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Image: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland

Ticket touts: President signs into law bill banning above price resales

Penalties including a fine of up to €100,000 or up to two years imprisonment face anyone caught defying the Sale of Tickets Bill 2021.

A BILL TO ban ticket touting for large events has been signed into law by the president.

The legislation will forbid the above price resale of tickets for live events at venues with a capacity of at least 1,000 people.

Penalties of a fine of up to €100,000 or up to two years imprisonment face anyone caught defying the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021, which President Michael D. Higgins gave approval to today.

It completes a long journey for the legislation, which was approved by the Cabinet in April having first been proposed by former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock and Fianna Fáil’s Stephen Donnelly during the last Dáil.

It will apply to tickets sold for ‘designated events’, which are to hold at least 1,000 people. Venue operators can get designation by applying to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which will mean that the ticket touting law will then apply to their event.

When a venue is designated, reselling of tickets above the original sales price for that venue will be prohibited.

The legislation will also allow event organisers or venue operators to apply for the designation of events which take place on an annual or other periodic basis in the same venue.

Then, when a ticket is sold for an event which has been designated, or which is to take place in a designated venue, the original buyer must be given clear information that tickets cannot be resold above the face value. This information is to be carried on the ticket itself and through advertisements.

While the tickets can be resold for face value or lower, resellers must also provide information on the original sale price of the ticket and the location of the seat or standing area for the ticket.

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41 Comments
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    Mute Darren
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:27 PM

    The biggest touts are ticketmaster themselves, Volbeats last show at the Olympia for example, sold out in a day, iirc tickets were around €50, yet ticketmaster were selling ‘Platinum/Premium’ standing tickets for 150, EXACT same as normal standing

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    Mute Dawid Grzybowski
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:41 PM

    @Darren: ticketmaster platinum packages usually include priority entry or other extras

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    Mute Darren
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:57 PM

    @Dawid Grzybowski: Not in this case, selling solely standing tickets for 150 that were exact same as what had sold out.
    Even if they did include priority entry, is that a back door allowing them to legally tout?

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    Mute Mark Brown
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    Jul 14th 2021, 11:20 PM

    @Dawid Grzybowski: They don’t. These are not “VIP Tickets” as you’re describing, they’re simply premium where they charge significantly extra either for standing tickets (where there’s huge demand) and/or the best seats in the house. There is nothing different about the seats.

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    Mute Richard
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:11 PM

    A promising development. How will it be enforced and validated? What about certain websites selling online at higher price? Who will be in trouble in that case?

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    Mute Michael Carolan
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:59 PM

    @Richard: stick to toutless.com

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    Mute Pirates of Ireland
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:15 PM

    Pity he can’t do the same with houses.

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    Mute Tommy Berry
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:30 PM

    @Pirates of Ireland: What are you talking about exactly?

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    Mute UltraToons -Kel-
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:47 PM

    @Tommy Berry: Landlords in Dublin sometimes renting their property for ridiculous prices & ripping off renters.

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    Mute Pirates of Ireland
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    Jul 14th 2021, 7:23 PM

    @Tommy Berry: vulture funds buying up blocks of apartments then renting them at crazy prices and then selling them on at a profit. It’s practically the same business model as seatwave!

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    Mute Ian Phillip Creaner
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    Jul 14th 2021, 8:01 PM

    @Pirates of Ireland: The President of Ireland has a ceremonial role. Are you confusing our system with the American one.

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    Mute ChronicAnxiety
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:12 PM

    Wow , 4 years after it was proposed?

    I wonder why ?

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    Mute Patrick FitzGerald
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:41 PM

    Fantastic proof of concept! Now let’s do the same with hotels, rents and property sales, price gouging shouldn’t be accepted and is fundamentally bad for society

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:53 PM

    @Patrick FitzGerald: So you can’t sell a house for what, above what it cost to build ?

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    Mute Teddy Bear
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    Jul 15th 2021, 9:31 AM

    @Patrick FitzGerald: Hotels??? And how would you proposed that would work. Lol.

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    Mute hello
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:42 PM

    Literally more punishment for reselling tickets then taking a life

    51
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    Mute Aurelio Na Fodhla
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:43 PM

    What about larger venues? Why not just apply same to all regardless of size?

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    Mute UK Hurling Bloke
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    Jul 14th 2021, 9:57 PM

    @Aurelio Na Fodhla: yeah what’s the deal with this > 1,000 capacity?!
    Smaller venues like Whelan’s (capacity about 400-500 max), Workmans Club, Button Factory etc wouldn’t fall into that category.
    So touts can tout away for popular gigs in places like that

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    Mute Aurelio Na Fodhla
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    Jul 14th 2021, 10:07 PM

    @UK Hurling Bloke: is it not only venues up to 1000??

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    Mute Aurelio Na Fodhla
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    Jul 14th 2021, 10:09 PM

    @UK Hurling Bloke: sorry my bad…only applies to larger gigs. Yeah agreed. Regardless of size it should apply to all venues

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    Mute Declan Moran
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    Jul 14th 2021, 7:34 PM

    This is long overdue. However, I read last week where venues can apply for exemptions to charge above. Surely this goes against what this law is intended for. I can predict a lot of applications for exemptions.

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    Mute Fionn Darland
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:37 PM

    While most will be in favour of the legislation the up to €100k fine or imprisonment seems very harsh. Sales of tickets are between consenting adults and no one forces someone to buy from a tout. Most real fans know when tickets go on sale and make sure they get their tickets from the official seller.

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    Mute Dawid Grzybowski
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:43 PM

    @Fionn Darland: people are still allowed to resell but at face value l. I agree with your second part tho, I have never engaged with a tout and managed to get tickets even to events that sold out in seconds/minutes, you just have to be committed

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    Mute HarveyLemonade
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    Jul 14th 2021, 7:09 PM

    @Fionn Darland: bots are used to snap up tickets. It doesn’t matter what “real fans” know. People are forced to go to touts.

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    Mute Frank Flanagan
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    Jul 15th 2021, 8:22 AM

    @HarveyLemonade: And this legislation will make bots pointless and a thing of the past.

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    Mute Tom McDonnell
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:38 PM

    Simply commerce.
    Don’t see a problem.

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    Mute Dawid Grzybowski
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:41 PM

    @Tom McDonnell: there is a problem. People are buimg up tickets designed to be sold at rip and reselling them, many don’t have the opportunity to purchase a ticket they could afford at rrp

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    Mute Tom McDonnell
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    Jul 14th 2021, 8:29 PM

    @Dawid Grzybowski: But you don’t have to pay the exorbitant prices . No-one is forcing you, if you don’t pay you don’t go. Every single business sells at a profit, its the cornerstone of all business transactions.

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    Mute Derek
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    Jul 14th 2021, 8:35 PM

    @Tom McDonnell: the bill is about touts not the price of face value tickets. Bots are so prevalent now they scope as many tickets the millisecond they go on sale and will purchase them faster than you can fill out your details. Those tickets then end up on sister sites, third party or ebay for 150-500% the face value. Real people simply don’t have the opportunity to buy them at face when bots are buying them up within seconds of going on sale.

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    Mute Tom McDonnell
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    Jul 14th 2021, 9:45 PM

    @Derek: Just don’t buy from secondary sellers,it’s not rocket science. If the price is not right then don’t pay. No demand = no supply. Its the market ,bots or no bots .

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    Mute Donal Hackett
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    Jul 15th 2021, 7:19 AM

    @Tom McDonnell: your argument is out of date as the new law apply now

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    Mute hello
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:43 PM

    Literally more punishment for reselling tickets then taking a life

    11
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    Mute hello
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    Jul 14th 2021, 6:42 PM

    Literally more punishment for reselling tickets then taking a life

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    Mute Marc Byrne
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    Jul 14th 2021, 11:05 PM

    Have I missed something here, the “Venues” have to apply for designation, to have the “law” applied, so what happens if they don’t apply for “designation”….. no change!!!!

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    Mute Gavin Morrissey
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    Jul 14th 2021, 7:42 PM

    Unfortunately I can think of several ways and means around this law.

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 14th 2021, 7:06 PM

    That’s just the ticket…

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    Mute Aunties
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    Jul 14th 2021, 7:15 PM

    Look at the brains on Brad !!!

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    Mute Keith Richardson
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    Jul 14th 2021, 9:46 PM

    Can’t do much though. Might be useful in 2024/25 when proper open concerts might return in Ireland.

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    Mute Ernie Gallagher
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    Jul 15th 2021, 2:40 AM

    We’ve reached (or had) the point where, in many instances, so called ‘tout’s’ prices were more reasonable than the official seller’s ‘platinum’ type deals or secondary sale sites. That’s where the problem is; but if you’re part of the club and not a regular ‘paying’ concert goer, or are in a position to be on every official guest list, you’ll never actually understand that.

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    Mute Bennett blaster
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    Jul 15th 2021, 12:53 PM

    Did they include a tax break for touts?

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    Mute David Saunders
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    Jul 15th 2021, 10:29 AM

    There are some many ways around that

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