'Surely they can put a cap on the price a seller can ask for': Cork TD criticises Oasis ticket prices

A Cork TD has criticised the use of dynamic or surge pricing by Ticketmaster after thousands of Irish fans were left disappointed this morning when they missed out on tickets for Oasis' reunion tour in Croke Park on August 16 and 17 next year.

The Irish gigs went on sale at 8am, with many fans waiting in a queue from 7am, but many people reported the site crashing when they got through to the ticket purchase, while others found it crashed while they were still in the queue for tickets.

Ticketmaster cited the huge demand for tickets, with their website struggling to deal with the number of users. There were 500,000 people in the queue for tickets at 8.15am.

Some who got through to the ticket sale phase found only hospitality packages were available for prices upwards of €400.

People also complained about the “in demand” tickets, which were the exact same as regular standing tickets but double the price – Ticketmaster explained: 

“The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value. Tickets do not include VIP packages.” 

Among those to miss out on tickets was Sinn Féin TD for East Cork Pat Buckley, who told The Echo that he had multiple devices on the go but was left with only inflated price tickets to choose from.

“There is surely a way of capping the price on tickets for gigs, and it’s something I’ll be looking into when the Dáil returns, because it’s happening all the time – there just has to be a way of regulating it.

“Surely they can put a cap on the price a seller can ask for to stop them just saying they’re scarce and bumping up the price.” 

Mr Buckley had asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment before the summer recess in the Dáil if his attention had been drawn to the increasing trend of applying dynamic or surge pricing models in the sale of concert and match tickets.

He asked if consideration had been given to the possibility that this upward changing in prices during the sale period may be in contravention of the provisions of the Sale of Tickets Act 2021.

Dara Calleary, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said in response: “The Act regulates the secondary ticket market where tickets are resold after their original purchase from the primary ticket market and where tickets are more likely to be sold above their original sale price.” 

However: “Primary ticket sellers do not fall within the remit of the Sale of Tickets Act 2021,” he said, explaining: “Generally, traders in Ireland, including ticket sellers, are free to set and change their prices for goods and services, based on demand.” 

Mr Calleary said that The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) “continues to promote and monitor compliance with competition and consumer protection laws across all sectors of the market, including ticket sales, and to investigate potential breaches, prohibited practices and offences.

“I understand that the CCPC closely monitors the issue of dynamic pricing and indicate that the number of concerts in a year that employ such a model are few.” 

Mr Buckley told The Echo: “It was a bog standard response - the Act doesn’t regulate for overpricing or gouging, once they display the full price and taxes they can charge anything and they’re free to do it,” and adding that he would continue working on the issue when the Dáil returned.

Ticketmaster was contacted for further comment.