Advertising GF tickets for resale on Nick's

[Pies4shaw]

Dear Mods,

I think you need to consider establishing a policy in relation to this phenomenon. I say that because posters seem to understand that "scalping" is not de rigeur but haven't understood that there is a recent law which applies to all unauthorised reselling of tickets, whether sold at a premium or not.

Thus, from a recent thread on "scalping":

Collingwood 4 eternity wrote: Onselling a Grand Final ticket believe it or not is no different to people who buy stocks or buy and sell houses.

I replied as follows:

At the risk of repeating something I posted yesterday in another thread, I think it may be helpful to appreciate that the on-selling of GF tickets is regulated rather differently in Victoria from the sale of shares or houses. In particular, in some cases mere resale (that is, not at an inflated price), let alone scalping, may be an indictable offence. Thus, as I mentioned elsewhere:

"although it's not our problem specifically, it might be as well to mention section 166 of the Major Sporting Events Act 2009, which provides that:

(1) Subject to subsection (2), if—
(a) an approved ticket scheme for a sports ticketing event requires a condition that prohibits or restricts the sale or distribution of the ticket by a person who is not authorised in writing to sell or distribute tickets on behalf of the sports event organiser to be printed on the ticket; and
(b) the condition is printed on a ticket to the sports ticketing event—
a person must not, without reasonable excuse, knowingly contravene the condition.
Penalty: 60 penalty units, in the case of a natural person;
300 penalty units, in the case of a body corporate.
(2) If a person is guilty of more than one offence against subsection (1) in respect of a particular sports ticketing event held on a particular day, the total fine payable by the person for those offences must not exceed—
(a) 600 penalty units in the case of a natural person; or
(b) 3000 penalty units in the case of a body corporate.
(3) An offence against a provision of this section is an indictable offence.

It may be that its not just buyers who need to beware. People who are thinking of advertising may wish to obtain their own legal advice before they post ticket resale notices on Nick's."

I might add that the AFL plainly believes that the GF is subject to an "approved ticket scheme" (see http://www.afl.com.au/tickets/grandfinalticketsandpackages/tabid/14502/default.aspx
in which the AFL states, amongst other things, that "The 2010 Toyota AFL Grand Final is a Declared Event by the Victorian Government and hence the provisions of the Major Sporting Events Act 2009 apply to the AFL as the promoter of the event"). Further, there appears to me to be a relevant ticket condition printed (in red) on the back of my ticket.

Feel free to join the dots.

The various responses suggest to me that people are not computing how this might apply to them and it might be better to develop a policy to prevent posters getting themselves into potential trouble by advertising tickets for sale on Nick's.

Submitted for your consideration.