Tickets for Froch v Kessler

[obi1]

I read this forum a lot but have never posted on here before, but there's something I wanted to bring up.

Despite being a huge boxing fan who goes to a lot of events, I have found getting tickets for the Froch fight a total nightmare and every avenue I have tried,the price of tickets has been massively inflamed. The whole experience has left me sensing a terrible smell surrounding the organisers ticketing operation.

I initially tried to get tickets on the day that the event went on sale, but before I could get to a computer they were sold out. And as popular as the event is, I'm finding hard to believe that the bulk of the tickets were sold that quickly to legitimate fans.

It seems the only people to have tickets available for this sold out event are the white collar touts such as Seatwave, Viagogo, Stub Hub and Get Me In who are all charging extortionate prices and seem to all have ample stock for those who are prepared to pay. So this sell out show is not actually sold out.

As it appears that each of these outlets have ample tickets in batches of 6 or 8 together and at most prices, it set me thinking as to where do they obtain these tickets from in the first place and who would buy tickets in such amounts and sell them at a discounted rate to an agent to sell at a premium, it just doesn’t make sense. I telephoned Seatwave and made out I have two tickets to sell and they offered me a third of face value yet are selling the same tickets at a whopping 150% mark up.

If there is such a demand for these tickets and the event did sell out in just three hours then something somewhere is starting to stink. Surely no sane person would buy tickets from the O2 Box Office, pay a booking fee on top only to sell them on at a loss to someone who they know is going to put such a huge mark up on them on them on the so-called secondary market.

With so many Boxing websites, forums, magazines and even Gumtree and Ebay now at peoples disposal to advertise their tickets this whole situation smacks of corruption and profiteering from someone who clearly had access to large amounts of tickets from the outset and obviously someone who would benefit from selling them on maybe in a partnership deal with these secondary agencies. It’s a crooked win-win situation surely?

Doing a search of these agents proves that they have literally hundreds of tickets for sale at ridiculous prices when these tickets should have be sold directly to the fans and at face value and not passed to people whose sole aim is to rip fans off. I'm generally a big fan of what Eddie Hearn is doing in the sport, but this is suspicious to say the least! I know he reads these forums so maybe he could come on here and explain what is going on and how these corporate touts managed to grab so many tickets in the first place when the fans couldn’t! A friend of mine got his tickets from a man called Kevin Lewshin who says he got a batch of ringside tickets to ‘knock out’ directly from Barry Hearn and needless to say he is also asking crazy prices for them too.

I would hate to think that the organisers have orchestrated this scam with the ticket agencies so to gain additional under-the-counter income because, if this is the case, then it’s a disgrace and surely cannot be legal.

If any one does have any tickets for sale (2) at a reasonable price, i.e. somewhere not a million miles from face value, please message me as I'm desperate to go, but at the moment can't justify paying around £500 for two standard tiered seating (face value £50) tickets for my son and I.

[mickey1975]

You don't sell to Seatwave, etc, you sell through them and you set the price. They take a ten percent fee off you. For instance, if I sold a £149.99 ticket on there, I would receive £135. They charge the buyer ten percent plus courier too so they would pay about £185. And people WOULD and do buy as many as they can to resell for events like this and many others. Think about it, 8 £80 tickets at £239.99 means over a grand profit for a few minutes work. It can go the other way, too. Misjudge the popularity of the artist and you could be left with tickets worth a fraction of the face value. And yes, you have to be online ready to go the second they go on sale, the touts will be.

[Alba]

You don't sell to Seatwave, etc, you sell through them and you set the price. They take a ten percent fee off you. For instance, if I sold a £149.99 ticket on there, I would receive £135. They charge the buyer ten percent plus courier too so they would pay about £185. And people WOULD and do buy as many as they can to resell for events like this and many others. Think about it, 8 £80 tickets at £239.99 means over a grand profit for a few minutes work. It can go the other way, too. Misjudge the popularity of the artist and you could be left with tickets worth a fraction of the face value. And yes, you have to be online ready to go the second they go on sale, the touts will be.

On paper your right , but some ticket agencys/venues do have deals witht he touting agencys were they give them some tickets... its not proberly legal but it def goes ahead. There was a dispatches programme about it aswell

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... oters.html

now whether matchroom have done the same i dont know?

[BoxingTubes]

Have a look on eBay. Got my £110 ticket on their 2 days ago for £137. Add on the £12 booking fee I would of needed paid anyway, worked out pretty good. Seen a few for sale on Gumtree too.

[mickey1975]

I'm sure they do, but the vast majority come from the general public. And it is madness to ring them offering them tickets for an event like this.

[SteveDow]

I agree with the OP that the whole thing smacked of a bit of a conspiracy from the start. I was on the website 10 mins before the tickets actually went on sale and tried for hours to get 2 tickets within all price ranges and was not able to.

I have been to dozens of shows over the last few years but have never ever seen anything of this nature happen before.

[jizzle]

I read this forum a lot but have never posted on here before

But you only joined yesterday?

I smell bull sh1t ...

[palooka]

Can you view as a guest?

[jizzle]

Can you view as a guest?

Don't think so but willing to apologise if I'm wrong

[MarkMcBurney]

You can view 'current scene' but not 'UK & Ireland' as a guest.

No idea why!

[Looking On]

Ive been to every froch fight except for those in america so the fact i couldnt get tickets when they went on sale annoyed me too

and those ive seen on sale online since have been no use to me as my brother who always comes with me wont pay over the face value.

[dohboy]

Tried to get tickets the day they went out. Tried for a couple of hours and kept saying tickets weren't available for the section I was trying or try a smaller number to purchase (was trying 2). Tried nearly every section bar ringside and this kept happening. Knew something was going on as if the site had crashed, I wouldn't have got onto booking page or made my way through the various pages with ease. Having watched the dispatches show on these corporate ticket touts, it's plain to see what has gone on here. Wasn't the o2 Arena one of the venues covered in this show? There must me hundreds going for sale at extortionate prices with these rats.