Why are they so strict about transferring tickets?

[angelin]

Honestly I could cry. Im going with a friend and there is one other nurse friend who could not a ticket. We’ve entered every competition going like loads of other people on here with no luck. For various reasons I could really have done with her support this year as well as her company. Shes never been before and I was convinced we would get one little ticket😃. Anyway someone that we know is going to put hers back in on Friday. Shes offered us it and Ive tried my hardest to beable to to change it even offering to pay for it plus all the admin. I mean why cant it be done? Vodafone are giving away 70 tickets just like that. To people that have just randomly entered and aren't bothered and will end up flogging them. 
 

Im sorry I know loads of us are in the boat its just so frustrating. I think most of the competitions have been announced by now.

[Crazyfool01]

7 minutes ago, angelin said:

Im sorry I know loads of us are in the boat its just so frustrating. I think most of the competitions have been announced by now.

there will be more ....GWR from memory do them .... maybe the new lager thats just been announced and the Radio 1 competitions . 

[Beerqueen]

14 minutes ago, angelin said:

Honestly I could cry. Im going with a friend and there is one other nurse friend who could not a ticket. We’ve entered every competition going like loads of other people on here with no luck. For various reasons I could really have done with her support this year as well as her company. Shes never been before and I was convinced we would get one little ticket😃. Anyway someone that we know is going to put hers back in on Friday. Shes offered us it and Ive tried my hardest to beable to to change it even offering to pay for it plus all the admin. I mean why cant it be done? Vodafone are giving away 70 tickets just like that. To people that have just randomly entered and aren't bothered and will end up flogging them. 
 

Im sorry I know loads of us are in the boat its just so frustrating. I think most of the competitions have been announced by now.

It's to stop touting - and it does.  But I agree it's frustrating for people who want to transfer for legit reasons.  But how do you allow one without allowing the other?   You could say it wasn't being done for profit and Glasto could transfer the ticket to your friend's name but how do they know you haven't paid the original ticket holder £1000 to do so?  I'm not sure if there's a way round it.

[angelin]

Honestly i think its few and far between that would get away with exploiting it they could see everyones ID, doctors letter (like my case) etc. i think its quite tight really. Out of 12 of us only 2 got tickets its never happened before but theres jus one we could transfer. I mean I would never risk using it otherwise.

[Beerqueen]

I'm not sure how seeing ID etc would stop touting?  A tout would have the same chance of buying a ticket as anyone else (and could potentially have multi registrations I guess to allow them to buy more than one?).  And could then sell them by transferring if Glasto allowed it.  If transfers were allowed, what criteria would stop a tout from using the same method?

[TheDayman]

16 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

It's to stop touting - and it does.  But I agree it's frustrating for people who want to transfer for legit reasons.  But how do you allow one without allowing the other?   You could say it wasn't being done for profit and Glasto could transfer the ticket to your friend's name but how do they know you haven't paid the original ticket holder £1000 to do so?  I'm not sure if there's a way round it.

Through technology. Tickets can easily be digitised and rules could be written into them so that they could not be transferred to someone else for more than face value.

[Beerqueen]

7 minutes ago, TheDayman said:

Through technology. Tickets can easily be digitised and rules could be written into them so that they could not be transferred to someone else for more than face value.

But what I meant is that the "official" price could be face value but an unofficial, off the record payment could also be part of the deal for all the festival would know.  I'm not that tech savvy but I don't know if that could be avoided?  So you get in touch with me, agree to get in touch with Glasto to arrange official transfer, but only if you meet me  and give me a grand in cash first and then before we part company we do the transfer so you're not giving me the money upfront?  Or something like that anyway.

So it's easier just to do a blanket ban on transfers to get one over on the touts.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Beerqueen

[dingbat2]

5 minutes ago, TheDayman said:

Through technology. Tickets can easily be digitised and rules could be written into them so that they could not be transferred to someone else for more than face value.

That doesn't work, yes you can put technology in to allow the transfer of a ticket officially at more than face value,but it wouldn't stop a tout from selling a ticket to someone at face value, assuming they ask the buyer to send them a few hundred quid in advance of selling said ticket at face value beforehand

[bexj]

Back in the late 90's/early 2000's there was thieving scum literally walking round the carparks trying to grab tickets off people. It was scary - imagine now, those same folk would be pointing guns or knives at you.  I experienced that - luckily didn't get mugged for a ticket - but anything that can be done to prevent that and I'm all for it.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

2 hours ago, angelin said:

Honestly I could cry. Im going with a friend and there is one other nurse friend who could not a ticket. We’ve entered every competition going like loads of other people on here with no luck. For various reasons I could really have done with her support this year as well as her company. Shes never been before and I was convinced we would get one little ticket😃. Anyway someone that we know is going to put hers back in on Friday. Shes offered us it and Ive tried my hardest to beable to to change it even offering to pay for it plus all the admin. I mean why cant it be done? Vodafone are giving away 70 tickets just like that. To people that have just randomly entered and aren't bothered and will end up flogging them. 
 

Im sorry I know loads of us are in the boat its just so frustrating. I think most of the competitions have been announced by now.

I can understand your frustration and for any usual concert/festival ticket you'd be able to do that. People would also be able to flog it at 3x mark up, and the Glasto system does stop touting, so all in all it's a net positive.

Having said that, I wondered if they started a transfer system online whereby a ticket could be transferred one time within a week of purchase and for zero profit, and that it can only be one registration number with one ticket. I can't see how a tout would be able to register with 100 different aliases providing ID etc, or want to, if the transfer meant you couldn't make any money anyway. Obv, money could be sent privately still, but just seems like a lot of effort with little pay-off.

Or at least in the fog of my current head cold, I can't think of any major problems with that idea.

Edited May 3, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[duke88]

Could your friend not pass for your other friend, and get in with her ticket?

[DeanoL]

40 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Having said that, I wondered if they started a transfer system online whereby a ticket could be transferred one time within a week of purchase and for zero profit, and that it can only be one registration number with one ticket. I can't see how a tout would be able to register with 100 different aliases providing ID etc, or want to, if the transfer meant you couldn't make any money anyway. Obv, money could be sent privately still, but just seems like a lot of effort with little pay-off.

Or at least in the fog of my current head cold, I can't think of any major problems with that idea.

The "zero profit" thing is unenforceable. And while it's a good defence against organised touting, it opens things right up to "opportunistic" touting. Anyone with fewer than six people in their group would be able to grab an extra ticket and at the prices some are willing to pay immediately after failing in the sale, probably cover the cost of two of their tickets.

[Neil]

3 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

It's to stop touting - and it does.  But I agree it's frustrating for people who want to transfer for legit reasons.  But how do you allow one without allowing the other?   You could say it wasn't being done for profit and Glasto could transfer the ticket to your friend's name but how do they know you haven't paid the original ticket holder £1000 to do so?  I'm not sure if there's a way round it.

Tickets would be even harder to get of they were toutable.

[gfa]

23 minutes ago, Neil said:

Tickets would be even harder to get of they were toutable.

This is a major point

touts don't bother at the minute, but if it was possible to transfer easily then they would.

given how profitable it would likely be it wouldn't just be ones from the UK too - you'd get touts from all over the world getting tickets to sell on once they catch on

[themuel]

4 hours ago, angelin said:

Honestly I could cry. Im going with a friend and there is one other nurse friend who could not a ticket. We’ve entered every competition going like loads of other people on here with no luck. For various reasons I could really have done with her support this year as well as her company. Shes never been before and I was convinced we would get one little ticket😃. Anyway someone that we know is going to put hers back in on Friday. Shes offered us it and Ive tried my hardest to beable to to change it even offering to pay for it plus all the admin. I mean why cant it be done? Vodafone are giving away 70 tickets just like that. To people that have just randomly entered and aren't bothered and will end up flogging them. 
 

Im sorry I know loads of us are in the boat its just so frustrating. I think most of the competitions have been announced by now.

It’s to stop touting - we all know this. You’re in a frustrating situation but the system works. 

[Superscally]

4 hours ago, angelin said:

Honestly i think its few and far between that would get away with exploiting it they could see everyones ID, doctors letter (like my case) etc. i think its quite tight really. Out of 12 of us only 2 got tickets its never happened before but theres jus one we could transfer. I mean I would never risk using it otherwise.

Sorry mate. I've got a ton of pals who are worthy causes and pals who would swap out. It's for the greater good and I don't want it to change, even when I miss out. Sorry about your situation but it is the right way currently.

[BigMarv]

Sorry to echo (almost) everyone on this thread, but as an avid attendee of events where touts do operate (concerts, football & other sporting events), I have seen the effect of this scourge on me & my friends. Anything, ANYTHING, that can be done to counter it is something I’m all for - even if I’ve missed out on occasion because of the strict rules.

 

For Glastonbury to “police” whether causes are deemed worthy or not would be a logistical and administrative nightmare. Would lead to potential abuses and claims of favouritism. Better then to have a single, blanket, unflinching rule for everyone.

[august1]

I think the current system gives tickets to the more committed people, lots of fair weather people would drop out late when line ups/stage times/weather rolls in if tickets could be moved on easily 

[clarkete]

6 hours ago, angelin said:

Honestly I could cry. Im going with a friend and there is one other nurse friend who could not a ticket. We’ve entered every competition going like loads of other people on here with no luck. For various reasons I could really have done with her support this year as well as her company. Shes never been before and I was convinced we would get one little ticket😃. Anyway someone that we know is going to put hers back in on Friday. Shes offered us it and Ive tried my hardest to beable to to change it even offering to pay for it plus all the admin. I mean why cant it be done? Vodafone are giving away 70 tickets just like that. To people that have just randomly entered and aren't bothered and will end up flogging them. 
 

Im sorry I know loads of us are in the boat its just so frustrating. I think most of the competitions have been announced by now.

Sorry for your situation , but I'm afraid as others have said these restrictions do prevent touting - there were starting to be issues before the registration system came in. 

Regarding your point about Vodafone - firstly it's against the T's and C's of the competitions, secondly they are actively checking they aren't being transferred. 

[T-Mouse]

In 2017 a friend of mine was having surgery. He gave his ticket to another of our friends. At the gate they noticed the difference. We explained everything. My friend at the hospital even got on a videocall with one of the supervisors at the gate to try and explain everything. That supervisor went away for 15 mins or so and tried everything they could to get it signed off. It was all for nought. Even with perfectly justifiable reasons, they went to HQ and still got told no. So unless your friend is willing to risk ultimate disappointment as well as losing £330, then the ticket will need to go back.

Saying that, in our case, the supervisor came back, walked my friend through without a wristband and just said "go". 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

10 hours ago, DeanoL said:

The "zero profit" thing is unenforceable. And while it's a good defence against organised touting, it opens things right up to "opportunistic" touting. Anyone with fewer than six people in their group would be able to grab an extra ticket and at the prices some are willing to pay immediately after failing in the sale, probably cover the cost of two of their tickets.

There are websites such as FanSale which make it impossible for profit to be added onto the ticket. I'm sure See could have a separate page whereby the ticket goes on, and you can't change the selling price.

I doubt it'd ever happen mind you.

[dirtysteve]

7 hours ago, T-Mouse said:

Saying that, in our case, the supervisor came back, walked my friend through without a wristband and just said "go". 

What a fantastic pay-off to a downbeat post. You won't believe the shit-eating grin I broke into when I read that line. 🙂 Lovely story, cheers.

[cheesey_toastie]

Just to pick you up on "people who win the competition tickets will just sell them".

I won tickets one year - they were *VERY* uncomfortable when asked if I could change the +1 as my partner might not be able to come after winning and it being short notice. They gave me 10 minutes to ring them back to confirm the name - so no chance to sell it and my name had to be on ticket 1.

Our names were on the tickets and we had to show photo ID on entry (much to the amusement of the gate staff that kept telling me to put my ID away "you don't need it" until then they saw my actual tickets). 

 

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

There are websites such as FanSale which make it impossible for profit to be added onto the ticket. I'm sure See could have a separate page whereby the ticket goes on, and you can't change the selling price.

I doubt it'd ever happen mind you.

As people have said, no way to stop me contacting someone, having them send me £500, then selling them the ticket at "face value" on the site.

The only way to stop this is if you never find out who you are selling to, but Glasto doesn't need that as it has the wide refund window, and it would also preclude passing on to friends and family.

[ClementsMike]

Just to agree with (mostly) everyone else, Id rather it stay as it is and shut the touts out. As frustrating as it can be not be able to go, and as genuine as reasons for change may be, at the end of the day its just a festival. Its a privilige to go, not a right.