Calls for enforcement of anti-scalping laws in wake of soaring resale prices for Taylor Swift concerts

Consumer advocates are calling for unified national laws against scalping and for NSW and Victoria to enforce their current legislation following indications that tickets for singing star Taylor Swift’s 2024 Australian concert tour were being resold at vastly inflated prices within just hours of presales opening.

The first limited tranche of tickets for the singer’s much-anticipated The Eras Tour Australian series in February next year, went on presale through American Express and official seller Ticketek on Monday.

However, within hours of tickets going on sale, resale sites including Viagogo were offering tickets at significantly marked up prices.

On offer were two VIP packages for shows in Melbourne and Sydney, which included a ticket and merchandise, selling for $899.90 or $1,249.90. The packages quickly sold out, despite some technical hitches, but tickets began popping up on reseller websites almost immediately.

Australasian Leisure Management’s searches found tickets for the Sydney concerts listed for at least $1,600 on Viagogo, and a ticket for the Melbourne shows listed as having just sold for $3,114 - about 140% and 249% of the original maximum price for the most expensive ticket package.

Regular price tickets range from $79.90 to $379.90 price range.

Jarni Blakkarly, spokesperson for the consumer advocacy organisation Choice, said the resale prices were “clearly in breach” of NSW anti-scalping laws that restrict ticket resales to a maximum of 110% of the value of the original ticket price.

A spokesperson for Viagogo said ticket prices on the platform were set by sellers and “ultimately fans decide the ticket price that meets their budget. It’s important to note that prices can change and are not necessarily an indication of what a fan will spend”.

In 2020, Viagogo was fined $7 million by the Federal Court for misleading consumers by making false and misleading representations when reselling tickets to live music and sports events.

While the resale of tickets for Swift’s five 2024 dates in Melbourne and Sydney was not unexpected, Blakkarly said that while laws against ticket scalping exist in most states, their effect has been fairly marginal.

Blakkarly told Guardian Australia “we haven’t seen them actually stop ticket scalping on the big scale, really. It seems like big companies can just continue to do it. There are reasonably big fines in place but that doesn’t seemed to have curbed the practice … otherwise they would be putting limits on their sites to stop these tickets actually being sold.

The laws also differ across states.

In Victoria, for example, the rule against inflating the resale price beyond 110% only applies when the event in question is designated a ‘major event’ - which hasn’t happened for the Taylor Swift tour.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Government advised “we are working with the promoter to protect fans from unscrupulous ticket resellers. We will have more to say on this soon.”

Blakkarly added that Choice is advocating for “nationally consistent legislation”, adding “there should be uniform laws across the country so people have the same protections, whether you’re attending in Melbourne or Sydney.”

The next official wave of Swift concert tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, limited to Frontier Touring members.

General ticket sales are scheduled to open on Friday.

Earlier on Monday, Dion Brant, Chief Executive of tour promoter Frontier Touring, urged fans to “stay calm and be kind” when trying to secure their spot at one of Swift’s five shows.

Swift’s The Eras Tour is a global phenomenon and has sold out with unprecedented demand across the world.

Images: Taylor Swift on stage in 2019 (top, credit: Brian Friedman/Shutterstock) and tickets for her Melbourne performances being offered at marked-up prices on resale site Viagogo (below).