Beijing, May 5 (Reporter Wang Shiyao) 20 days before the official start of the Mayday Beijing concert, "the price of the Mayday concert 'scalper' fell by nearly 10,<> yuan" rushed to the hot search list.

The recovery of the performance market this year has led to the fact that most concerts are "hard to find", and the situation of selling out immediately after ticket issuance is endless. On the one hand, the audience's demand for offline performances is high, and on the other hand, "scalpers" are waiting for the opportunity to make a fortune by taking advantage of the market.

Mayday concert poster

Fan group tickets cancelled due to "force majeure"

Where did the "unsellable" tickets go?

On May 5, Mayday Beijing Bird's Nest concert was officially announced, the Beijing concert is divided into two parts, from May 5 to 5, three consecutive "Mayday 26 I Want to See You Beijing Concert", May 28, June 2023 and June 5 for "Mayday 31 Noah's Ark 6th Anniversary Evolution Remastered Limited Edition Beijing Concert". On the day of the official announcement, the two fan stations immediately opened group tickets, in order to prevent "scalpers" from entering, ticket buyers need to answer questions to prove the identity of fans before they can grab tickets.

Mayday fan station group tickets found a large number of abnormal orders. Weibo screenshot

On the evening of May 5, the last day of the Mayday fan group ticket, "MAYDAY Mayday Any Door" fans stood on social media to announce a large number of 6-second abnormal orders, and said that abnormal orders will all be closed, and the shipment will begin after the investigation. However, less than 0 hours later, a notice of cancellation of the group ticket made the joy of fans who had just grabbed the ticket disappear.

According to Mayday fan Tomomi (pseudonym), she has participated in the Mayday concert group ticket for ten years, and usually 3 fan stations "Mayday Bar", "Innocence MAYDAY" and "MAYDAY Mayday Any Gate" are responsible for group tickets.

This is an unwritten rule reached between the fan station and the performance organizer, leaving a part of the group purchase tickets before the pre-sale on the ticket website opens, and fans can purchase the original price tickets through the fan station. It is particularly important to note that the performance tickets purchased at the original price required by the fan station group purchase are strictly prohibited from being resold at a higher price, and if the ticket needs to be transferred, the original price must be required.

The group tickets provided by fans are printed with the words "Resale at a high price" printed on the back. Photo courtesy of interviewee

The original price group ticket purchase channel was blocked, and fans pointed the finger at the organizer and the "scalper", suspecting that they interfered with the group ticket for profit.

In the announcement issued by the fan site, it was mentioned that the cancellation of the group purchase ticket was "due to force majeure factors". According to the Qianjiang Evening News, the reporter contacted a partner close to the performance organizer Hua Lewei, who said that the "force majeure" in the cancellation announcement was actually the group ticket activity, and received an anonymous report on the grounds of "illegal fundraising".

Chang Sha, a partner at Beijing Kyoto Law Firm, told Chinanews.com that illegal fundraising is a collective term for a type of case, including the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits and the crime of fundraising fraud. Fans buy tickets in groups for the purpose of watching performances, and it is not illegal fundraising. However, in reality, there are often some organizations that illegally raise funds in the name of purchasing fan group tickets, and consumers must strengthen their anti-fraud knowledge and choose formal channels to purchase tickets.

Screenshot of Mayday Beijing concert organizer Hua Le's extraordinary Weibo

On May 5, Huale Extraordinary issued a statement on the official Weibo that all tickets available for Mayday's concert were allocated to the official authorized ticketing platform for public sale under the strict supervision of relevant departments. However, fans did not buy this statement, and some fans in the comment area asked where the "unsaleable" tickets went?

It is reported that "scalpers" often hold a large number of so-called "internal tickets" and "free tickets" in their hands, and these originally free "free tickets" are sold at high prices in the hands of "scalpers".

Chang Sha pointed out that according to the relevant regulations of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, concert tickets should reasonably set the ticket price, clearly mark the price, and must not be sold at a markup in addition to the marked price, and must not cover tickets, hoard tickets, or speculate on tickets. If the organizer "cooperates" with "scalpers" to resell internal tickets, this is illegal, will seriously disrupt the market order and damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

The reporter wanted to contact the organizer of the performance, Hua Lefan, and as of press time, the company's phone has been unanswered.

Grab, record information, and transfer

"Scalper" update iteration routines

In the past, "scalpers" were just "dumpers" who earned the difference between low income and high sales, and most of them squatted at the door of the performance venue, waiting for the opportunity to ask "Do you want tickets"?

With the continuous development of technology and the emergence of electronic tickets, "scalpers" have not only not been eliminated, but also upgraded to version 2.0, and have developed a variety of routines for you to choose.

Routine 1: Grab tickets on behalf of others, and refund all failures

As mentioned above, a large number of 0-second orders appear in the fan group ticket, which is actually the result of the so-called machine "robbery". When fans are constantly refreshing the congested pages and being advised to "try again later", "scalpers" have achieved "0-second orders" through software.

According to the reporter's investigation, the robbery fee generally ranges from a few hundred to thousands of yuan, and the robbery fee for a row of tickets for a small number of particularly popular performances can reach tens of thousands of yuan. The robbery fee does not include tickets, that is, the so-called "hard work" of the "scalper", and if the robbery fails, the full amount can be refunded.

The data picture shows the famous Taiwanese rock band Mayday. Photo by An Yuan, China News Agency

Grabbing tickets can also be designated in the area, and the price is generally cheaper than the current ticket. Generally, for performances with high requirements for real-name system, "scalpers" will sell tickets by means of robbery, and collect the buyer's account number and identity information in advance, so that the tickets swiped can be guaranteed to be in the buyer's own account.

In addition to helping customers grab it, "scalpers" will also apply for a large number of accounts to "grab" tickets for themselves, and then price them according to the market "market" after issuing the invoice after receiving the physical ticket, which is the so-called cash ticket.

Routine 2: Strong real name? Record information directly

In order to curb "scalpers" from disrupting the market, ticketing websites began to use the "strong real-name system" to sell tickets, that is, in addition to filling in personal identification information when purchasing tickets online, consumers must also go through multiple steps such as face recognition and real-name certificate verification when entering the venue before entering the venue. At the same time, some "strong real-name system" tickets do not support refunds, nor can they be regifted or resold.

This Mayday Beijing concert requires real-name ticket purchase and admission, and the audience information cannot be changed after the ticket purchase is completed. So if you don't find a substitute in advance, you can't buy a "scalper ticket"?

Screenshot of Damai APP

"Of course, you can buy it, there are seats in the front row, even seats, and you can record information directly." "Scalper" Jizai (pseudonym) told reporters that if you want to buy tickets, you must buy tickets as soon as possible, and the first batch of recorded information will be immediately cut off, and then you can only transfer it.

Looking at the circle of friends of another "scalper", it can be seen that as early as before the official ticket, he was ready to fight against the "strong real name": if the strong real name takes over the proxy shooting or records the information (not the strong real name has 100% votes).

WeChat screenshot

When the reporter asked how he completed the recording information, Ji Zai did not reply, only urged: "To buy as soon as possible, it will be closed immediately!" ”

That night, Ki Chai updated his circle of friends and said that the first batch of Mayday concerts had been cut off, and he needed to re-inquire if he wanted tickets.

Routine 3: E-ticket transfer, "compliant" operation

Whether it is robbing or recording information, in the final analysis, it is a violation of the operation by exploiting program loopholes, and electronic ticket transfer is the "compliance" window opened by some ticket websites.

A few days ago, news such as "Liu Ruoying, refund within 12 hours" and "Liang Jingru, refund within 24 hours" triggered a lot of discussion on social platforms, which is actually a time-limited refund channel specially opened for audiences who are not familiar with real-name ticket purchase. These tickets are not refundable or resaleable.

In response to the regulations on ticket websites that do not allow refunds, Chang Sha said that it is illegal to refuse refunds for live performance tickets, "tickets are securities, not ordinary commodities, and the cultural services carried behind them have the characteristics of timeliness, scarcity, etc., and do not support refunds" is a clause that often appears on ticket purchase pages or on the face of the ticket to refuse consumer refunds. Such a refund clause does not change the essence of its "overlord clause". As the party providing the terms, the platform party unilaterally restricts the ticket buyer's right to refund and exchange tickets, which may be determined to be an unreasonable aggravation of the ticket buyer's liability, resulting in the invalidity of the clause.

Mayday Beijing concert transfer ticket requirements. Screenshot of Damai APP

Many netizens also said that they are very supportive of the real-name system, but refunds should be allowed, who hasn't had something temporary? However, most of the performances on the market do not support refunds and exchanges, and allowing the transfer of free tickets seems more "reasonable".

The e-ticket for the Mayday Beijing concert has not yet been issued, but some of the tickets have already been confirmed to be transferred to others. The day after the first batch of Mayday concerts was released by Kizai's circle of friends, the reporter was told when he asked again, "Now the recording information is not accepted, but it can be transferred."

The difference in flexibility in the transfer information is that the tickets that have been transferred cannot be transferred twice, and if the ticket buyer is temporarily unable to watch the performance, he can only bear the loss.

Fares have gone down

Do fans have any hope of defeating the "scalper"?

"I'd rather stand at the gate of the bird's nest than let the scalper earn."

When the group ticket, which had been a tradition of ten years, was canceled, angry Mayday fans began to declare war on the "scalper"! This "slogan" and self-made promotional pictures have sparked widespread and heated discussions among Mayday's fan base and social media.

6 concerts, hundreds of thousands of tickets, all sold out in 5 seconds. "When asked by the fan base, not many people grabbed tickets." Tomomi said that she is a "veteran" of ticket grabbing, and she has been able to grab group tickets every time in the past ten years, and sometimes she has snatched more and transferred them to other sisters in the group at the original price.

Concert tickets are in short supply, which naturally becomes a "business opportunity". A hard-to-find Mayday ticket, to the "scalper" circle of friends has become a row of numbers, each stall of tickets premium range, the highest grade ticket price of 1855 yuan, the first row is sold to 18880 yuan, which is 10 times the original ticket price.

As an old fan of Mayday for 18 years, Zhimei originally planned to perform 6 Beijing concerts without falling down, but she only grabbed one performance ticket.

Fan Jimi said that all his Mayday concert tickets in the past ten years were original price group tickets that he grabbed. Photo courtesy of interviewee

At the end of April 2012, "Mayday 4 Noah's Ark World Tour" came to the Bird's Nest in Beijing, and Tomomi, who was preparing for the college entrance examination that year, missed the performance, and later she cried on the computer and watched the whole concert.

This time, when she heard that Mayday would hold the Noah's Ark 10th Anniversary Evolution Remastered Limited Edition Beijing concert, she was so excited that she had to check in for 3 concerts. However, the only concert ticket in her hand now cannot allow her to "board" smoothly.

However, absolutely not buying "scalper" tickets is the bottom line that Zhimei cannot shake, "I watched the Mayday concert for ten years, and not once was not a ticket at the original price!" ”

Screenshot of the "scalper" ticket offer

Two days ago, the news of the sharp drop in the price of the "scalper ticket" of the Mayday concert spread across the Internet, and the "scalper ticket" that was once 18880,10800 yuan became 6980,<> yuan, down nearly <>,<> yuan. Not long after, netizens found that there were "scalpers" selling tickets for the first row of the infield for <> yuan.

Although such a "substantial" price reduction is still not a good thing, it seems to prove that the boycott of fans is effective, as long as the ticket of the "scalper" cannot be sold, it has to be cut and get rid of the price.

Now, the "scalper ticket" for the Mayday concert has been greatly reduced, and you can buy it by adding three or five hundred more to the original price. However, most fans still do not buy it, and only insist on buying tickets at the original price.

Screenshot of the Mayday fanbase

Tomomi said that in the past, there were many people in the group who issued tickets, but now they are all asking for votes. During the chat, the group message popped up again - "Ask for tickets, premium 500!" ”

The next second, the group owner appeared and released a screenshot showing that the fans who asked for votes had been removed from the group chat. Then the group owner wrote: "Again, whether the premium is a premium is your choice, but if you choose the premium ticket, then bye." ”

At present, this tug-of-war between fans and "scalpers" is still ongoing, and it is expected to last until the deadline for transferring free tickets, which is 48 hours before the show.

However, this should not be just a contest between fans and "scalpers". A healthy and orderly performance market requires the concerted efforts of all parties to crack down on illegal acts in accordance with the law, rectify the source of illegal ticket scalping, and jointly create a good market environment. (End)