Can the heavy-handed rectification of the ticket market knock down the crazy “scalpers”

Since the beginning of this year, the performance market has rapidly heated up, but the crazy operation of “scalpers” has seriously disrupted the order of the market, making many audiences full of expectations “difficult to calm down and emotionally difficult”. The ticket chaos was investigated and reported. In order to create a good performance market environment, Beijing Cultural Tourism, Public Security, Cultural Law Enforcement, Market Supervision and other departments have jointly launched a special rectification work against “scalpers” in the performance ticket market. Initial containment.

Industry experts and legal professionals pointed out that in the future, it is still necessary to strengthen interdepartmental linkage, precise strikes, and combination of blockage removal to create a good ecological environment for the ticketing market and maximize the protection of the audience’s cultural rights.

Multi-departmental joint law enforcement plays a “combined punch” for rectification

The ticketing system of the China Performance Industry Association is collected and monitored by the service platform data. As of the end of May 2023, there will be nearly 90,000 commercial performances nationwide this year, with box office revenue exceeding 11 billion yuan and more than 25 million audiences. When the performance market is in full swing, ticket scalping “scalpers” are also extremely busy. The official ticketing platform is “difficult to find a ticket”, and there are everything you can buy with a price increase, which has caused strong dissatisfaction among consumers.

In response to the chaos in the performance ticketing market, multiple departments in Beijing have jointly launched a special campaign to crack down on illegal ticket scalping by “scalpers” in the performance ticketing market, and formulated the “Plan for Special Rectification of Illegal Scalping by “Scalpers” in the Commercial Performance Ticketing Market” 》, detailing the responsibilities and tasks of each department from 10 aspects such as ticket source management, standardized ticket sales, on-site law enforcement, and industry self-discipline.

The reporter learned that Beijing has established a multi-departmental collaborative supervision working mechanism to provide service reminders and supervision and interview reminders for 8 19 popular performances held recently, strictly manage the two links of ticket source and ticket sales, and closely monitor, restrict and crack down on second-hand performances of popular performances. Tickets are illegally resold at high prices.

Carrying out key supervision on popular large-scale performance sites is one of the important measures of the special rectification work. For every popular performance, cultural tourism, public security, cultural law enforcement and other departments will jointly take action to crack down on illegal ticket scalpers and disruptors. Especially during the recent “Mayday” series of concerts, the Beijing police set up a headquarters to crack down on “scalpers” in the periphery, and seized 57 people who dealt with “scalpers”.

In order to crack down on online “scalpers” throughout the chain, Beijing Cultural Tourism, Public Security, Internet Information, Cultural Law Enforcement and other departments closely assisted and cooperated. At the end of May, relevant departments discovered that an e-commerce company in other places resold popular performance tickets at high prices to people in Beijing and other provinces and cities, making an illegal profit of more than 20,000 yuan. After investigation, the merchant released ticket collection information in the WeChat group to buy tickets illegally, and then resold them at a higher price through second-hand platforms and “scalpers”. On June 2, five “scalpers” involved in Beijing were seized by the Beijing police.

“Online and offline efforts have been made to conduct continuous remote inspections of relevant ticket sales platforms, and some clues to violations of laws and regulations have been found.” Wang Zhanjun, head of the second detachment of the Beijing Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Corps, said that 4 cases have been filed in the ticketing field recently, of which Two cases were verified, involving failure to implement the responsibility of the network platform and unauthorized ticket sales without the authorization of the organizer. Corresponding administrative penalties have been imposed in accordance with laws and regulations.

According to reports, since the city launched the special rectification work, the Beijing police have found out based on reports from the masses and their own work. Up to now, a total of 143 “scalpers” have been seized and dealt with.

Cancel the “reward ticket” of popular performances and crack down on the “main channel” of ticket scalping

What is the root cause of “hard to get a ticket”? Where does the large number of tickets in the hands of “scalpers” come from?

“Through carrying out the special rectification work on the illegal scalping of ‘scalpers’ in the performance ticket market, we found that the ‘reward tickets’ among public sales tickets for popular large-scale concerts are the main source of ‘scalper tickets’.” Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism Zhou Weimin, a senior inspector, introduced that recently, the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism has convened public security departments, cultural law enforcement departments, performance industry associations, organizers of popular large-scale concerts and their authorized ticket sales platforms to organize discussions on canceling the after-sales gift of tickets. The necessity, feasibility, specific measures, and problem impacts of optimization and adjustment of ticketing policies such as allowing ticket refunds have been studied.

The “scalper” ticket scalping chaos mainly occurs in a few popular large-scale concerts. Recently, in order to effectively control the chaos of scalping tickets for popular large-scale concerts, relevant departments have instructed the organizers of the performances to take three measures for popular large-scale concerts where tickets are hard to find: First, further optimize the real-name ticket purchase system First, implement measures such as the public display system and clear price tag regulations; the second is to cancel the online sales platform transfer link; the third is to formulate a sound and reasonable refund policy. Under the guidance of the performance association, the performance organizer and the authorized ticketing platform jointly agree on the refundable time period and the charging standard for refund fees.

The reporter inquired on Damai.com on June 27. Before purchasing certain concert tickets, the system will display a “Ticket Notice” prompt, clearly informing consumers that they must purchase tickets with their real names and specific refund rules.

It is understood that after the implementation of this measure, more than 50% of the tickets for a popular large-scale concert held in Beijing that had already been sold before were returned, and all returned tickets were returned to the ticket pool for resale immediately. According to the research and judgment of the performance organizer and its authorized ticketing platform, the returned part of the tickets is most likely obtained by “scalpers” using other identity information. Since the transfer link of the ticketing platform has been cancelled, “scalpers” cannot change the value of the tickets. Identity information is sold at a high price again, and the only option is to refund the ticket.

“Beijing will further increase the supply of high-quality culture, launch more high-quality large-scale performances, and create a good market environment for performances. For popular performances that are popular and loved by consumers, we also recommend that organizers increase the number of performances to meet more needs. The needs of many citizens to watch the performance.” Zhou Weimin said.

Multiple parties work together to start a “protracted war” for rectification

Interviewed departments, institutions, and experts pointed out that currently, in the performance ticketing market, it is still difficult to check the online network of “scalpers”, the cross-regional joint law enforcement mechanism needs to be improved, it is difficult to identify the identity of “scalpers” on second-hand trading platforms, and ticket source channels and flow directions For issues such as opaqueness, we should continue to promote multi-party linkage to form a joint force, strengthen and improve the ability of civil air defense and technical defense, and start a “protracted war” to rectify ticketing chaos.

“Scalpers” have begun to shift from offline to online in recent years. Although relevant departments have urged the ticketing platform to optimize functions and plug technical loopholes, it is possible to reduce the space for “scalpers” to grab tickets. However, due to the large number of online “scalpers”, Due to factors such as the difficulty of tracking in virtual space, it is still difficult to thoroughly investigate the large number of “scalpers” that exist on the Internet in a short period of time.

“Currently the industry authorities have made corresponding designs in terms of ticket source supervision and other aspects, but most of the crackdown on ‘scalpers’ is still law enforcement activities at popular performance sites.” Hu Na, an associate professor of the Art Management and Cultural Exchange Department of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Opera, said, The management of “scalpers” requires a combination of online and offline, especially to increase the intensity of online combat governance, and play a guiding role through large-scale publicity and warnings. “We should give full play to the role of Internet companies and platforms, and actively build a cultural governance system that integrates online and offline and multi-subject participation.”

According to the reporter’s investigation, some secondary ticketing websites and second-hand trading platforms have become the main positions for “scalpers” to profit from ticket scalping. The interviewed departments pointed out that in the actual law enforcement process, some secondary ticketing websites and second-hand trading platforms are often registered, operated, and performed in different cities, which increases the difficulty of supervision and punishment.

Xu Hao, a lawyer from Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that with the recovery of the performance market, cultural law enforcement agencies and public security departments are actively fulfilling their territorial responsibilities to ensure the stability of the ticketing market, but online ticketing services have the characteristics of cross-regional and cross-spatial, Many ticketing websites with “scalper” transactions are not in the same area as the performance. It is recommended that a high-level cross-regional coordination mechanism should be formed to strengthen communication between departments and regions within the scope of legal authorization, so as to solve the difficulty of supervision and law enforcement in different places. problems and maintain the prosperity and stability of the cultural market.

Beijing’s cancellation of the gift transfer link on online sales platforms has a significant effect on curbing ticket scalping by “scalpers”, but for other regions or other performances that can still be gifted, there are still risks of ticket scalping and room for profit. The interviewed departments pointed out that in the process of law enforcement, it is difficult to identify the identity of the “scalpers” on the online second-hand trading platform where the transfer occurs, which has become a difficult point in governance.

Industry insiders said that the current definition of whether it is a personal transfer transaction or a “scalper” on an online platform is mainly judged from the scale and volume. It is recommended that relevant departments continue to increase the monitoring of key online platforms and implement the search for outstanding clues. Relevant institutions and platforms must also implement regulatory responsibilities, discover clues in a timely manner, and curb signs.

The reporter learned that, in addition to the authorized official platform, many performing arts event organizers, sponsors, venues, etc. also have some tickets. The China Consumers Association called on the regulatory authorities to not only do a good job of “supervision after the event”, but also do a good job of “regulation before the event”, explore the establishment of a unified national performance ticket supervision service platform, and monitor the source and flow of performance tickets in real time.

Liu Junhai, a professor at Renmin University of China, suggested that cultural and tourism departments at all levels and organizers of performances actively use information network technology to strengthen the real-name system for ticket purchases, strengthen the supervision and management of performance ticketing operations and ticket source flow, and promote fair trade in performance tickets. Squeeze the living space of “scalpers”.

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