I was LUCKY enough to get my tickets this morning, but I get the impression that most of these tickets are selling fast because those fucking touts, and ebay freaks are snapping up everything they can. Something seriously needs to be done, they are selling for £110-150 at 9.30! this morning for fuck sake.

They may be sold out, but mark my words, there will be empty seats when you turn up, because of this shit that goes on.

I agree - last night I tried to get tix on the door but this couple were trying to sell them for £300 - they they walked in without giving them to anyone (as far as I could see). Yes, these things wouldnt sell out so quick if touts didnt get them.
Thankfully tho i managed to get some tix for the 02 shows yesterday.
[Edited 5/11/07 2:39am]
[Edited 5/11/07 2:40am]

Not to mention "genuine fans" who have to attend every/multiple show/s.

Hold tight then take advantage of the touts when they have to give them away at a loss.

I can see Prince cancelling some of these dates. In 1998 it was easy getting tickets for Brixton and Wembley Arena and he didn't even play anywhere else. Not like hes had any hits since then.

Touts are scum.

At Wembley in the 90s I asked a tout how much he wanted for tix - just out of curiosity. He didn't like the fact that I already had tickets and followed me up the side of the venue, screaming abuse at me.

About ten of them surrounded me and threatened to beat me up outside Brixton Academy in 98, because I had spares and was trying to sell them at face value.

Touts are ruining the live music industry for fans of live music. They don't care about music, they just want your cash.

So, maybe this is a bit idealistic but...

Don't sell to a tout.
Don't buy from a tout.
Don't be a tout (only ever sell at face value - it's great karma)

Hehe its just capitalism really, touts are no different to any other sector of industry. Just added passion regarding favourite musicians I guess.

From their point of of view it makes perfect sense. But this rush for tickets will only last today and next few days so those who don't list instantly will lose out on substantial profits. Supply shall soon exceed demand by many times and the slow will make losses.

One guy on eBay has 40 tickets and will supply lower tier for every show. How is that even possible?

i agree with the above if anyone did buy spare tickets to sell on ebay trying to make money they will need to sell them quickly as prince may keep announcing shows, and as new blocks of tickets get released by ticketmaster etc. with so many shows ticket sales on ebay may even become lower than £31.21 towards the dates;

i have had this in the past with for example stones, bowie, james brown and festival tickets, where i have bought close to the date on ebay for sometimes half the price. too many touts

SpecialEd said:

now that makes me wanna swear

SpecialEd said:

Yes they are. In most legitimate industries, people don't physically threaten you.

Europe could and should make it illegal to re-sell tickets privately. The venues and agents could easily run a "sell-back" scheme for people that genuinely need to sell their tickets.

The problem is that the people that could make this happen are the same people who actually benefit from the ticket tout process, so there's no incentive on their part.

But individuals can take a stand. Don't buy or sell at over face value. Yes, it's idealistic, but I'd rather be part of the solution than part of the problem.

Threats and coercion to assure continuation of trade are common in all sectors but we're getting way off topic.

I say buy from touts but only pay faceprice or lower.

What about selling the tickets on ebay as a 'buy now' price of the face value??

Made a bit of a mistake buying 5 tickets for the 1st of Sep because of the rush and now my bro has told me he's got lower tier tickets for the following Wed.

Don't wanna make any profit from them... or even charge delivery... but can't return purchased tickets

SpecialEd said:

Absolutely, that's okay, I have no problem with that. There's no better sight than a tout standing in the pouring rain losing money

sexymuthafcuker said:

Yes, that's fine, and what I'd do if I needed to. Not that I make the rules (In fact, if you needed to charge for Royal Mail Special Delivery, that'd be reasonable too)

I remember at Wembley (Nude tour I think) I had two spare tickets in row 6 for one gig. Wembley ran a queuing system on the night, which allowed people to legitimately sell their spare tickets, at face value only, to those looking for tickets. The look on the faces of the two Japanese girls I sold my tickets to (when they saw where they would be sitting) was far more valuable to me than making a few quid.

Touts was selling tickets for £600 EACH @ KoKo last night.

The police should weed them out.

They worse than crack dealers.

I almost took a beating rom them @ the Fugees gig 2 years back tryna sell a spare ticket.

Scum of the earth, wanna hurt their mums.

£££££££££££££££££££££,$$$$$

nothing more, nothing less. should be against the law. end of.

There are now 1009 hits on ebay.co.uk for prince tickets

Go on - who is willing to f.u.c.k. up their ebay account by buying all the "buy me now" tickets - GO ON, do it - it will be really funny.

If you really loved Prince - you would do it!

Rich.

Touts are always going to be hard to beat, when they just get loads of tickets and sell them on the night, but when you have them now operating as seemingly legitimate ticket agencies [Link to scalper's website snipped. --Matt] online, it's absolutely crazy that there isn't legislation to shut them down, seeing as it's so feckin' obvious they're just common touts, with a fancy (not even) web site.

I might even have to write to my MP or something it's so ridiculous.
[Edited 5/16/07 15:08pm]

iain said:

What get me about it is the fans that get screwed over either these places charge and arm and a leg for the tickets or they don’t even have the tickets and do a runner with the money.
Also some of these ticket touts refuse to sell the tickets sometimes when they make a loss so less bottoms on the seats the venue’s look empty and this could reflect on the artist it could make it look like the artist couldn’t fill the seats.

At least when the club was up the real fans got the chance to get a seat and not get screwed over prince cut out those ticket touts I wish he done the same this time
[Edited 5/16/07 15:08pm]

tc9942 said:

I'll do it!!!!

I have looked at my list of tickets in Ticketmaster and it says "Ticket Transfer Not Eligible" I hope that means you will need proof of purchase to get in.

These touts are selling something that do not even have in their possession. That has to be illegal.

My advice, don't buy em.

Leave some poor git with 4 seats that he can't sell. It's a shame for genuine cases of people who want to shift tickets they bought and can't use though. It's also a shame if there are fans who cant get seats and then find empty seats at the gig.

bloody touts

I thought ebay had stopped people selling concert tickets some time ago?

muirdo said:

yea, bastards, bloody buggering bastards!

PREDOMINANT said:

some of my friends have not got a ticket flipping touts

bonedaddy said:

I agree with you, its a nightmare when hardcore fans have to pay up to 3 times as much, I cant stand touts! why are they called tout? they should be called thieves!

PREDOMINANT said:

Bloody right!!!
I had an experience with one at Manchester ONA.

prick

What's even worse is the way they try to make out they're doing people a favour :

q. Why is the price so much higher than the price on the ticket?
a. Because we're getting you out of a fix, with tickets for sold out shows. Imagine if you had two tickets, but your [insert loved one here] couldn't go, we can help everyone go.

Yeah - if you feckin' ignore the fact that it's you guys causing the shows to sell out so quickly in the first place.

Theiving bastards.

I think a real good idea would be to single out a tout with the biggest stack of tickets and give him a fucking good hiding, then hand the tickets out for free! what justice.
anyone in? We will call ourselves 'The Prince Vigilante Group', serving justice to Prince fans world-wide.

^^^^^Just joking by the way, I aint really an aggressive person, honest.

bonedaddy said:

yeah lets get them all and give the tickets prince dont care hes had his money