Ebay says fans reselling unwanted tickets are not ticket touts

Ebay has told the Government that instead of penalising people who want to resell unwanted event tickets it should clamp down on freebies for “VIPs and corporate bigwigs”.

The online auction site responded to the Government’s warning that if event organisers and ticket agencies don’t do more to clamp down on ticket touts it will consider legislation.

Andy Burnham, culture secretary, said the Government would initially push for a voluntary agreement that tickets for certain "crown jewel" events will not be sold on the secondary market.

This will be similar to the list of sporting events that must be available to free-to-air television and is likely to include sporting world cups and other high-profile events.

However Ebay retaliated by saying that genuine fans do not hog tickets.

“Often the only way genuine fans can get hold of a ticket is through sites such as Ebay. The real problem here is that up to a third of tickets for key sporting events are allocated to VIPs and corporate bigwigs,"

“We will of course examine the Government’s proposals and listen carefully to what it has to say. But if the Government does not insist that event promoters guarantee refunds beyond cancellation rights, why should fans be prevented from reselling spare tickets just because they can no longer go or their team is knocked out?," Ebay said.

The Government has already reached an agreement with leading operators including Ebay that sales of tickets for charitable events, such as Live 8, and events that receive public subsidy, such as the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend events, will be prevented in the future.

It said it will now work with the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) to deliver a new code of principles for the ticketing market that meets consumers’ needs.

This is likely to include a limit on the number of tickets sold to each person; clear refund policies; improved distribution, allocation and exchange arrangements; and fair terms and conditions.

However Ticketmaster UK managing director Chris Edmonds warned that any changes must be fair to fans.

"The secondary ticketing market exists because of supply and demand. Consumers that want to attend an event will seek out all purchase options that may be available to them, even if those options exist within the resale market. Most tickets are purchased for actual use, rather than resale.

"We understand the Government’s desire to single out a limited number of ‘crown jewels’ events but the best solution for consumers and the UK events industry would be to deliver safe and transparent ticket exchange and resale solutions across all events," he said.