fifteenth Might 2025
Studying Time: 8 minutes
The summer season is all the time a riot in relation to leisure. From native out of doors festivals to huge occasions like Glastonbury, there’s a ton of enjoyable available within the sunny months. Nonetheless, tickets might be costly – and that additionally makes it simple to get sucked in by ticket scams. Learn to get monetary savings in your summer season leisure tickets with out being fooled by ticket scams.
Think about Cashback Websites to Save
Save Cash on Live performance Tickets
How one can Keep away from Ticket Scams
Why Ticket Costs Rocket
There was an enormous hoo-haa when Taylor Swift, Harry Kinds, and bands like BlackPink had been revealed to make use of one thing known as ‘dynamic pricing’. Which means that the extra folks which might be attempting to purchase the tickets, the upper the value would rise. Whereas some artists denied permitting this technique was their selection, utilizing verified ticket retailers that do that (like Ticketmaster) might be seen as implicit settlement to utilizing dynamic pricing in ticket gross sales.
What this implies for you, the shopper, is that you simply may need budgeted round £300 for a pair of live performance tickets for your beloved’s particular birthday. You sit within the ticket queue ready for them to be launched… after which these tickets now value £600! And, as a result of dwell music has die-hard followers, there are lots of who will take the hit on the upper value as a result of the expertise is a once-in-a-lifetime probability for them.
There aren’t any guidelines towards dynamic pricing within the UK. And whereas it’s speculated to be a method to ‘cease touts and provides extra again to artists’, what it’s really doing is pushing second-hand ticket gross sales by way of the roof at even greater costs. And the individuals who can afford to purchase these tickets to resell? They’re typically the ticket touts this technique is designed to cease.
Use a Verified Retailer
So, how will you ensure you’re not a sufferer of ticket scams? Nicely, sadly, some venues and a few artists will solely use a single ticket gross sales outlet like Ticketmaster. This implies you’ll be able to solely formally purchase a ticket by way of them. Whereas it provides you some purchaser safety, for instance if the live performance is cancelled you’ll be able to declare a refund, it does restrict your choices.
Nonetheless, utilizing a verified retailer is far safer than shopping for tickets second-hand from public sale websites or your native Fb Market. Many tickets are usually not transferable to others, and should be offered again to the unique ticket vendor company if the customer can not attend. Which means that the ticket you’ve purchased from Mr. Mysterious down the native pub won’t allow you to contained in the venue, and also you gained’t have any recourse for a refund from him both.
Whereas utilizing a verified retailer means it’s a must to pay the value they set, you do get purchaser protections. In addition they have resale platforms that are official, so if you might want to resell your ticket you are able to do so correctly with out risking shedding your cash or getting scammed.
Widespread Ticket Scams : The Final Minute One
Ticket scams additionally come within the type of ‘final minute’ gross sales – somebody says they’ll’t make it on the final minute, however you’ll be able to meet them on the venue to get the ticket off them in case you ship them money to ‘reserve’ it first.
Once more, tickets are often for the customer solely – however even when they aren’t, assembly a stranger to get a ticket isn’t going to finish properly (they usually often gained’t even flip up). In the event that they do flip up, they may demand extra cash from you earlier than handing the (dud) ticket over.
Widespread ticket web sites embody TicketMaster, LiveNation, See Tickets and StubHub. TicketSwap and ViaGoGo are verified ticket reseller web sites. TicketSwap caps resale costs at 20% above face worth to keep away from ticket scams.
Get Cashback on Tickets
We speak about cashback websites rather a lot on Moneymagpie – and for good purpose! It’s a good way to basically get a reduction on something you should buy by way of them. While you’re shopping for a gig or competition ticket, that would quantity to a pleasant chunk of change again in your pocket, for doing nothing!
All you might want to do is signal as much as a cashback web site and discover the ticket gross sales web site by way of it. So, in case you use TopCashBack, you’d log in and search ‘TicketMaster’ or take a look at the ‘Tickets and Occasions’ class to discover a ticket gross sales retailer that provides you with cashback. Click on the hyperlink and purchase as standard – simply keep in mind to pick ‘permit all cookies’ whenever you get to the ticket web site, as this implies your buy shall be tracked by the cashback web site. It wants to do that so it may pay you the correct amount of cashback.
Going by way of a cashback web site is one other option to keep away from tickets scams as you’ll be assured to solely go to a verified ticket retailer.
Widespread Ticket Scams: The Money Solely Provide
In the event you assume you’re on a verified retailer web site, however it’s a must to pay by financial institution switch or gather with money in particular person, STOP!
Paying in your tickets on a credit score or debit card provides you shopper protections if one thing goes unsuitable – whether or not that’s since you’ve been scammed, or as a result of the live performance has been cancelled, or related. Your financial institution or card supplier has an obligation to you below these safety legal guidelines to make sure a refund is processed – however in case you pay by financial institution switch or money, you don’t get this safety.
Search for Companion Tickets
You probably have a incapacity, you could possibly be entitled to a free companion ticket for occasions. The Cinema Companion Card is a nationally-recognised scheme, for instance. Theatre venues will even typically provide companion seats, although you might want to purchase by way of the venue on to guide.
For stadium occasions, some ticket websites may have disabled seats with companion seats, however bear in mind: generally, this implies an empty house subsequent to a seat, as a result of the idea is that the disabled particular person wants house for a wheelchair. Whereas this feels very inclusive, it clearly excludes a variety of disabled folks (resembling those that require mobility aids however want to sit down down for lengthy intervals of time). Test prematurely with a venue about their disabled seating preparations, and whether or not they provide free or discounted companion tickets.
Widespread Ticket Scams: Scattered Seats
You would possibly assume you’ve discovered an incredible group ticket cope with an enormous low cost on seats for the theatre or a gig… however whenever you get the tickets, you realise they’re single seats all through the venue and also you’re not going to be sitting with your pals.
Scammers that do that provide attractive group reductions, typically utilizing social media posts that hyperlink to what appears like an official web site, as a result of single seats at venues are all the time lowered. So, they purchase all the only seats up in a present and promote them to you as a bunch package deal. If you wish to go together with a bunch that’s bigger than the utmost ticket allowance on the verified ticket retailer, contact the venue immediately to rearrange reductions.
Save Cash on Live performance Tickets
There are a couple of extra methods you’ll be able to strive to save cash on shopping for a ticket in your favorite artist’s world tour or one of many huge music festivals this summer season.
Signal As much as Mailing Lists
Search for the occasion mailing record AND the artist mailing lists. Arrange a brand new electronic mail tackle only for these, in case you don’t need to get a variety of further spam. These newsletters will inform you how one can get monetary savings with group reductions, provide the probability to win tickets and VIP experiences, and likewise ensure you’re the primary to know when tickets will go on sale.
Test Your Cellphone Supplier
It sounds unusual, however some cell phone suppliers give you the possibility to save cash on live performance and competition tickets, in addition to leisure just like the theatre, for his or her clients. O2 Precedence is a well known instance, ensuring clients get unique entry to some presales and different gives.
Use Loyalty Scheme Factors
Do you know that you could possibly earn loyalty factors to spend in your dream competition or live performance ticket year-round? Loyalty schemes like Virgin Crimson help you do exactly that.
American Specific clients may do one thing related, with unique entry to specially-reserved seats at every kind of experiences and leisure nights.
Attending to and from festivals and live shows additionally typically entails a variety of journey. Be sure you’re utilizing your Tesco Clubcard or your Nectar factors to save cash on the journey and lodging in your gig weekend.
Try LNER Perks App
Even in case you don’t use LNER trains to journey, you’ll be able to nonetheless join the LNER perks app. Why would you do this? As a result of till July 2024, you will get 30% off an annual ATG membership, ranging from £35. In the event you’re a frequent gig or theatre goer, this membership provides you with advance entry to tickets and particular costs, so the annual charge may simply pay for itself inside a few occasions.
And in case you do use LNER to journey by practice, you may also reap the benefits of the free £5 credit score to spend on an LNER journey simply by becoming a member of the app!
How one can Keep away from Ticket Scams
There are a couple of steps you’ll be able to take to guard your self from ticket scams, each saving your self some huge cash and frustration – and never being upset whenever you get turned away from that live performance of a lifetime you’ve been trying ahead to.
- Use a verified retailer – in case you’re undecided the place it’s secure to purchase a ticket, the venue will all the time have this info, so use their web site. You may also verify the Safe Tickets from Authorised Retailers web site or the Affiliation of Secondary Ticket Brokers to see if an internet site or reseller is on the record.
- Don’t use social media – don’t purchase tickets from somebody on-line in a discussion board, native promoting group, or perhaps a web site that advertises too-good-to-be-true resale costs.
- Use your debit or bank card – by no means pay money or financial institution switch in your ticket.
- Test your ticket Ts & Cs – professional tickets may have resale or refund directions
- Test the ticket Ts & Cs BEFORE you purchase – take a look at tickets from the ticket retailer to see if they’ve a resale coverage, buyer-specific QR codes, or something that identifies the ticket purchaser as this might imply you might be shopping for a dud ticket (for instance, a QR code ticket might be offered to a number of folks as a rip-off, however just one particular person will be capable of get contained in the venue with it).
- Search for dodgy hyperlinks earlier than you click on – all the time hover over an internet site hyperlink earlier than you click on it and if the URL displaying is just not the web site you need to go to, don’t click on!
- If an internet cost fails, DO NOT pay once more – contact the ticket gross sales web site to verify in case your transaction went by way of. A rip-off web site won’t have customer support you’ll be able to discuss to, and will take a number of ‘failed’ funds from you.
Volunteer As an alternative
Tickets for any sort of leisure are costly, even when you’ll find methods to save cash on them whereas avoiding ticket scams. Nonetheless, there’s one path to moving into your required competition: volunteering.
Pageant volunteers work a shift (often 4-6 hours every day) and might be something from visitors wardens to crowd management. In return for his or her work, they get free tickets to the competition (often together with tenting tickets in a particular employees space, too). It does imply you may need to compromise on which acts you get to see, in case your shift is scheduled for a selected time, nevertheless it’s a great way to see issues at no cost. Pageant volunteering is bodily demanding, nevertheless, so that you’ll should be in high situation to do it!
