AFL finals tickets pulled from online resale as Victorian authorities investigate scalpers

Resale of tickets for AFL finals have been removed from auction website eBay and classified site Gumtree as Victorian authorities launch a series of investigations into ticket scalping.

As reported by the ABC, tickets to the highly anticipated match between Melbourne rivals Collingwood and Richmond sold out within a few hours of going on sale on Monday.

The two clubs between them have almost 180,000 members, but with fewer than 40,000 of those fans securng tickets, many were left disappointed.

However, within hours of the game being declared as sell out tickets began appear on the auction websites on Monday, with tickets for ‘standing-room only at the MCG attracting a bid of $1,200, while three concession tickets had exceeded $1,600.

Victoria's anti-scalping laws ban people from reselling tickets to 'declared major events' for more than 10% above the face value of the ticket.

A Government spokesman said there are more than 65 anti-scalping investigations being run into online listings of tickets to upcoming AFL finals matches, including a large number of tickets advertised for auction.

12 listings have been removed from eBay and three from Gumtree for breaching the anti-scalping legislation, which protects the AFL preliminary finals.

Meanwhile, Demons fans wanting to travel to Perth to see their team take on West Coast in this weekend's AFL preliminary final have noted that airline ticket prices are soaring, with some opting to fly to Perth via Singapore as a cheaper alternative.