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Missed out on Taylor Swift tickets this week? Of course, you did! So, here's how to avoid getting scammed on the resale.
This week Ticketek reported that 4 million people logged on to pre-sales to try and nab the 450,000-odd tickets to the Australian leg of the musician's Eras Tour.
And advantageous scalpers are already trying to take advantage of die-hard Swifties.
Shortly after the AMEX pre-sale on Monday, where only the $1,200 and $900 VIP packages were available, secondary resale platforms were already hocking tickets for more than $3,000 a pop.
But these tickets don't even exist yet.
According to Frontier Touring, all Australian tickets to the Eras Tour will be suppressed until a week before the gigs in an effort to clamp down on scalping.
"Obviously, people are trying to sell the promise of a ticket which is a very dangerous proposition," Choice spokesperson Jarni Blakkarly told ABC News.
"There's a real risk and danger from these ticket reselling websites. We've also had multiple reports of people buying scalped tickets to tours in the past and the tickets being faked or cancelled or them being turned away at the venue."
Scalping not a new problem in Australia
In 2020, secondary ticketing platform Viagogo was fined $7 million in an Australian federal case brought by the ACCC for misleading consumers on the sale of live music and sporting tickets.
The punishment was upheld on appeal in 2022.
But that hasn't stopped the platform from listing Australia Eras tour tickets for up to double the face value.
"Ticket scalping continues to be a major challenge for artists and promoters, particularly through some online platforms and marketplaces," Live Performance Australia's Matt Francis told ABC News.
"As shows and concert tours have returned after the pandemic, so have the scalpers who are using increasingly sophisticated methods to try and disrupt the ticketing market, including through 'bot' technology."
A Viagogo representative confirmed the site does not sell tickets, but is instead a "Marketplace that connects ticket sellers with fans on an open, secure and transparent platform".
"In response to Victoria declaring the Taylor Swift tour a major event, we have taken the necessary measures to ensure our platform is in full compliance with federal and state law in Australia," the spokesperson also confirmed.
Eras Tour a target for scalpers in the US
Swift announced the first US leg of her career-spanning Eras tour at the end of 2022, sending her sizeable fanbase into a ticket-buying frenzy.
The first day of ticket sales crashed the Ticketmaster website. Live Nation said they were expecting 1.5 million fans to turn up to the pre-sale, 14 million tried to log on instead.
But as soon as fans were able to get their hands on tickets, scalpers were there to take advantage of fans who hadn't been so lucky.
Due to more lax ticketing laws in the US, Eras tickets are being sold for soaring prices.
At the time of writing, tickets to the Kansas City show on July 7 are going for as much as $US22,000 ($33,000) a pair on third party reseller StubHub.
"In the US, because so many Swifties couldn't afford to buy tickets from scalpers (or had been scammed), fans resorted to creating a marketplace to buy and sell tickets at face value on Twitter," RMIT Music Industry expert Kate Pattison said.
"Australia has better laws around resales, which will hopefully mean that the resale prices can't get up into the thousands."
What are the laws against scalping in Australia?
While the situation with Viagogo pushed Australian governments to increase legislation around ticket scalping, laws still vary slightly from state to state.
In Victoria, where Swift is performing three nights at the MCG, it's an offence to resell and advertise tickets to a declared major event at over 10 per cent of its original value with penalties of up to $109,044 for individuals and $545,200 for companies.
On Tuesday, the Victorian government announced it had declared Swift's Melbourne dates a major event and will be protected by these laws.But some high-end VIP tickets to Swift were sold on Monday via the AMEX pre-sale before it was declared a major event.
Victorian Tourism, Sport and Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos confirmed tickets bought and resold before the declaration were not covered by the state's anti-scalping rules.
"But that was only a small number," he told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Wednesday.
New South Wales, where Swift is performing four nights at Accor Stadium, also outlawed tickets being sold for more than 10 per cent above the original value with fines of $110,000 for corporations and $22,000 for individuals.
Other Australian states and territories operate under a similar 10 per cent rule, with slightly different specific and punishments.
Both the consumer advocacy group Choice and Live Performance Australia (LPA) say a national approach would be more beneficial for Australians.
"We think there should be a national approach," Choice's Mr Blakkarly said.
"We think that it shouldn't matter if you're in Melbourne or Sydney, you should have the same consumer protections."
"More consistent regulation would be helpful in cracking down on unauthorised resellers online," LPA's Matt Francis told ABC News.
So, how do I buy Taylor Swift resale tickets without getting scammed?
The only way to 100 per cent guarantee that you are buying legitimate Eras tour resale tickets is to buy them from Ticketek resale platform TMarketplace.
TMarketplace will give fans who can no longer go to the show the chance to place their tickets up for sale, but they must also not charge 10 per cent above the original cost.
And if you try to buy your ticket from a dodgy site it could end disastrously.
"Tickets which are resold through unauthorised outlets may be cancelled or you might be sold tickets which don't exist," Mr Francis said.
"The initial disappointment of missing out on a ticket will be compounded several times over by paying an inflated price to an unauthorised reseller only to be turned away at the venue because of a dodgy or voided ticket."
And Frontier Touring is making sure to drive that message home, as per their website:
"Any Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour ticket offered for resale elsewhere, either on or offline (including Viagogo, The Ticket Merchant, Tixel, Trade Me, eBay, and Gumtree, or any other unauthorised source including all secondary ticket retail websites, and social media Buy Swap Swell pages), may result in all your orders and tickets cancelled without notice to you and your ticket price refunded. The original purchaser and their party will be refused admission and any other orders and tickets they hold will also be cancelled without notice to them and their ticket price refunded."
The Ticketek Australia resell platform for The Eras Tour will open on Monday September 4.