Citizen Reseller and eBAy vs Big Day Out

Remeber I said that not only media will be affected by Web 2.0 technologies handing power across to the consumer. I think this little problem has been building since Web 1.0 and will only get worse:

Ebay suing Big Day Out over ticketing

Internet auction site eBay is reportedly suing the organisers of the Big Day Out concert tour over their new anti-scalping ticket policy.

EBay claims the promoters are breaching trades practices legislation by tightening their ticketing conditions, News Ltd has reported.

The changes mean Big Day Out tickets brought from eBay will not be valid if promoters can track down the reseller through ticket numbers, ticketing agencies or credit card details, and void the tickets.

We are now about to act as distributors and resellers on a mass scale. Not just through eBay but also sports online communities such as The Fanatics. So what’s your view? Do big companies set the price of what they think an event is worth, or do we, the customer? Can scalpers be stopped? Should it be the responsibility of Big Day Out, Ticketek/Ticketmaster and their lawyers or should it be our responsibility? I’m thinking here of scambuster sites. Reselling tickets due to inability to attend is one thing, markups of 100% are another. Is there perhaps a market for etickets/mtickets (mobile phone) to stop this. Should the ticket be transferable with a small markup? Is there an enablement mechanism on mobiles to do that? I’m going to Clickaholics event tonight hosted by aura.net.au. They will probably know… 🙂