The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the UK
Parliament recently conducted an inquiry into ticket touting and
published a report summarising their findings on January 10th
2008.
The Select Committee identified a number of key benefits that the
secondary ticket market provides to consumers as follows:
- a secondary market enables consumers to buy tickets at a late
stage, albeit at a premium, when the primary agent has ceased
selling;
- competition (in the secondary market) can lead to lower prices
for consumers;
- the services provided in the secondary market may be more
convenient, operating online, 24 hours a day, when primary sources
may provide only a more limited service and their systems may not
cope well at times of high demand;
- the secondary market enables ticketholders to dispose of
unwanted tickets so that they are not left out of pocket when, as
is often the case, promoters and primary agents offer no refund or
resale facilities;
- some consumers enjoy the process of tracking down tickets which
are difficult to find;
- the existence of a legitimate secondary market allows reputable
operators to provide safe and secure services with consumer
protection, and make it unnecessary for consumers to use shady
sources.
- the existence of the secondary market sustains the demand for
advance purchase which could fall away if consumers knew that they
must either occupy seats or leave them empty;
- the secondary market helps to increase the concession and
merchandising revenues which promoters and artists can generate at
events, by filling seats which would otherwise be left empty;
- the secondary market helps to increase ticket revenues for
promoters and artists when it buys (and makes losses on) tickets
for events where supply exceeds demand;
- the secondary market invests in advertising which can be
beneficial to the artists or events for which tickets are
advertised;
- the public benefits from the extra taxation revenue from the
profits generated in the secondary market;
- if there were no legitimate secondary operators, reselling
would be driven underground and operated by criminals.
The full report, containing all references, can be
downloaded
here