It happens in every major city in North America, thousands of times a year.
In fact, on Friday as part of the panic to get tickets to Metallica‘s show in Saskatoon, likely more than a few concert-goers got ripped off paying an exorbitant amount of money when they didn’t need to.
“Just never ever buy from a secondary ticketing site ever – you’re either going to pay too much or you might be out of luck where the tickets aren’t legitimate at all,” SaskTel Centre executive director Scott Ford said.
“That’s a problem that we see at a lot of our shows.”
Matt Petrow, director of finance for TCU Place, said some of the sites aren’t that easy to spot for consumers who end up learning the hard way.
Like this case submitted by a viewer who paid twice the ticket value for a Paw Patrol Show last Sunday. Tickets sold directly by TCU for main floor seats were $35.50 per ticket including $1.25 for GST.
“That definitely shouldn’t have happened,” Petrow said. “We obviously don’t want to see consumers paying more for tickets than what the show is worth.”
First, he advises consumers to make sure they’re on the right site, a mistake that easier than you think to make.
“Consumers will just Google the name of the show or Google TCU Place and our ticketing site might not always be the first result that pops up.”
Secondary sites or resale sites are getting more sophisticated but there are a few other telltale signs to look for if you intended to by from the venue: when you go to select a section to sit in, you will only be assigned a row as opposed to the real deal that will assign you a row as well as a seat number.
“If you’re being asked to pay for tickets in U.S. dollars that’s absolutely not our site as we only ever sell tickets in Canadian dollars.”
Petrow says they can’t intervene with this process because individuals or a group buy the tickets and TCU has no idea how they intend to use them.
“It’s frustrating for us and it’s frustrating for everybody,” Ford added.
However, some fans don’t feel that way, these sites allow them to gain access to shows already sold out.
For anyone wanting to cutout a potential headache, your best bet might be to pick up the phone and buy directly from the box office if you have any doubts.