Some of Katy Perry's biggest fans are furious that concert tickets for her sold-out shows are going for double their original price on Trade Me.
Tickets for the American pop star's two New Zealand shows sold out in a matter of minutes last week.
Holly Craig's birthday wish was to see Perry live in concert, but her teenage dreams have been shattered. Holly has missed out, despite her mum Kirsty and her cousin Laura pulling out all the stops.
Since the concert sold out, tickets have appeared on Trade Me. Two front-row tickets originally cost $448, but they are now going for over $1000 on the online auction site.
Two general admission tickets originally cost $318, but bids on one Trade Me auction are already over $500 and it only started today.
Some fans are so desperate they are asking sellers if they can pay in instalments.
But Trade Me says their members aren't in the wrong.
"Ticket scalping isn't illegal in New Zealand, it's a free market," says Trade Me trust and safety head Jon Duffy.
"There's obviously demand there and the market's setting the price, so if people are prepared to pay that, others should be able to sell at that price," says Mr Duffy.
For specific events like the Rugby World Cup, the Government made it illegal to sell tickets for more than their original price. But they will only do this for events of national significance.
And Consumer New Zealand says a Katy Perry concert isn't one of them.
"It would seem pretty draconian to have regulations that would impact on so few people," says Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin.
But ticket scalping is enough of an issue for artists like Lorde to intervene. The Devonport teen has an invite-only system - in which only genuine fans invited to her shows can buy tickets.
But efforts to protect true fans are little comfort for supporters like Holly, who will miss out this time around.
3 News
source: newshub archive
