Ticketmaster is usually seen as a platform for people to buy tickets to concerts and shows in a legitimate fashion, where customers are under the impression that they won’t have to deal with scalpers and outrageous pricing. However that isn’t necessarily true, at least according to reports from CBC News and the Toronto Star (via Engadget).Both publications sent their journalists undercover and discovered that the ticketing website was actually working with scalpers for online resales. This came in the form of the launch of a inventory system called TradeDesk that allowed scalpers to upload a high volume of tickets and resell them at any price that they want.
The reports even reveal how Ticketmaster salespeople were caught on camera admitting to it, and how they do not verify TradeDesk users and checked if they might be violating the website’s terms of service. To top things off, TradeDesk users also get perks such as a 3% discount on Ticketmaster’s 7% selling fee, and will receive further discounts if they can hit $500,000 and $1 million in sales, which if anything sounds like they are being encouraged to scalp tickets.
The company has since denied requests from CBC and Star journalists, but the company’s Catherine Martin did issue a statement that reads, “As long as there is an imbalance between supply and demand in live event tickets, there will inevitably be a secondary market. As the world’s leading ticketing platform, representing thousands of teams, artists and venues, we believe it is our job to offer a marketplace that provides a safe and fair place for fans to shop, buy and sell tickets in both the primary and secondary markets.”
Filed in . Read more about Legal.