Ticket reselling companies set to lose more than $1million due to low demand on the secondary market
Tickets for Travis Scott's current tour sold out almost instantly, but are now reselling for a quarter of their face value
Scalpers and ticket reselling companies are set to incur heavy losses after banking on being able to resell tickets for Travis Scott's ongoing Utopia — Circuit Maximus tour.
As 404 Media reports, tickets for the tour, which is currently running across North America, sold out almost instantly, but are now being offloaded for a quarter of their face value in some cases on resale sites such as StubHub. Tickets for Scott's show at Raleigh, North Carolina's PNC Arena next Friday, 13th October are listed for as low as $14, less than a quarter of their $61.50 Ticketmaster face value.
Other shows through October have tickets on sale for less than half of their original price, though values do rise slightly when the tour heads to various major cities on the west coast and in the northeast of the US in November and December. Tickets are also selling for at least double their face value for Scott's three shows in Canada, where demand is higher and fewer dates are taking place.
404 Media reports that false demand was created for some shows when they almost instantly sold out as a result of PFS Buyers, a site with members that has recently gone from buying up rare coins from the US mint to buying up tickets to concerts in an effort to make profits.
404 Media reported that ticket resellers bypass Ticketmaster's ticket-buying limit by leveraging the credit card point maximising community in order to “create a human ticket-buying botnet”. The practice was apparently carried out successfully for a tour by Olivia Rodrigo, but hasn't worked so well in the case of Scott's shows.
PFS could reportedly lose more than $1 million from betting so heavily on Scott's tour, and may be forced to close. Members who were hoping to make profits from the scheme are said to have been left in the lurch on what the loss could mean.
Earlier this year, the US Government pushed Ticketmaster to update its policy to eliminate hidden fees and show ticket buyers the full price of a ticket before committing to making a purchase.
You can read out feature looking at how ticket reselling is ruining live music for genuine fans from 2021 here.
