How many times have you entered the mosh pit of online ticket sales queues only to leave without even a nosebleed? Disappointment soon turns into despair as you start to see tickets for re-sale in online marketplaces at hugely inflated prices. How is that fair?

Not only is it not fair, it’s illegal.

Turn that despair into something useful and dob these ticket scalping grubs into us at Consumer Protection.

Re-selling tickets is a way for people to get their money back on tickets they can no longer use, and it gives fans an opportunity to buy tickets to otherwise sold-out events. However, there are laws re-sellers need to follow to make it fair for everyone.

What’s the best way to report a scalper to us? Screen shots of people re-selling tickets at ridiculous prices is always a good start but send us everything you have so we can hit them where it hurts with a $2,000 infringement.

Under the Ticket Scalping Act 2021, which came into effect in September 2021, ticket re-sellers are limited to a maximum ten per cent mark-up from the original price, including booking fees. They must also specify the location of the seat or viewing spot for each ticket when they on-sell the ticket. Send us any weblinks, ad identification or reference numbers and screenshots of the advert in question.

We also want to see the re-sellers name or alias and any contact details you have for them. If you’ve had an email or messaging conversation with them, include those screen shots too.

And finally, it also helps if you include your contact details in case our Investigators need to ask further questions. Helping us to fight for the rights of concert and event goers in Western Australia is important.  We need you to be our eyes and ears so that we can keep things fair for everyone who wants to attend these events.  

Not only can we issue fines of $2,000, but if the conduct of the ticket scalper is deemed serious enough, the Court can impose penalties of up to $20,000. Since the laws came in three years ago, the Consumer Protection team have issued $74,000 worth of fines.

We will wipe out any profit the scalpers make.

Often large events will provide a way to re-sell tickets through authorised platforms who will make sure ticket re-sales are compliant, so we recommend using those to buy and sell to avoid the risk of having your ticket cancelled for breaching WA laws or overpaying.

To dob in a ticket scalper, go to consumerprotection.wa.gov.au or send us an email with your evidence and the subject heading ‘Ticket Scalping’ to consumer@demirs.wa.gov.au.