Archive for 8 July, 2010
Who is Paperless Ticketing Really Looking After?
It appears that Paperless Ticketing gets rid of individual tickets issued before an event, but as applied by Ticketmaster it depends upon the one credit card to identify the rightful attendees.
“It’s the ultimate in convenience if you’re a consumer,” says Jeff Kline, president of Cleveland-based Veritix.
Oh please!
There are numerous examples of how this compromises convenience, gift giving being buy one example. The helpful answer of Ticketmaster to gift givers is to buy paperless tickets “on the credit card of the person attending the event and [then] reimburse them.” Sort of discounts the warm and fuzzies from the gift of giving …
It is hard to see any real benefits to consumers with the dependence upon a credit card for identification and store of value and the only real benefits seem to be the agents extending control from the primary market to the secondary market. “Veritix and Ticketmaster say they aren’t against reselling, or even reselling at a profit — they just oppose it being done outside their own electronic walls. Both companies have set up their own reselling sites and require consumers to use them if they want to resell a paperless ticket. The companies then collect a fee, typically about 20 percent of the value of the transaction.“
“The debate revives a long-running question about the nature of a ticket: Is it a piece of property that its holder has the right to buy and sell as he sees fit, or is it merely a seat-rental contract subject to restrictions determined by its issuer?“
READ FULL ARTICLE ONLINE AT THE WASHINGTON POST ‘Paperless ticketing’ aims to thwart scalping at concerts, sports events
8 July, 2010 at 12:46 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
