Reselling tickets for profit will be banned in the UK

Reselling tickets for more than face value will be illegal in the UK. the guardian and bbc news report. The plans, to be announced this week, will deliver on Labour’s 2024 election promise to crack down on promotion, amid debate over rising concert ticket fees. Platforms that resell face value tickets will be able to add service fees, but will be subject to new limits, according to the guardian. The changes to resale laws will not affect the dynamic pricing model employed by Ticketmaster and other providers, whereby the face value of a ticket fluctuates dramatically depending on demand.

An alliance of artists and consumer organizations – including Radiohead, Robert Smith, PJ Harvey, Dua Lipa and sports fan organizations – issued a statement this week calling on UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer to fulfill his promise. The statement called for new protections to “help fix elements of the extortionate and pernicious secondary ticket sales market that serves the interests of resellers, whose exploitative practices prevent genuine fans from accessing the music, theater and sports they love.”

Representatives of reselling platforms StubHub and Viagogo, who will be legally responsible if users violate the law, said the guardian that price caps risk increasing fraud by driving buyers and sellers to unregulated sites. It is unclear whether these British-based reselling sites, whose profits depend on taking a cut of the exorbitant margins charged by resellers, will survive the change in legislation.