Concert Ticket Chaos: Difficulty in Eradicating Ticket Scalping

Concerts have fully recovered during this period, especially Jay Chou and TFBOYS concerts, where tickets are extremely hard to obtain, leaving many fans unable to secure them despite trying everything. The media also reported on ticket scalpers reselling tickets for Jay Chou, TFBOYS, and other concerts at exorbitant prices, leaving people wondering when this high-priced scalping can be curbed.

As we all know, concerts are incredibly popular, and scalpers have become the biggest beneficiaries. Many fans, unable to buy tickets directly, end up paying exorbitant prices to scalpers. Especially for TFBOYS concerts, which happen once in a decade and might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, ticket prices can soar to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Investigations have found that scalpers use various channels to acquire tickets, such as obtaining them through insiders, using fake passes to bring fans into the venue, and participating in media screening events. They claim that the key is to deceive the fans, and once they are convinced, the money flows in. Despite fans' prolonged frustration with scalpers, why has it been so difficult to get rid of this issue?

Many fans suggest strengthening real-name systems for concerts, which, technically speaking, is not that difficult. However, the main obstacle lies in the conflict of interests. Only a few stars can drive ticket sales, while most stars cannot. In such cases, scalpers are needed to fill the gap. With numerous concerts held every year, some popular concerts come with conditions, requiring ticket buyers to also purchase tickets for less popular artists, ensuring a win-win situation for both parties.

In response, legal experts state that scalping itself is an illegal transaction. If consumers privately pay a deposit through payment apps and fail to obtain the tickets, they won't be protected by the official transaction platform's rules, making it difficult to recover the prepaid deposit according to established rules and resulting in potential loss of both money and tickets.

To address such situations, consumers can seek remedies through civil litigation or report to the police. However, the prerequisite for using these channels for seeking remedies is that consumers can accurately provide the valid identification information of the scalpers; otherwise, it will be challenging to recover losses in a timely manner.