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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 14 2017, @08:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the no-wonder-I-couldn't-get-tickets dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

When Adele fans went online to buy tickets to the pop superstar's world tour last year, they had no idea what exactly they were up against.

An army of tech-savvy resellers that included a little-known Canadian superscalper named Julien Lavallée managed to vacuum up thousands of tickets in a matter of minutes in one of the quickest tour sellouts in history.

The many fans who were shut out would have to pay scalpers like Lavallée a steep premium if they still wanted to see their favourite singer.

An investigation by CBC/Radio-Canada and the Toronto Star, based in part on documents found in the Paradise Papers, rips the lid off Lavallée's multimillion-dollar operation based out of Quebec and reveals how ticket website StubHub not only enables but rewards industrial-scale scalpers who gouge fans around the world.

CBC News obtained sales records from three U.K. shows that provide unprecedented insight into the speed and scale of Lavallée's ticket scam.

Despite a four-ticket-per-customer limit, his business snatched up 310 seats in 25 minutes, charged to 15 different names in 12 different locations.

The grand total? Nearly $52,000 worth of tickets at face value.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/paradise-papers-stubhub-1.4395361


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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday November 15 2017, @03:44PM (4 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @03:44PM (#597319) Journal

    Typically, the ticket vendor (nearly always ticketmaster) charges a service fee. Another eaxmple would be a concierge service thet buys the tickets for you because you're busy, like to sleep late, whatever.

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  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday November 15 2017, @05:09PM (3 children)

    by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @05:09PM (#597359)

    Would that help stop scalpers? I don't see that it would, it just tweaks the way the price-point works out.

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday November 15 2017, @08:50PM (2 children)

      by sjames (2882) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @08:50PM (#597447) Journal

      With mark-up limited, there's a lot less money to be made and a lot less damage to be done. Requiring agency rather than simply buying a stock of tickets prevents the creation of artificial scarcity.

      • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:50PM (1 child)

        by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:50PM (#597477)

        But it doesn't limit mark-up. The scalper will just insist on cash to initiate the transfer.

        • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday November 15 2017, @10:16PM

          by sjames (2882) on Wednesday November 15 2017, @10:16PM (#597489) Journal

          And then the undercover agent cuffs him for an illegal mark-up.