The Laws on Reselling Tickets | Pocketsense Did Several states, including Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina require that anyone who resells tickets must either register or obtain a license from the state, both of which require an annual fee. In other words, it is designed to prevent online ticket scalping. Enforcing the law is complicated for a variety of reasons, including highly sophisticated software that scalpers use to crack computer systems that companies such as Ticketmaster use to sell tickets. Copyright 2023 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. The ticket bot can conduct hundreds or even thousands of transactions at the same time. You have JavaScript disabled. An advanced AI-based CAPTCHA ( GeeTest CAPTCHA - the leading enterprise-grade verification solution). Web(3) The legislature finds that the conduct described in subsection (1) of this section vitally affects the public interest for the purpose of applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW. 12 0 obj<> endobj is Ticket Scalping Illegal Is Ticket Scalping Illegal? Ticket Scalping Nashville May Ban Ticket Scalping Near Venues | Nashville, TN The rallying cry for the resale sites is Fan Freedom which not coincidentally is the name of the front group that StubHub and its then-parent eBay formed in 2011 to put a grass roots face on efforts to fight anything that limited ticket transferability. The new ticketing technology that may make scalping a thing of 0000009851 00000 n 0000001441 00000 n Present Those improperly acquired tickets then go on sale on secondary ticket marketplaces that make no genuine effort to determine the provenance of the tickets. Attempts to reintroduce ticket scalping regulations failed in all three states during 2011. VanReece called the council proposal "a start. endstream endobj 88 0 obj<>stream ticket The bill is before the council on first reading April 4. Finally, the statute prohibits the sale or use of software to get around ticket sale security. And for SeatGeek and StubHub as well, professional resellers that are somehow getting thousands of tickets far more than anyone could acquire legitimately fuel the business. WebIn the US, ticket scalping is the practice of buying and reselling event tickets by private citizens, rather than by the sponsoring venue or organization, usually at a much higher price than their face value. The fraudster identifies an event to target. The surreptitious rise of the online scalper - CNBC Is Ticket Scalping Illegal? State Laws Against It - My Law Questions "Every event that's going to drive any level of demand has its challenges with scalpers whose goal is to deceive and break the law.". Here, youll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. The see no evil stance that the likes of StubHub embrace is understandable commercially and legally. We can conclude that in most states, scalping is not illegal per se, about 16 states make it illegal, and four have municipal laws prohibiting scalping. A person can sell event tickets online as long as they comply with applicable state laws. 0000002991 00000 n That way the market outcome wont be decided by the endless struggle between the scalpers bots and Ticketmasters defenses, but by the people who put on the show or the game. While more tickets are being resold, the price of those tickets is declining slightly. Your WebScalping is the practice of buying up a desirable commodity, such as tickets to an event or copies of a hard to find toy, and then selling it at inflated prices once the demand exceeds the supply that you helped deplete. Rhode Island and North Carolina both limit the amount charged above face value to $3. In other countries, the laws are even more diverse. South Carolina permits only online sales. But if it licenses the use of the product, the way Microsoft licenses Word, its intellectual property rights remain intact and it can restrict transfer completely or however it chooses. 0000002512 00000 n There are state scalping laws that protects buyers from any Internet ticket sales fraud. trailer She received her J.D. TechTimes has Listed GeeTest among the Top 5 Best Bot Mitigation Companies in 2023. These tickets are bought by automated software in order to be resold at a higher price. WebTicket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. The federal Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016, commonly known as the BOTS Act, was adopted as the law in the U.S. to prevent attempts to automate the process of purchasing tickets en masse using ticket bots. Dean Budnick studied why concerts are so expensive and why average fans get shut out in their quest for tickets in his book "Ticket Masters.". Ticket Scalping Laws in Other States This shortage is artificial if the event has sold out because of the scalping, of course. So, if an artist or team wants to restrict or condition resale for tickets to their shows, they can do that; the venues will happily accommodate that, just as they let the artists and team pick price points and availabilities. Copyright 1999-2023 LegalMatch. Youre sure to hear a lot of complaining from secondary sellers this week after two iconic bands Pearl Jam and U2 announced new shows with restricted transfer tickets. By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service. To guard against scalpers, the band which usually plays in much larger venues and charges more for tickets implemented several safeguards. A person can buy event tickets online as long as they comply with state and federal law. This has also been illegal in the UK since 2018. Ticket scalping is not only used by reselling platforms. %%EOF On every transaction, these resale sites are getting a 25-40% commission from the consumer (and another 10-15% commission from the seller if it is an ordinary fan and not a broker). 0 Once you understand how scalping actually works, it is not surprising to hear that reported cases of ticket scalping go back to at least the 19th century, when we have evidence that tickets to Charles Dickenss tour in the States in the 1860s were scalped. New Jersey has a more generous policy that enables brokers to charge up to 150 percent of the ticket's face value. Tickets, Tickets, Got Tickets? A Summary Ticketing industry characteristics that appeal to scalpingbots: The legitimacy of the ticket scalping situation is different across the world. He earned a degree in computer science from Dartmouth College, served on the WorldatWork editorial board, blogged for the Spotfire Business Intelligence blog and has published books and book chapters for International Human Resource Information Management and Westlaw. Nonessential goods are exempted from the Price Act A whopping 40% of all ticket purchases online are estimated to be by scalper bots, according to Imperva. A ticket bot is a software program that automates the process of searching for and buying tickets to events on an online ticket vendor platform, such as Ticketmaster. In fact, at least two popular ticketing brands have been implicated in scalping scams in the past, in which they were found to be accomplices, so there is also the risk of fines or even worse legal repercussions for companies. The reselling debate . *xhM*,4V.I~7}%H#LQDytj0SVlRbgIZ\8q@= [G8:U8T@B ; hca9Kx~nF This is viewed by some as a H|0D 2. xb```a``a`e` @V *]]FuZO56wzhDUV3*RRM-^fQ-.BdITXiqi7OG?c0w@y@"n l@4_\\`RLK#x*[@Z|P819!3A!!c!CC:h 82pJi& 0 VX Like software licenses or airline tickets, a concert ticket grants permission, not some unqualified property right. Meanwhile, machine learning algorithms can do a deep dive in historical data to discover patterns and modes of attack to learn from, improving your defenses and safeguarding your business in the future. The state in which you live primarily determines if scalping is illegal or, if it's legal, the types of restrictions imposed on after-sale tickets. WebStates like Arkansas, Kentucky, and Missouri ticket scalping is illegal. Of the remaining states, most do not have any law. No one seemed to notice the Napster-like product that StubHub had created, which allowed concert tickets rather than songs to be resold over the internet without any compensation to the artist. Law Practice, Attorney 0 Ticket scalping, or the practice of selling an event ticket for more than its face value, has been illegal in Michigan. If the government wants to take action that genuinely helps consumers which is to say, fans it should pass federal legislation, preempting contrary State legislation, giving artists, sports teams and other event organizers clear rights to set the resale rules for their shows. Ticket legislation is a Depending on what was popular in the era, ticket resellers might focus on a specific sport, genre of music, theatrical show, or comedy act. 0000000016 00000 n Tickets with a face value of $30 to $55 sold from $100 to as much as $400. However, in 2006 the Florida Legislature changed the laws, and permitted persons, including ticket brokers, to resell tickets. Fortunately, I was still able to get tickets to the concert. This conclusion was reached after studying 180 different ticketing websites. Tennessee laws Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people.