Ashes Ticket Bought on E-bay Cancelled

[FinalSolution]

Cricket dreams left in Ashes
By Andrew Carswell
August 31, 2006 12:00

Article from:

FANS who purchased Ashes tickets on internet auction sites, beware - your tickets may have been cancelled and you won't know until you turn up at the gate.
Cricket Australia (CA) has cancelled 1300 tickets that have been sold online by known scalpers or buyers who bought in bulk.
Patrons who purchased tickets from scalpers will now face a nervous wait all the way to the gate as CA is refusing to disclose which ticket numbers have been cancelled.
Rather than celebrating a golden sporting moment, dud ticket holders could face the embarrassment of being turned away.
At particular risk are thousands of British fans who will fly from London to attend the matches after snapping up tickets on auction site eBay at exorbitant prices.
CA public affairs manager Peter Young said investigators had worked tirelessly to track down tickets sold in breach of their conditions.
"Once all the selling had finished through our cricket associations and ticketing agencies, we did a close analysis of data and we identified various clusters and suspicious transactions," Mr Young said.
"We also identified a number of scalpers and have cancelled all the tickets they sold online and reissued them. If people took the risk and bought tickets off sites such as eBay, there is a risk they will turn up to the ground and not be able to get in.
"The message is simple: If you are holding a ticket you purchased through the internet, you could be holding a dud."
An unprecedented demand for Ashes tickets caused myriad problems for CA in June, with many Australian fans missing out due to scalpers' sneaky tactics.
Thousands of tickets were then posted on eBay at highly inflated prices, many of which were snapped up by cashed-up British fans.
The Barmy Army Australian contingent boss Craig Gill, who has more than 50 tickets in his possession ready to pass on to travelling British fans, is expecting the worst.
"It is a huge concern for us. I have my father coming out for one Test and it would be terrible for him to fly so far and be refused from entering the ground," Mr Gill said.
"It would be enough to cause a riot. They will be angry and ready to scale the fence."
About 200 Ashes tickets remained on eBay yesterday, including two tickets to the first four days of the Sydney Test for $1800.
The five-Test Ashes series kicks off on November 23 in Brisbane, concluding with a blockbuster at the SCG from January 2-6.

Man I think this Suxs. I hate scalpers (thank god U2 announced a 3rd concert) , but doing this only affects dedicated fans.
If they had announced this before the tickets went on sale. I would'nt have a problem. But doing it now will really piss some people off.

PS: Anyone want to buy 40 tickets to the Test in Sydney for all 5 days LOL

 

[skeepe]

They warned people when tickets went on sale. It's not their fault if you happened to be one of the ignorant ones who either bought a ticket on eBay, or bought 50 tickets to sell on eBay.

 

[waltzing Meninga]

If the person you brought it off did it properly, theres no real way of them finding out the ticket details you purchased

 

[Red Bear]

sucked in

 

[IanG]

You couldn't buy more than 10 Tickets anyway. But it just goes to show that you buy tickets off E-Bay at your own perral. But what I think IS grossly unfair is that they aren't going to tell the buyers until they actually get to the ground.

 

[lockyno1]

Poor didums. You buy on e-bay you run the risk.

 

[Twizzle]

and EBay refuse to take any responsibility for any of this or help Cricket Australia with their investigations

Scalping is illegal and they are assisting the scalpers

 

[[furrycat]]

Meh.

Now people can buy the real tickets at NORMAL prices.

Serves people right- you know it was going to happen.

 

[Red Bear]

I got my 8 tickets after a 2 and a half month wait for the sydney test for my mate and i, and im going to melbourne for day 3 of boxing day test

 

[SilentBob]

I don't think people should be punished for buying tickets from ebay (out of desperation) when it was their (CA and Ticketek) own ineptitude that allowed scalpers to buy them in the first place.

 

[NPK]

No sympathy from me.

 

[Choppies]

I am of 2 minds about this.
on the one hand I am against selling tickets to big events for profit on ebay, although I do agree with selling them at face value if the seller cannot make the event.
I do feel sorry for the people who could not get tickets and got them out of desperation on ebay and now will have wasted alot of money on now dud tickets.
The real villian here is ebay IMO. They let these auctions go on even though it is breaking the law and make no effort what so ever to stop them. Good to see new laws coming in place to try and stop internet scalping.

 

[choc_soldier]

Good on CA. This was widely publicised at the time of sale.

No sympathy from me.

 

[spider]

Financial gain by deception on behalf of internet selling.

All i would add is "let the buyer beware".