Ebay Tickets

yop

Can this guys be tracked, this is disgraceful that these guys whom nearly all are UK based are getting tickets in the first place to sell.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1308&item=2270643870&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1308&item=2271705806&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1308&item=2270593047&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1308&item=2271243090&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1308&item=2271267819&rd=1

It boils my blood that these guys can get away with this. I am sure they could be tracked

Waylander

While I agree that it is not really on, as long as there are muppets out there who will spend that kind of money on tickets, this will happen. I know that we are talking about dedicated fans who just want to see their team, and I admire the sentiment but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

yop

I know what you mean lad, just the fact us apes who spend our winters in the pisn rain cannot get a ticket, then these twats get them and make a killin on them!!!

super_furry

Best way to deal with scummy touts like them is to place huge bids - say €10000000 just before the bidding closes.

lukin

I am going to send an e-mail to the GAA about this,I'll even give them the URL so they can see for themselves.
I would encourage others to do the same. It should be no problem for the powers that be to find out where this lowlife lives and then name and shame him
Let's see what will happen after I send the mail,I predict nothing.

Lenny

just create fake accounts and go and ruin their bid by placing stupid bids and then givig them negative feedback

Waylander

lukin wrote:

I am going to send an e-mail to the GAA about this,I'll even give them the URL so they can see for themselves.
I would encourage others to do the same. It should be no problem for the powers that be to find out where this lowlife lives and then name and shame him
Let's see what will happen after I send the mail,I predict nothing.

You think they can trace 80,000 tickets back to a home address with ease? And then assuming they did this you think they should publicly name and shame the potential ticket holder? How many lkaw suits would you say they would be exposing themselves to there? Of course nothing will happen. There is nothing they can do. Yop I know and I agree with you, it is very rough on the fans that really should get the tickets. I have never sold tickets to a tout, in fact I have let them go unused before I would do that in the past, but the fact is that as long as peopleout there are prepared to spend ridiculous amounts of money on these things, some few of the people in possession of tickets are going to fancy, of need, the several grand they could get from selling them.

lukin

Well with an attitude like yours I 'm not surprised these gob****es get away with it. At least I am drawing it to the GAA's attention instead of shrugging my shoulders like you and saying "so what?".

The Rooster

The FA have named and shamed individuals who's FA Cup final tickets ended up with touts.

World cup winning hero Gordon Banks was the most famous - even though he was hardly at fault himself - he gave his ticket to a family member who passed it on to a friend who decided to make a few bob. Banks was still named publicly and banned from getting future final tickets for something like 10 years. Others have been named since.

Its not a difficult job to trace tickets back to the original owner, and the GAA have tried it in the past. But instead of taking a tough line when being met with an excuse like Banks gave, they've said "fair enough, nothing you could have done about it". So I think they've given it up.

grumpytrousers

The Rooster wrote:

The FA have named and shamed individuals who's FA Cup final tickets ended up with touts.

World cup winning hero Gordon Banks was the most famous - even though he was hardly at fault himself - he gave his ticket to a family member who passed it on to a friend who decided to make a few bob. Banks was still named publicly and banned from getting future final tickets for something like 10 years. Others have been named since.

Its not a difficult job to trace tickets back to the original owner, and the GAA have tried it in the past. But instead of taking a tough line when being met with an excuse like Banks gave, they've said "fair enough, nothing you could have done about it". So I think they've given it up.

i find it hard to believe that anybody has faith in these EBAY chancers...not one of the feckers has (or at least had when i looked) scanned in the tix to prove they had them...

it's not as if printing off a jpeg of the ticket would pass as a good forgery, now is it...

Waylander

I'd guess the reason there is no image of the ticket online is so that it cannot be traced. Rooster, Gordon banks time was not today or yesterday have you anything a bit more current? I am not saying it would be impossible but I do think it would be difficult. If the ticket has chenged hands more then a couple of times it would be very difficult to trace. Lukin, as I said I agree with your point of view, but do you think that they do not already know this goes on? Do you think your email will be breaking news to them? I'm not saying so what, I am suggesting that punters act like these tickets are not available and source them somewhere else or do not go to the match at all. I do not think the GAA is to blame here, I think the muppets who pay that kind of money for a ticket with a face value of €60 are to blame here!

The Rooster

Gordon Banks was about 7 years ago. There were players mentioned since, but I cant honestly remember them - not as big name as Banks. But it doesnt matter how long ago it was, it just proves tickets are traceable.

But I'd say the Banks case acted as a big deterrent to everybody else. You are in charge of the tickets you are allocated, so you have to be very careful if you are giving them to others. Makes you say "if you can't use it dont give it to someone else, give it back to me and I'll give it to someone".

It doesnt matter one iota how many times a ticket changes hands, they are easily traceable back to the original holder. And its they who should be accountable for tickets that end up with the touts. No need whatsoever to try and trace every person who's hands the tickets passed through. Though that was the route the GAA did take when they put some effort into it a few years ago - but as I say, thats the wrong way to go about it.

Waylander

Tracing it as far as that is certainly easily done, I do not dispute that. I thought the Gordon Banks thing was ages ago so sorry about that. I am not sure that your arguement that the initial people who receive the tickets should be held responsible, and that is why I said it would be difficult to trace the tickets. I get my tickets through my club, when the dubs are playing you might have to queue for several hours on the friday before the game as there would be that many members trying to get tickets, with a fair amount of poor organisation in there too. Still there would be a few hundred people, all members, walking out with tickets and I think holding the club responsible for what these people do with their tickets is not only unfair, but also unrealistic. The bigger the club, the more likely they are to have a member in need of cash or who is a bit dodgy. So a club is then being punished for being successful.

thirdmantackle

These tickets were mentioned in the Irish Times today

The Rooster

Waylander, what I would do is make each club keep a list of what members get what tickets. I'm only talking All Ireland finals here, so I'm not sure how many tickets an individual club would get, max 100 I'd guess and generally a lot less than that - no big deal to keep a record, and may well be done already.

So a ticket that ends up with a tout can be traced back to an individual member, and he gets banned from receiving future All Ireland final tickets (for a defined period, 5 years or even 10 years). The club also get a warning and are forced to remind all members to be careful with their tickets. For every further member of that club getting caught again, the club get a 10% reduction in their ticket allocation.

That may be a bit harsh, but I dont think its unfair. If you want to get rid of touts you have to be hard.

Blaiming the fans for stumping up the money is unfair. Mayo havent won an All Ireland in about 50 years. Sunday could be the one greatest days in the lives of Mayo GAA supporters. If you're a Mayo fan you have to be there. It could be another 50 years before the next one.

Waylander

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I think your proposalfor monitoring the tickets is fair enough, and as you say it is done in most clubs for the finals already. I am not sure how practical it would be for regular championship matches when there would be alot more tickets going through a club.

On the fans front I thuink anyone who is prepared to spend several grand on a €60 ticket deserves to be taken. I know it is along time since Mayo have won an All Ireland, but they are not even favourites for Sundays match, so there is a fair chance that they will not win. Shelling out several grand on these tickets to me makes no sense and I cannot imagine any circumstance where I would give a tout that kind of profit. As long as the demand is there the touts will always manage to get tickets from somewhere.

lukin

but do you think that they do not already know this goes on? Do you think your email will be breaking news to them?

Yeah,I am sure they already know it goes on but if nobody ever complains about it they will think that nobody gives a toss. At least sending an email will prove someone does.

Anyway,I sent that mail to the GAA’s site and got a prompt and detailed reply from some guy in administration which basically said that the tickets for sale on eBay are long term tickets and not part of the general distribution of All Ireland tickets (that still doesn’t make it O.K. IMO).
He also said that the numbers of tickets sold in this way represent a tiny proportion of the overall capacity (at most 0.125%)

In fairness he did say that if they can establish exactly where these seats are they will ensure that “a source which sold to a tout or touted a ticket itself will not be considered in future when tickets are being distributed.”
The GAA will also be including a coupon in Sunday's programme for supporters who paid above the odds for tickets to fill out and return to us.
I don’t know what to think, I wasn’t expecting them to say they will seek out these people and take their premium tickets off them but maybe this coupon idea will catch a few of these arseholes.
(I still think that if they really wanted to catch the eBay sellers they could)
It’s basically one of two things:
A: The GAA are only paying me lip service and don’t care about touting as long as the stadium is full on All-Ireland Final day
Or
B: They really want to prevent this kind of thing but can't as their hands are tied.