Tickets for The Weeknd abound online and some, resale on Ticketmaster does not apply to everyone – news Culture and entertainment

On the recycling app Tise, there are reports of “blood prices” and bidding rounds ahead of the concert with Canadian Abel Tesfaye, also known as The Weeknd, at Telenor Arena tomorrow, Tuesday. Because when demand is high, it’s easy to be a seller. The concert arena at Fornebu in Oslo will be filled with fans, and those who were unable to secure the desired tickets at the start of sales have now turned to other platforms to see the artist. – Here, mostly everyone goes over “Want to buy!” it says on many of the records that are out now, but because prices seem to be rising, there are many buyers who are sitting on the fence. – I try to find someone at a good price, but not someone who is a scammer, writes Madeleine Bugge in a message to news. She has been looking for a long time, but says that inside Tise most tickets go above the original price. Sigrun Stenseth in Tise tells news that, unfortunately, they see several advertisements that encourage a bidding round, which violates the app’s guidelines. – The scale of these types of cases has escalated from a few single incidents. We will now take a closer look at this issue and how this is communicated in the app. All inappropriate ads will be removed, she says. Illegal to sell at a higher price Every year, cases arise of those who have been cheated by sellers on the black market. And the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority has warned many times against buying from unauthorized or private sellers you don’t know. It is also illegal to resell concert tickets at a higher price than what they were originally bought for. However, many people try their hand at this, both private sellers and larger players. On the website of Viagogo, which has been accused of cheating a number of times, there are also now several tickets out for the concert with The Weeknd at Telenor Arena. The most expensive at close to NOK 4,000, far more than what they are sold for on official supplier sites. The Weeknd is one of the world’s most sought-after live artists. Here he plays at the Coachella festival in California in the USA in April. Photo: AP – Cannot guarantee validity Concert organizer Live Nation writes in an email to news that they ask people to be careful. – We always encourage you to be aware of the resale of tickets for sold-out concerts, says marketing manager Elise Eriksen Løssfelt. She also points out once again that it is not allowed to resell tickets at a higher price than the face value in Norway. – We are also clearer that we cannot guarantee the validity of tickets purchased via unauthorized sites or private individuals. Want to get rid of VIP tickets for NOK 3,000 When the tickets went on sale on 2 December last year, some of the most eager were early to get their hands on VIP tickets for the concert with The Weeknd. With early entry closest to the stage and exclusive gifts included. Camilla says that her son and a friend paid around NOK 3,000 each for tickets in the “Gold circle”. The concert arena in Bærum holds up to 25,000 spectators, and there are many tickets in circulation in the run-up to major concerts. Photo: Rashid Akrim / news The day before the concert, however, she frantically tries to get rid of them. The boys can’t get away, and they want the money back. – It is not a small amount, so they must be sold, she writes to news. “Resale” In order to overcome some of the black market sales, Ticketmaster has introduced the option of reselling tickets via their website. There you can click on your personal pages, choose the tickets you want to get rid of, and choose an amount you want to sell them for – either the same price as what you bought them for, or less. Tickets for Tuesday’s concert are empty, except for some in the “resale” category, which are purchased tickets that are re-posted by private individuals. But there are some exceptions. Camilla and her son, who have bought VIP tickets, are trying to get rid of them “the right way”. Fraud occurs for both sellers and buyers, and they want to make sure that the transfer goes as it should. Camilla was made aware of the possibility of resale and tried with the tickets she was sitting on. However, tickets purchased with an upsell or VIP stamp cannot be resold. The press department of Ticketmaster does not explain why, but writes in an e-mail to news that they “continually work to improve our services and hope that we will soon be able to offer Resale on all ticket categories where Resale is activated”. There are a lot of records about the concert, either tickets that are wanted to be bought, or that are being sold at both the normal price and above. Camilla tells news that she probably sees herself having to drive into Oslo to make a proper transaction, a trip of 2.5 hours each way. She thinks it is too bad for such a large company that there are no better solutions. – It should be unnecessary when the tickets are distributed through a large company such as Ticketmaster. She says she has tried to get hold of them, without success. According to her, several others have also made contact with the same problem. – Here in the house, we will never buy VIP tickets again, we agree!



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