A representative of resale site Tixel says that external companies contribute to a fair and flexible ticketing market.

“It has always been Tixel’s mission to create a safe and fair place for [second-hand] transactions to take place, regardless of where the ticket holder bought the original ticket,” the representative says. “We believe that openly allowing a ticket holder to resell a ticket they no longer need is an accurate interpretation of open, fair business practice.”

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But Ross says the current rules do not provide enough regulation. “It’s the wild west, where any platform can resell tickets to any event, so the industry is full of fake, unverified tickets being sold,” he says. “The legislation should be changed, so an event organiser can ensure the tickets are real.”

In an attempt to minimise the incentive for fraud, tickets on Humanitix Resale are always sold at face value. Sellers also receive an instant payment once their ticket is sold. Like every purchase across the platform, all booking fees are donated to charity. They are fixed at or below 4 per cent of the ticket value.

“So it’s fans trading tickets amongst fans for legitimate reasons … that is the true spirit of a resale facility,” McCurdie says.

Strawberry Fields, an annual music and arts festival held in the NSW-Victoria border town of Tocumwal, started using Humanitix to sell tickets in 2019. General manager Vicky Keeler says the resale service is great for event organisers.

“We really loved [Humanitix’s] approach to resale … having that ethical mindset and approach to their offering, and making sure that there’s not a market for scalpers any more,” she says.

Previously, Strawberry Fields sold tickets through US-based competitor Eventbrite. While Keeler was happy with their service, she was attracted to the socially conscious framework established by Ross and McCurdie.

“The really big driver for us to move over to Humanitix was their business model,” Keeler says.

“We are always finding ways in which we can use our platform for good, and that comes from working with ethical providers who want to put back into the community,” she says.

The Humanitix founders have so far donated more than $10 million to charity partners. “We continue to find new ways that ticketing has been getting away with bad behaviour,” says Ross. “And we’re continuing to find new ways to make the whole industry of live events fairer and better.”

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