with a face value of €76. The cost of the ticket is determined by the seller.
Mr Aiken said secondary selling websites bring nothing to either the promoter or the artists involved.
“Promoters are guaranteeing vast sums of money bringing these artists in and yet vast sums of money can be made on the back of other people’s endeavour, particularly the artists as well.”
Both Seatwave and Getmein are owned by Ticketmaster, the main ticket seller in Ireland.
Mr Aiken said Ticketmaster provides “probably the best ticketing system that I have ever seen” and he cited the example of it being able to pay back 400,000 Garth Brooks fans after the series of five Croke Park concerts were cancelled.
However, he stressed that he does not support its secondary selling websites.
Mr Aiken said he would support the private members bill brought forward by Noel Rock and Stephen Donnelly to outlaw all forms of touting.
A spokesman for Ticketmaster declined to comment on Mr Aiken’s remarks, but previously Seatwave has stated that the vast majority of its tickets for sale come originally from Ticketmaster and are bona-fide sales.