ticket touting Archives

FEAT Updates Name To Focus on Authorised Resale

Posted on 17 April, 202617 April, 2026

Following the organisation’s decision last October to focus on promoter-authorised resale, FEAT has updated its name to the Fully-authorised European Alliance for Ticketing.

Founded in 2019 as the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing, the organisation is evolving to meet a more complex resale landscape. Unlike unauthorised websites, promoter-authorised systems ensure that purchasers of resale tickets for events are guaranteed entry. The promoter-authorised resale process involves the cancellation of the original ticket and the reissuance of a unique barcode to the new purchaser.

Consumers pay the price when resale happens via unauthorised third-party sites. In October 2025, over 1,700 fraudulent “resale” tickets were offered for Radiohead’s European tour before the general sale had even commenced. Similarly, German fans were turned away from several Florence + The Machine concerts earlier this year after purchasing fake or duplicated tickets from third-party sites.

Founding Director of FEAT, Neo Sala (CEO of Doctor Music) said: “In late 2022, a Spanish court convicted a fraudster of ‘reselling’ two tickets for a U2 concert in Madrid up to 65 times. They were ‘resold’ copies of the same barcode on several unauthorised sites. This scam demonstrates exactly why we need secure, official resale platforms. They are the only ones that can guarantee legitimate tickets”.

Florence + The Machine German tour targeted by unauthorised traders at expense of fans

Posted on 30 March, 202630 March, 2026

Following the conclusion of Florence + The Machine’s “Everybody Scream” tour dates in Europe, an analysis by promoters MCT-Agentur has highlighted the extent of unauthorised ticket resale impacting fans in Germany.

Despite the tour’s sold-out status and efforts by the promoter to maintain secure, authorised ticketing channels, monitoring of five major unauthorised platforms – Viagogo, Ticombo, SeatsNet, Ticketbande, and Gigsberg – revealed a coordinated effort by resellers to bypass official resale restrictions in Cologne, Munich and Berlin.

Tickets resold on unauthorised websites cause all kinds of problems at venue entrances. Promoter MCT-Agentur told FEAT that a number of fans arrived at the Berlin box office facing issues, ranging from receiving only an order confirmation instead of a ticket to fake tickets and unknown barcodes. Similar problems were also reported in Munich and Cologne regarding fake tickets and tickets that were not sent, resulting in customer complaints that they were unable to get through to customer service.

Research conducted before the tour identified 2,837 ‘resale’ offers available to purchase across these websites. While the actual number of unique tickets may be slightly lower due to the likelihood of some sellers listing the same inventory across multiple sites, the volume remains significant relative to venue capacity.

MCT-Agentur found that:

There were 2,837 unauthorised listings across the three dates, with Munich seeing the highest volume at 1,125 tickets (7.25% of venue capacity), followed by Berlin (893) and Cologne (819).
Gigsberg emerged as the unauthorised website with the highest number of tickets available, with resellers offering 1,208 tickets across the three concerts.
Tickets were frequently listed at five to ten times their face value, with prices on Ticombo reaching a peak of €1,741 for the Munich performance.
On Ticombo, 99% of Cologne listings were priced over €600, with half exceeding €1,000. Significantly, every listing for the Cologne date originated from a single company, evidence of commercial-scale harvesting rather than fan-to-fan resale.

MCT Agentur said: “We have once again found that fans do not distinguish between buying tickets on the primary or secondary market. The resulting damage to reputation affects not only the promoters but also the artists. We urgently need a law to curb the scalping of tickets in Germany.”

Rammstein’s EU tours – ticket personalisation in the fight against unauthorised resale

Posted on 27 March, 202627 March, 2026

New data from German metal band Rammstein’s 2023 and 2024 European stadium tours has highlighted the intensive efforts undertaken by the band and their team to keep tickets in the hands of genuine fans.

Working closely with promoter MCT-Agentur, Rammstein implemented a ‘hard personalisation’ policy to protect their audience. To prevent professional scalpers and automated bots from harvesting huge amounts of inventory for resale, tickets were sold under terms and conditions which legally bound each ticket to the named buyer. Any ticket identified as being resold via an unauthorised third-party website was in direct violation of these terms. These tickets were cancelled – not to penalise fans, but to strip away the incentive for unauthorised websites to offer tickets to the concerts.

The process involved a rigorous cycle of data monitoring and the proactive cancellation of suspicious purchase orders before the tour began. On the nights of the shows, MCT operated dedicated troubleshooting desks to support fans who arrived with these cancelled tickets. Rather than simply being turned away, fans were given a clear explanation of why their ticket was invalid and provided with the necessary documentation to help them claim a refund from the third-party site that had misled them.

The scale of this operation was significant. In 2023, seven concerts were monitored with 706 tickets cancelled. This rose to 1,465 tickets across twelve shows in 2024. Unauthorised resale website Viagogo was identified as the primary source of the problem, accounting for around 60% of all cancelled tickets, while roughly 100 fans across the dates arrived with entirely fake or duplicated barcodes.

Despite the larger number of unauthorised resale tickets identified for the 2024 tour, the data suggests that these preventative measures are working. Between 2023 and 2024, a clear shift in reseller behaviour was observed as ticket scalpers were forced to adapt to MCT’s efforts. Bulk purchases were noted to have largely disappeared, a regular occurrence for previous tours, with resellers limiting themselves to just two or three tickets per identity and using plausible email addresses that mimic genuine fans. It was also observed that far fewer Facebook groups associated with fake or fraudulent tickets appeared.

MCT Agentur commented: “Rammstein and MCT invested significant resources to ensure that tickets were not scalped. While personalisation was a successful deterrent after action over the course of several tours, most artists simply don’t have the resources to police their concerts to this extent. We need regulation that prevents these sites from hosting unauthorised listings in the first place, rather than leaving the industry to fight it, or simply accept it at the expense of fans”.

1750 Potentially Fraudulent Tickets Offered for Radiohead’s European Tour

Posted on 17 September, 202527 March, 2026

Ticket resale website ‘Ticombo’ has been at the forefront of a speculative ticketing scandal, to the detriment of Radiohead fans across Europe. Analysis from FEAT found that 1,751 tickets were listed for resale for Radiohead’s upcoming EU tour days before the general sale began – a practice known as speculative ticketing.

A large number of these tickets were advertised at €1,500 or more, with some reaching prices of nearly €4,000. Most of these tickets were listed by traders linked to WorldTix, a company based in Engelberg, Switzerland, that offers tickets for hundreds of concerts via Ticombo. These listings almost certainly violated the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

FEAT found:

Madrid (4 shows): 262 resale tickets listed – priced between €803 and €3,749
Berlin (4 shows): 488 resale tickets listed – priced between €540 and €3,348
Bologna (4 shows): 228 resale tickets listed – priced between €771 and €2,049
Copenhagen (4 shows): 288 resale tickets listed – priced between €540 and €3,682
London (4 shows): 485 resale tickets listed – priced between €540 and €2,049

Speculative ticketing occurs when resellers fraudulently advertise event tickets they do not yet own — effectively betting they will be able to source them once the general sale opens. Buyers are left exposed, receiving tickets at massively inflated prices, which are often in a worse seat than expected and do not guarantee entry. In some cases, their ticket isn’t sent to them, and they can’t get into the concert, having already paid for their travel and accommodation.

Since the on-sale began, Ticombo has continued to allow traders to list resale tickets for Radiohead’s upcoming tour that break the law in various European countries. As of lunchtime on Friday, there were:

326 tickets listed for Bologna, priced between €790 and €1,044. In Italy, resale must be through authorised resale websites only, and must take place at face value. Italian regulator AGCOM have issued serious fines to Viagogo for similar breaches.
286 tickets listed for Copenhagen, priced between €781 and €3,682. In Denmark, ticket resale must take place at face value.
963 tickets (in total) listed for Madrid and Berlin, priced between €536 and €3,749 – These resales break the promoters’ terms and conditions, which explicitly prohibit resale higher than face value through unauthorised websites.

Shockingly, Ticombo advertise that they are endorsed by the EU, displaying a large ‘seal of excellence’ from the European Commission across their website.

FEAT also found evidence that Viagogo and Gigsberg, two other notorious ticket resale websites that are facilitating the resale of potentially illegal tickets for Radiohead’s upcoming concerts, are also displaying advertisements on Google Search directing consumers to this illegal content.

Radiohead have implemented a range of anti-scalping and legal measures to prevent tickets appearing on unauthorised resale websites, including using a presale registration period and limiting the number of tickets purchasable. Official ticket resale opens on 13th October through approved websites only, with tickets sold through non-official channels subject to cancellation.

Live event organisers continue to see rampant ticket scalping for their concerts, whilst the EU fails to take predatory ticket resale seriously. Its flagship Digital Services Act, a law passed in October 2022 and in force for websites like Ticombo since February 2024, promised to create an easy system for reporting and removing illegal content online. However, FEAT’s members have reported 139 illegal resale listings to ticket resale websites, representing nearly 1,000 tickets. None of these have been responded to, and when escalating complaints to national regulators, FEAT only received one reply – four months after the concert took place.

Neo Sala (CEO, Doctor Music) and Scumeck Sabottka (CEO, MCT-Agentur), founding directors of FEAT and promoters for the Madrid and Berlin dates, said “Radiohead have taken strong measures to protect their fans, but once again we see no-good ticket scalping websites taking advantage of demand. Doctor Music and MCT, together with FEAT, will reinforce this effort by reporting as many of these illegal tickets as possible. We have been fighting speculative ticket resale for many years, and we remain determined to continue this battle until stronger and more enforceable laws are introduced to protect consumers against ticket resale fraud.”

Added FEAT director Sam Shemtob, “Despite the EU’s good intentions, ticket scalping remains rampant across Europe. Measures introduced in the Digital Services Act are not just failing ticket resale, but the burden of needing to diligently report illegal listings – which has so far proven pointless – wastes time that live event promoters can ill afford. The EU must finally take ticket resale seriously if it is to preserve its status as a global leader in consumer protection.” Radiohead manager Julie Calland said: “Radiohead have always strived to protect their audience from exploitative ticket touts which, in the absence of robust government legislation, becomes increasingly challenging. The registration process is an attempt to deliver tickets as fairly as possible directly to fans at the prices the band intended. Fans will be encouraged to stay away from secondary sites and we’re working alongside venues, promoters and organisations like FanFair Alliance and FEAT, to shut down unauthorised sales at inflated prices – tickets that for the most part, don’t actually exist.”

City of Barcelona Signs Declaration Against Illegal Ticket Resale

Posted on 21 November, 202421 November, 2024

Barcelona City Council has signed an official declaration affirming its commitment to the fight against illegal ticket resale. The move was supported by all political groups across the Council, recognising the harm that illegal resale does to the creative industries and members of the public. Barcelona is believed to be the first city in the world to make a commitment of this kind.

Each year, Barcelona hosts more than a thousand concerts and live events at iconic venues including Palau Sant Jordi, Parc del Fòrum, Estadi Olímpic, Gran Teatre del Liceu, L’Auditori and Palau de la Música Catalana. With an estimated 3 million fans attending these events annually, Barcelona City Council has reaffirmed its commitment to fair and safe ticket resale to protect fans and culture.

Barcelona City Council paid special attention to ‘speculative ticketing’ in its declaration, where traders list tickets for resale before they have been purchased on the primary market. This leaves fans ‘burned’ when they receive a different ticket than expected, or don’t receive a ticket at all.

The declaration also states the city’s support for FEAT as a non-profit organisation formed to improve ticket resale across Europe, representing the interests of live event organisers, music promoters, venues, sports clubs and fans. In 2024 FEAT welcomed new local members, the legendary football club FC Barcelona and Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) who operate venues across the city. FEAT declared Barcelona as its “home city” at the start of 2024, and held its annual general meeting there in October.

In Europe, the ticket resale market is worth up to €3 bn annually, growing by about 10% a year. The market is driven by professional traders who use bots or other fraudulent methods to bulk-buy tickets, dramatically increase ticket prices, and often fail to list correct ticket information. Other anti-consumer practices include speculative ticketing, where traders advertise the sale of tickets not yet purchased, or offering tickets for concerts that have not yet gone on sale.

FEAT founding director & CEO of Doctor Music, Neo Sala, said “This declaration cements Barcelona as a city that supports and nurtures live entertainment, concerts and festivals. I am delighted that the Council agrees with FEAT’s aims and objectives, and we firmly welcome their support in the fight against illegal ticket resale”.

FEAT Celebrates Fifth AGM, Covers Digital Services Act, Search Engines & Stronger Legislation

Posted on 15 October, 202412 February, 2026

The Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) held its annual general meeting in Barcelona on Friday 11th October 2024, celebrating its fifth year of operation.

The past 12 months have seen FEAT expand its membership beyond Europe’s music and entertainment sectors. It welcomed its first venue member, Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium and Palau Sant Jordi, as well as legendary football club FC Barcelona, with three of the club’s senior executives in attendance.

Discussions covered dynamic pricing, the role of search engines and the roll out of the Make Tickets Fair! consumer awareness campaign. On the Digital Services Act, members agreed that, while the DSA provides a mechanism to report illegally listed tickets, its effectiveness may be more limited in countries that don’t have strong national laws on ticket resale.

With some national regulators (Digital Services Coordinators) only operational as of last month, the DSA is still in its teething stages. Members committed to engaging with the new law, dedicating a member of their team to help file reports. With more needing to be done to prevent search engines directing fans to unauthorised resale platforms, members will also report search engines that direct consumers to illegal content online via the DSA.

Members also agreed on the need for stronger legislation, whether authorised-only resale or a cap on resale above face value, and to look to build consensus among the industry to take to policy-makers.

FEAT founding director & CEO of Doctor Music Neo Sala, who hosted this year’s AGM, said: “It was great to see new FEAT members in Barcelona for another successful AGM. I am pleased that we will focus on using the DSA as best we can, but also look to hold search engines to account for directing fans to illegally listed tickets”.

FEAT founding director & CEO of MCT-Agentur, Scumeck Sabottka, added “It was good to renew FEAT’s commitment to fight predatory touts and scalpers, as well as to welcome our new members. It is clear that, although the DSA is a good first step, more regulation on ticket resale is needed”.