Ticketek Launches Price-Capped Ticket Exchange System

The Australian-based ticketing company Ticketek announced plans to launch a price-capped ticket exchange system, Ticketek Marketplace, later this month.

Ticketek Marketplace will cap resale tickets at 10 percent above face value. In order to guarantee that tickets are valid, the original ticket’s barcode will be cancelled and a new barcode will be issued in the name of the new customer. Users will have a single username and password across Ticketek and Ticketek Marketplace to ensure simplicity.

The CEO of Ticketek’s parent company TEG, Geoff Jones, said that the new exchange system is founded on “fairness, transparency, and security.”

“Many sports and entertainment fans have fallen victim of resale scalping practices based on highly inflated ticket prices, misleading marketing, a lack of transparency and often outright fraud,” Jones said.

“TEG believes that fans want a secondary ticket marketplace they can trust, where the authenticity of tickets is guaranteed and where the prices are fair. Ticketek Marketplace delivers these requirements to fans.”

Managing Director Cameron Hoy added that Ticketek Marketplace has been implemented for “fans with genuine need to buy or sell on the secondary market.”

“Over several years Ticketek has worked with industry bodies, venue partners, promoters and governments to educate fans about the dangers of resale scalpers,” Hoy said. “We commend the steps taken by state governments to legislate against these unscrupulous operators.”

Ticketek Marketplace follows the recent trend where primary ticketing companies have introduced value-capped exchanges. Ticketmaster recently closed its regular exchanges and will replace Get Me In! and Seatwave after pressure in Europe from Twickets and Fan Fair Alliance. Other similar European sites include See Tickets’ Fan-to-Fan, Eventim’s FanSALE, and AXS’s Marketplace.

This shift to capped exchanges essentially means that the primary market has the ability to set prices as they see fit and have the ability to move prices up or down based on how the market moves. If a consumer buys a ticket and cannot see a show, they will have to resell it on this capped exchange for the original face-value price of the ticket, whether or not the price moved up or down since then.

Ticketek, along with Ticketmaster Australia, is considered one of the “big two” primary ticketing platforms in the country.