Ticketmaster to Shut Down Secondary Ticketing Sites Across Europe

By Robert Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Ticketmaster is set to shut down its secondary ticketing sites GET ME IN! and Seatwave across Europe in an effort to combat professional scalpers, the company announced Monday.

On its blog, said it had listened to customers who are “tired of seeing others snap up tickets just to resell for a profit.” “Secondary sites just don’t cut it anymore,” the post said. “All we want is you, the fan, to be able to safely buy tickets to the events you love.”

Instead of Seatwave and GET ME IN!, the company is set to launch a fan-to-fan ticket exchange on its main site giving people who can no longer use their tickets the chance to sell them to others at the original price or less. Ticketmaster said the new website will launch in the U.K. and Ireland in October and across Europe in early 2019.

Both GET ME IN! and Seatwave now feature a banner message telling users: “From October, you’ll be able to sell your tickets on Ticketmaster at the price you paid or less. At the same time, we’ll be shutting down GET ME IN!/Seatwave. We’re no longer listing new events but you can manage your existing orders in your account.”

Upcoming events currently selling tickets on both sites include Childish Gambino’s sold-out show at London’s O2 on Nov. 4. Tickets for , the hip-hop alter-ego of actor Donald Glover, originally sold at around £50-60 ($65-75). Fans looking to buy on GET ME IN! face prices ranging from $130-480, while those shopping on Seatwave can only choose from prices between $170-300.

The Nov. 4 date is the only scheduled U.K. date of the artist’s “This Is America” tour. The event quickly sold out after tickets went on sale June 29.

On the new system, Ticketmaster will show customers both available new “unpurchased” seats and “resale” seating available, with a video posted on the company’s blog showing resale tickets in pink.

The news comes just three weeks after the Irish government announced legislation that would ban the resale of tickets for concerts and sporting events, at venues holding 1,000 people or more, for more than face value. The new law will also ban the use of computer programs, known as bot software, enabling the automatic purchase of more tickets than permitted per person when they go on sale.

Britain’s competition watchdog is also currently conducting an investigation into suspected breaches of consumer protection law in the online secondary tickets market.