The pre-sale of concert tickets ended up under watch by the Antitrust Authority, which opened an investigation against Ticketone SpA and four operators in the secondary market. Behind the initiative, the phenomenon - marked among others things by the National Union of Consumers and Altroconsumo - on the literary impossibility of buying, on the sales opening day, of tickets for top events such as happened recently for the Coldplay concert in Italy, and in the past for One Direction and Bruce Springsteen.
The Authority, in fact, is investigating the phenomenon related to the substantial impossibility of buying, at the opening of sales, tickets for the most important events on the Ticketone Spa website, which holds exclusive rights to main events for the online, and sells tickets at prices fixed by the organizers with the artists. Tickets, emphasizes the Antitrust Authority, become available only a few minutes after the opening of the sales, on other Internet sites (secondary market), at prices often far greater than the primary market. That occurred, even recently, during the sale of tickets for the Coldplay concerts in Italy and, in the past, on the occasion of the One Direction concert, the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen , Renato Zero, Adele and David Gilmour. The Authority has therefore initiated preliminary proceedings against Ticketone SpA and the four main players in the secondary market in Italy, in order to verify possible violations of the Consumer Code.
The case against Ticketone is directed, first, to ascertain whether the trader has established appropriate IT measures, contractual provisions and terms of sale, and has exercised proper control, to ensure the effective availability of tickets to consumers and to avoid the possibility that some individuals, through the use of specific software, proceed to the massive purchase and almost instantaneous reselling of tickets on the online channel. The proceedings initiated against traders in the secondary market are directed to inquire about the misleading nature of the information relating to the conditions of sale on the sites, which could not make clear the nature and characteristics of the place of brokerage service, the type and the price of sale of tickets offered, and the rights and guarantees for consumers, in the chance of cancellation of events. The Authority, in collaboration with the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, carried out inspections at the Ticketone Spa locations and of a society that, while not part of the Authority's proceedings, could hold useful elements for the purpose of the investigation.