Ticketmaster Announces New Fan-To-Fan Ticket Exchange System

Ticketmaster has announced it will close the Seatwave ticket selling website, to be replaced with a new fan-to-fan ticket exchange system, where tickets can only be bought for the cost price or less.

Sinn Féin Limerick City TD Maurice Quinlivan, who currently has an anti-ticket touting bill at Committee Stage in the Dáil, welcomed the announcement: "This is excellent news for fans who are fed up of getting ripped off by ticket touts when trying to buy tickets for concerts or sporting matches.

"There has been considerable debate and pressure about ticket touting over the last couple of years, and I am glad to see the ticketing industry moving in the right direction now.

"Seatwave was a source of great frustration for so many people across the country, with many rightly questioning how tickets could sell out within minutes on one site, and re-appear on another site at inflated prices almost immediately.

"It would be great to see other ticket reselling firms take similar voluntary action, but regardless of this, the government must move ahead with introducing legislation in this area. It has been unregulated for far too long.

"I introduced the Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill back in March 2017, and just before summer it came before the Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation for scrutiny.

"Very few opposition bills make it through the legislative process in this Dáil, but I was happy that the pressure of a Sinn Féin bill reaching Committee Stage forced the government into taking action.

"It's very encouraging to see that the debate, conversation and pressure about ticket touting over the past couple of years has resulted in the government committing to introduce legislation and ticketing companies introducing change that will be of huge benefit to fans."

(MH)