Taylor Swift’s fans who were unable to purchase concert tickets for “The Eras Tour” last month sued Ticketmaster for anticompetitive conduct after the online ticket market went berserk.
Suing Ticketmaster for Anticompetitive Conduct
Following the debacle surrounding the online ticket sales on November 15, 2016, 26 Taylor Swift fans sued Live Nation’s Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster was charged with fraud, price-fixing, antitrust violations, and allowing more scalpers to purchase tickets after several fans were unable to purchase The Eras Tour tickets.
The Verge claims that Ticketmaster forced customers to pay a hefty service fee even though concert tickets alone were already more expensive than comparable market prices. Swift backed this up when she issued a statement through her Instagram Stories and noted that even if the company had no intention, they were unprepared for the ticketing processing.
The case also covered giving out the presale codes that customers used to purchase tickets online. Even though there were a limited number of seats available, the firm allegedly misled the fans by giving codes to 1.4 million registered supporters.
“Due to limited ticket releases, millions of fans had to wait up to eight hours to buy tickets.” “Ticketmaster supplied codes on purpose because it couldn’t meet demand,” the complaint said.
According to a story from Deadline, the complaint requested that the court fine Ticketmaster $2,500 for each infraction. One of the fans’ attorneys, Jeniffer Kinder, stated that the court is anticipated to make a ruling on Monday.
Following the presale, Ticketmaster also expressed regret to the singer and her followers. The incident, according to the company, resulted in a huge demand on their system due to the overwhelming rush and the bot attacks. Due to the low number of tickets still available, the general ticket sale was also postponed because it would be impossible to accommodate the surviving fans who were not part of the pre-selling.
Aftermath of Online Ticket Selling
A number of scalpers have been reselling The Eras Tour tickets to websites like StubHub and Vivid Seats for a significant profit due to the cancellation of the general sale of the tickets. When compared to the original price, which ranged from $49 to $499, resale tickets cost between $350 and around $30,000.
The cost of the seats and the offered cities vary. cities like Las Vegas, Glendale, and Arizona, per Axios. On the websites, the most costly resale tickets are for Arlington, Texas, and East Rutherford.
To buy and sell tickets, fans have created private groups on social media sites like Facebook. The prices that fans provided were as close to the original prices as those set by scalpers. There have also been ticket giveaway competitions on a number of business and radio stations, including those in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Philadelphia.
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