The Guardian (United Kingdom) (01/19/19) Davies, Rob; Duncan, Pamela; Maguire, Brogan

The Viagogo website has released details of its biggest ticket resellers, in accordance with a court order secured against the company by U.K. regulators. According to the disclosure, scalpers have bulk-bought tickets amounting to thousands of British pounds to see performers like Ariana Grande and Fleetwood Mac, reselling them to fans at huge markups. The publication of Viagogo's data was forced by a court order obtained by the Competition and Markets Authority last year, demanding the company give more information to consumers. Despite Viagogo's claims it has complied with the order, music industry figures and critics think the firm is still withholding some details from fans about their actual purchases, such as seat numbers and the resellers' full company details. "Now that Viagogo is having to show whether a seller is a tout or not, it is becoming apparent at how they dominate ticket resale," says the Iridium Consultancy's Reg Walker. "The sheer numbers of tickets on Viagogo annotated as being sold by a 'trader'—that's a tout in plain English—paints a grim picture of the massive numbers of tickets harvested in bulk, then offered at hiked-up prices back to consumers." Critics also are adamant that Viagogo is still defying strict directives to revamp its business practices so they are more transparent to consumers and artists.

Read the full article on The Guardian website.