is it time to ban surge pricing for entertainment events?
Discussion
Isn't it time to ban surge pricing for entertainment events and undo the previous government 'wrong' that the government did when they reallocated the market from the street spives to the much more sophisticated monopolistic digital spivs and their cohorts?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kj3742jxwo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kj3742jxwo
The way this will have gone is that a corporate will have said to the boys, here is £XM each for these dates here, we hold all the ticket sales risk, just you get the band back together.
There is a bonus of £XM per extra date you agree to.
Caring artists will look into a bit more to stop fans getting ripped off, e.g. Crowded House, others, e.g. Springsteen just take the money, no questions asked.
The deal AEG put on the table to get Morrisey and Marr back together is pretty much all in the public domain.
More fool anyone who paid £400 to see a band that fizzled out 20 years in a football ground.
There is a bonus of £XM per extra date you agree to.
Caring artists will look into a bit more to stop fans getting ripped off, e.g. Crowded House, others, e.g. Springsteen just take the money, no questions asked.
The deal AEG put on the table to get Morrisey and Marr back together is pretty much all in the public domain.
More fool anyone who paid £400 to see a band that fizzled out 20 years in a football ground.
There was always going to be a massive demand for Oasis tickets. The problem was, not everyone could buy at the same time due to queuing. If they wanted to charge £300 a ticket, they should have done so at the start, not when countless people had been lucky enough to get in earlier and buy at £150. I'd be pissed off if I got through hours after queuing to find the price had doubled from that had I got through the queue earlier.
towser44 said:
There was always going to be a massive demand for Oasis tickets. The problem was, not everyone could buy at the same time due to queuing. If they wanted to charge £300 a ticket, they should have done so at the start, not when countless people had been lucky enough to get in earlier and buy at £150. I'd be pissed off if I got through hours after queuing to find the price had doubled from that had I got through the queue earlier.
Cheers. Can anyone explain how the queuing system worked? Pot luck perhaps? Or by giving an advantage to some?Police State said:
Isn't it time to ban surge pricing for entertainment events and undo the previous government 'wrong' that the government did when they reallocated the market from the street spives to the much more sophisticated monopolistic digital spivs and their cohorts?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kj3742jxwo
User name checks out.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kj3742jxwo
Why is this something that needs to be in any way regulated?
It's not like the price isn't clear at the time of purchase. If you're happy with the price at the point of purchase, click "buy now"; if you're not happy, don't. No one is holding a gun to your head and only you know what you think watching a pair of late 50s has-beens get the band back together is worth.
Nah, keep it. If people want to swap a house for a ticket that's their choice. It's clearly worth thousands if people are willing to pay thousands. Same goes for that awkward Ferrari GT4 from the 80s that was unloved by everyone and could be bought for just over £10k back in the 90s. I think they're going for £60k now. 
Randy Winkman said:
towser44 said:
There was always going to be a massive demand for Oasis tickets. The problem was, not everyone could buy at the same time due to queuing. If they wanted to charge £300 a ticket, they should have done so at the start, not when countless people had been lucky enough to get in earlier and buy at £150. I'd be pissed off if I got through hours after queuing to find the price had doubled from that had I got through the queue earlier.
Cheers. Can anyone explain how the queuing system worked? Pot luck perhaps? Or by giving an advantage to some?ClaphamGT3 said:
It's not like the price isn't clear at the time of purchase. If you're happy with the price at the point of purchase, click "buy now"; if you're not happy, don't. No one is holding a gun to your head and only you know what you think watching a pair of late 50s has-beens get the band back together is worth.
The price was one price when you waited hours in the queue, only to find out that it had tripled when you got to the ‘counter’.That’s the issue, some will feel compelled to buy after waiting all that time. Had they known they were £400 up front and not £150 I suspect a lot would not have bothered.
Rough101 said:
The price was one price when you waited hours in the queue, only to find out that it had tripled when you got to the ‘counter’.
That’s the issue, some will feel compelled to buy after waiting all that time. Had they known they were £400 up front and not £150 I suspect a lot would not have bothered.
Still failing to see why that needs regulation. Nobody was 'compelled' to buyThat’s the issue, some will feel compelled to buy after waiting all that time. Had they known they were £400 up front and not £150 I suspect a lot would not have bothered.
ClaphamGT3 said:
Rough101 said:
The price was one price when you waited hours in the queue, only to find out that it had tripled when you got to the ‘counter’.
That’s the issue, some will feel compelled to buy after waiting all that time. Had they known they were £400 up front and not £150 I suspect a lot would not have bothered.
Still failing to see why that needs regulation. Nobody was 'compelled' to buyThat’s the issue, some will feel compelled to buy after waiting all that time. Had they known they were £400 up front and not £150 I suspect a lot would not have bothered.
Yes, surge pricing is unfair. The price should be the price. It doesn't make much sense that they are concerned about fans getting ripped off by touts on resale sites when they are ripping off the fans in the first place with crazy prices - the Oasis tickets thing was a shambles, there was always going to be very heavy demand.
It may well be 'supply & demand', but when it's obvious that demand will outstrip supply many times over, I can't see there's any need for it.
As for holding some back, 'just in case'...pull the other one. I preferred the olden days when you bought from a ticket office at face value, with none of this 'booking fee' b
ks. Just glad there's no-one I'm fussed about seeing any more.
As for holding some back, 'just in case'...pull the other one. I preferred the olden days when you bought from a ticket office at face value, with none of this 'booking fee' b
ks. Just glad there's no-one I'm fussed about seeing any more.ClaphamGT3 said:
Still failing to see why that needs regulation. Nobody was 'compelled' to buy
No, however you seem to be ignoring the personal aspect of this, and assuming that it's literally just like someone choosing to buy or not buy a tin of beans or some other equally ordinary and mundane thing.Concerts and other big events like this can very easily be literally once in a lifetime things for some people, and if they've decided that they're willing to pay whatever price was *originally* being quoted for tickets, and have then patiently waited in the queue for their chance to actually buy said tickets, just how likely do you think it'd be for them, once they finally reach the front of the queue and are only *then* faced with the prospect of having to pay more than the advertised price, to go "naah, sod that" and walk away?
twister said:
No, however you seem to be ignoring the personal aspect of this, and assuming that it's literally just like someone choosing to buy or not buy a tin of beans or some other equally ordinary and mundane thing.
Concerts and other big events like this can very easily be literally once in a lifetime things for some people, and if they've decided that they're willing to pay whatever price was *originally* being quoted for tickets, and have then patiently waited in the queue for their chance to actually buy said tickets, just how likely do you think it'd be for them, once they finally reach the front of the queue and are only *then* faced with the prospect of having to pay more than the advertised price, to go "naah, sod that" and walk away?
That's on the individual, not on the ticket vendorConcerts and other big events like this can very easily be literally once in a lifetime things for some people, and if they've decided that they're willing to pay whatever price was *originally* being quoted for tickets, and have then patiently waited in the queue for their chance to actually buy said tickets, just how likely do you think it'd be for them, once they finally reach the front of the queue and are only *then* faced with the prospect of having to pay more than the advertised price, to go "naah, sod that" and walk away?
I was happy to pay £150 for a standing ticket, the price they were advertised to me at. I was happy to wait all morning and see what was available.
When I got through the price was £350 and when you clicked into the basket you realised that the standing tickets were actually segregated so you could only be right at the back. That isn't what was advertised at all.
I get that if they'd advertised properly I wouldn't have queued so I've only lost my time, but at the same time there will be people there that paid £150 at the front and everyone at the back will have paid £350, just through luck of how the queues all worked out.
My best guess is that part of the business model is selling the tickets and taking a fee, then they charge a fee to sell all the tickets people bought under pressure that they regret or realise are rubbish, and charge the new buyer a third fee too.
They knew they would sell everything so there was no need to use surge pricing to make sure they all sold, so the differential pricing does feel unfair to me.
When I got through the price was £350 and when you clicked into the basket you realised that the standing tickets were actually segregated so you could only be right at the back. That isn't what was advertised at all.
I get that if they'd advertised properly I wouldn't have queued so I've only lost my time, but at the same time there will be people there that paid £150 at the front and everyone at the back will have paid £350, just through luck of how the queues all worked out.
My best guess is that part of the business model is selling the tickets and taking a fee, then they charge a fee to sell all the tickets people bought under pressure that they regret or realise are rubbish, and charge the new buyer a third fee too.
They knew they would sell everything so there was no need to use surge pricing to make sure they all sold, so the differential pricing does feel unfair to me.
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