Huge frustration among fans

Sold out! Ticket profiteering knows no bounds

Concerts such as those by Coldplay sell out in no time at all. Organizers defend themselves against profit-hungry "hoarders" with personalized tickets, for example.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, Graf Andreas)

Your favorite band's concert sells out within minutes. But just hours later, tickets can already be found on the internet - at horrendous prices. But can you take action? The "Krone" asked promoters, sales outlets, consumer advocates and resale platforms.

As we all know, supply and demand determine the price. This is particularly evident in the case of highly limited products and services. These include concerts in particular, as there is only ever a limited number of visitors and therefore only so many tickets. It is therefore difficult to get hold of tickets for mega concerts by bands and artists with many fans. They are often sold out within minutes.

The trouble with "scalpers"
As a result, they can often be purchased several times over on online platforms just a short time later. And they are also bought. This is why the so-called secondary market has developed into a lucrative "branch of business", which is largely served by people who never intended to go to a concert themselves anyway. These "scalpers" simply want to earn money and even use computer programs (so-called bots) to buy tickets in order to outdo real fans. And this is not illegal in Austria.