Why are they so strict about transferring tickets?

[dogeggs]

Having the power to decide who does and doesn't get a ticket is huge - and that's what being able to transfer tickets about would enable.  I doubt the festival want to start handing that power over to the ticket holders. It's way too risky. 

The system is harsh, but it was harsh to me and millions of others on T-day too. All I know is when October comes around again, I don't want that scramble to include touts too. If Glastonbury relax the rules on transferring, the touts would be straight back to bulk-buying tickets again. I'm old enough to remember how much it sucked the last time round. 


 

Edited May 4, 2023 by dogeggs

[DeanoL]

Yeah it's one of those intractable problems (like Brexit/Ireland)

You want to be able to transfer a ticket to your "friend" but there's no legal definition for "friend". There's no way to verify if two people are actually "friends" or not. So there's no way to allow trading between friends, and not between people who have got in touch via the internet to buy/sell a ticket. No way to track back a cash transaction either.

As much as people might go "surely there's a clever technological solution to this" there isn't because the two goals are fundamentally at odds.

[giantkatestacks]

If you really really want to go and can commit early then just work it in some way - that's what a lot of us do to avoid this sort of problem.

[Neil]

12 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Yeah it's one of those intractable problems (like Brexit/Ireland)

You want to be able to transfer a ticket to your "friend" but there's no legal definition for "friend". There's no way to verify if two people are actually "friends" or not. So there's no way to allow trading between friends, and not between people who have got in touch via the internet to buy/sell a ticket. No way to track back a cash transaction either.

As much as people might go "surely there's a clever technological solution to this" there isn't because the two goals are fundamentally at odds.

the system is inflexible for good reason, i'm amazed at how well the anti-touting system works, also amazed that it kept working.

[DeanoL]

I think for a lot of people who work long hours with limited holiday days a working holiday really isn't ideal/viable.

I love Glastonbury but it also needs to be an actual break from work to make it worthwhile for me.

Especially as I'm lucky to be able to afford it, but no matter what you earn, you can't buy more time.

[gooner1990]

5 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

I think for a lot of people who work long hours with limited holiday days a working holiday really isn't ideal/viable.

I love Glastonbury but it also needs to be an actual break from work to make it worthwhile for me.

Especially as I'm lucky to be able to afford it, but no matter what you earn, you can't buy more time.

I worked the festival in 2019, but this was only because I took a couple of months out from working after my Dad passed away and I had dealt with all the admin formalities (administrating will, selling his house etc) ...I left one job then deliberately left a bit of a gap before starting my new one.  

Its a good way into the festival and I had a great time but I did need to be on site by Tuesday and left the following Monday then like everyone else needed a couple of days to recover....not sure I would want to take 7-8 days annual leave to then go and work a lot of the time and party the rest....I guess it depends how desperate you are to go. 🙂 

 

[dogeggs]

4 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

I think for a lot of people who work long hours with limited holiday days a working holiday really isn't ideal/viable.

I love Glastonbury but it also needs to be an actual break from work to make it worthwhile for me.

Especially as I'm lucky to be able to afford it, but no matter what you earn, you can't buy more time.

Jury's out for me - but I do get to find out first hand if its for me or not this year.

Here's how I currently see it:
If you exclude the Monday/Tuesday, that's 120 hours of festival time from Wednesday morning to Sunday night.
I'll be working a total of 24 hours, 3 shifts over those 5 days. That's...20% of the festival period working. 

I could afford a ticket, but I'll also enjoy the fact that I'm donating my time to a charity - and I get the rub of doing what I like for the other 80%, and with no ticket cost (so long as I do my shifts).

Granted, some of that time will be asleep....but I still think it's still worth a shot, especially as it's my only way in this year!

[DeanoL]

It's more about needing a break for me. To actually be in the headspace where my time is my own and not someone else's. I get that some people enjoy it but for me I wouldn't be able to unwind. And limited annual leave days means it's replacing another week's holiday.

And I'm certainly at the point that I'd rather donate money than time - I'd value my time at more than what the festival pay the charity for it.

Nowt wrong with it for people who want to do it and if you're desperate to go, then by all means go for it, but it's not the simple solution a lot of people think it is. 

[amfy]

1 hour ago, DeanoL said:

It's more about needing a break for me. To actually be in the headspace where my time is my own and not someone else's. I get that some people enjoy it but for me I wouldn't be able to unwind. And limited annual leave days means it's replacing another week's holiday.

And I'm certainly at the point that I'd rather donate money than time - I'd value my time at more than what the festival pay the charity for it.

Nowt wrong with it for people who want to do it and if you're desperate to go, then by all means go for it, but it's not the simple solution a lot of people think it is. 

I totally get this. For years working Glastonbury was not an option for me because I enjoy Glastonbury as complete freedom from everything, and needing to turn up for shifts changes that irrefutably.

That said, I volunteer now despite the fact that my current job is the hardest I’ve worked in my life. I’m a children’s social worker and never come out with less than a 50/60 hour week and the rest of time worrying about it. Volunteering at Glastonbury still puts me in a completely different headspace, even when I have those moments when I still do odd bits of CP  as part of my Oxfam role (like when I asked a family with a newborn and 2 toddlers (no ear defenders) to move from front of stage just before Ferocious Dog came on at Beautiful Days. They came back with a line about my stupid tabard not entitling me to tell them what to do with their kids & I told them my IRL job & they looked pretty sheepish! I remained kind, telling them how much I respected people for bringing their kids to festivals and how lovely it was see, but I just needed them to move from there - awkward but we got through it)

The one thing I have noticed is I don’t get back from festivals any more tired from working than not working, because I drink less and generally take it all a bit steadier because I’ve got to turn up for shifts not feeling like death. I actually recover quicker when Volunteering!

I’d go with the thought that a change is as good as a rest. You do get a different festival, but not necessarily a worse one, and definitely better than none at all.

[hfuhruhurr]

17 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.

This.

It's already happening with sell out gigs, people buy extra, sell at profit for a free gig themselves. 

[amfy]

I have a season ticket for Aston Villa. If I can’t go one week, I can pass it on to a friend for free as long as I tell them and they can record it.

If I want to sell it, I have to return it to the club for resale, and they won’t even try to resell it until they have sold every last seat in the ground.

If they catch someone with my ticket & it hasn’t been re-assigned, I’ll get punished with a one match ban the first time, increasing for further incursions.

If I ring up and say I’m passing my ticket in to a friend because I can’t go, there’s absolutely no way of them knowing whether that’s my friend or not, or whether any money is changing hands.
 

They have all these rules, and that little loophole is WIDE open. That’s how it would be with ‘genuine ‘ transfers of Glastonbury tickets if it was allowed.

 

[Cleetus]

They should make offloading tickets easier in this day and age. 

Cut off this early is a bit harsh and inconvenient. If its due to printing tickets with your face on them, well that's a problem they have created. Really no reason why this cant be digitized now. Sent to a secure app on your phone plus email etc.

Ticketmaster resale is pretty good. If you sell it goes up immediately. Face value. You don't get paid until after the gig.

Would mean resale tickets popping up randomly on the website right up to the festival which would be handy if you're in the hunt for them. 

If digitized it solves the issue.

 

 

 

[gazzared]

5 minutes ago, Cleetus said:

They should make offloading tickets easier in this day and age. 

Cut off this early is a bit harsh and inconvenient. If its due to printing tickets with your face on them, well that's a problem they have created. Really no reason why this cant be digitized now. Sent to a secure app on your phone plus email etc.

Ticketmaster resale is pretty good. If you sell it goes up immediately. Face value. You don't get paid until after the gig.

Would mean resale tickets popping up randomly on the website right up to the festival which would be handy if you're in the hunt for them. 

If digitized it solves the issue.

 

 

 

touts will just sell burner phones with the tickets on them if theyre digitized

Edited May 4, 2023 by gazzared

[Cleetus]

1 minute ago, gazzared said:

touts will just sell burner phones with the tickets if they digitize them

With your face on the app??

[gazzared]

Just now, Cleetus said:

With your face on the app??

oh right i thought you said do away with photos, my mistake

[Cleetus]

3 minutes ago, gazzared said:

oh right i thought you said do away with photos, my mistake

Nah. Photos are excellent. Best way to deal with touts. Cant be topped. Transferring it all on to an app just makes selling (to get your face value money back) easier and opens up the possibility for random tickets to pop up as available. Just like ticketmaster, just with your photo on it basically. 

[duke88]

1 hour ago, amfy said:

I have a season ticket for Aston Villa. If I can’t go one week, I can pass it on to a friend for free as long as I tell them and they can record it.

If I want to sell it, I have to return it to the club for resale, and they won’t even try to resell it until they have sold every last seat in the ground.

If they catch someone with my ticket & it hasn’t been re-assigned, I’ll get punished with a one match ban the first time, increasing for further incursions.

If I ring up and say I’m passing my ticket in to a friend because I can’t go, there’s absolutely no way of them knowing whether that’s my friend or not, or whether any money is changing hands.
 

They have all these rules, and that little loophole is WIDE open. That’s how it would be with ‘genuine ‘ transfers of Glastonbury tickets if it was allowed.

 

You have to inform the club that you are giving your season ticket to a friend? That's ridiculous! It's your season ticket, you should be able to do what you want with it!

[paulshane]

16 minutes ago, duke88 said:

You have to inform the club that you are giving your season ticket to a friend? That's ridiculous! It's your season ticket, you should be able to do what you want with it!

There are plenty of reasons people are litterally barred from attending football grounds, this is one of the reasons you can't share your season tickets with whoever you like.

[chuckles07]

4 minutes ago, paulshane said:

There are plenty of reasons people are litterally barred from attending football grounds, this is one of the reasons you can't share your season tickets with whoever you like.

It’s an interesting one. My mate has two season tickets at Old Trafford (via his business) and he normally goes with his son. The tickets are in his name and his mother who hasn’t been to a game in 5/6 years and wont go again. The admin process doesn’t seem to enable transfer of season tickets unless/until the ticket holder dies and then they can pass to family. But also when he and son can’t go he loans them out. I am an Everton fan (yeah i know) and have watched us getting beat there for donkeys years……… Never been challenged nor has anyone else who has gone.

[amfy]

Can I just say that I didn’t mean to turn this into a football thread, I just thought was similar in terms of losing control of profiteering once you put in ‘exceptions’.

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by amfy
Didn’t in the end

[Neil]

5 minutes ago, amfy said:

Can I just say that I didn’t mean to turn this into a football thread, I just thought was similar in terms of losing control of profiteering once you put in ‘exceptions’.

 

yeah, exceptions open up the system to the sort of abuses the system is designed to stop.

[Neil]

5 minutes ago, amfy said:

Can I just say that I didn’t mean to turn this into a football thread, I just thought was similar in terms of losing control of profiteering once you put in ‘exceptions’.

 

yeah, exceptions open up the system to the sort of abuses the system is designed to stop.

[duke88]

16 hours ago, chuckles07 said:

It’s an interesting one. My mate has two season tickets at Old Trafford (via his business) and he normally goes with his son. The tickets are in his name and his mother who hasn’t been to a game in 5/6 years and wont go again. The admin process doesn’t seem to enable transfer of season tickets unless/until the ticket holder dies and then they can pass to family. But also when he and son can’t go he loans them out. I am an Everton fan (yeah i know) and have watched us getting beat there for donkeys years……… Never been challenged nor has anyone else who has gone.

Exactly, I've never had any thoughts about giving my season ticket at Luton to someone else if I can't go. And there's no rules to say I can't do that. 

[duke88]

16 hours ago, paulshane said:

There are plenty of reasons people are litterally barred from attending football grounds, this is one of the reasons you can't share your season tickets with whoever you like.

That's not why they do it though is it - it's so that people have to buy their own ticket to the match, rather than go in on a friend's season ticket.

Clubs won't know if someone is under a banning order when they try to buy tickets or have a season ticket temporarily transferred to them, so it's not case of them having to approve that the person is ok to go to the match.

Edited May 5, 2023 by duke88
Added to it

[anditmakesmesmile]

How different is friend a to friend b? I have personal experience of three instances where people have used other people's tickets. Two just walked straight through.  The other was a very good friend (aged 53) who literally gave his ticket away to a stranger in his mid-twenties. The guy was turned away at his first attempt. But allowed to keep the ticket. Went round to a different gate and got let in.