The growing popularity of internet auction site eBay has forced music and sports fans to face the fact that tickets to see their favourite acts/teams will be on sale on the web at hyper-inflated prices.
And now that Ireland is an destination for many top touring acts, music fans are heartily sick of being taken for a very expensive ride. The excuses offered by most re-sellers of tickets by auction is that they’re doing nothing illegal, that nobody is forced to pay the prices asked and that they are doing fans a favour by helping them dispose of unwanted tickets.
Such excuses are at least questionable. Ticketmaster claims that all its tickets have a clause on the back which prohibits their resale for more than their face value, so it can be argued that anyone doing otherwise is in breach of their contract of sale with Ticketmaster.
Of course, nobody is forced to buy tickets at any price. On the other hand, anyone who is, or has ever been, a serious music fan will know how important it is to see your favourite band next time they come to town. It’s that commitment to music that the ruthless touts exploit.
Thirdly, we are expected to believe that a true music fan buys tickets to a concert at 9am but by 9.10am has decided that he/she doesn’t want them after all – then up ride the kindly touts to help them out of their dilemma. Bravo!
eBay has publicly claimed that it is doing nothing illegal and that it provides a safe place for people to buy tickets. But there’s a moral issue here that is conveniently overlooked.
In the run-up to Live8 in 2005 it took an angry outburst from Bob Geldof, who accused eBay of being “disgusting prostitutes” to force it to stop auctioning tickets for an event intended to alleviate third world debt.
Our Out A Tout campaign seems to have struck a nerve with serious rock fans, and this issue of hotpress contains a sample of the angry letters we’ve received from music fans. Countless others have written to us with information about this unspeakable practice. So keep the information coming and help Out A Tout.

Currently On Offer from eBay