Tickets for Andrea Bocelli concert in Glasgow on sale for £2,700 each

Tickets for an Andrea Bocelli concert in Glasgow are on sale on secondary ticketing site StubHub (owned by eBay) for £2,734 each – almost 20 times the face value.
Andrea Bocelli tickets are fetching huge prices on StubHub. Picture: Francesco Prandoni/Getty ImagesAndrea Bocelli tickets are fetching huge prices on StubHub. Picture: Francesco Prandoni/Getty Images
Andrea Bocelli tickets are fetching huge prices on StubHub. Picture: Francesco Prandoni/Getty Images

The listing, for the event at the SSE Hydro in October, is the latest to attract criticism from campaigners, who have called out secondary selling sites for unscrupulous practices.

The venue is selling tickets at £141 for the best available seat – 19.4 times less than the StubHub seller is charging.

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The show on 20 October will see the celebrated tenor join “queen of British Soul” Beverley Knight on the bill.

Glasgow MSP Bob Doris, who has campaigned against the exploitation of gig goers, said: “This is yet another example of a clear exploitation of concert goers by resale websites. I was able to find a ticket for Andrea Bocelli described as ‘best available’ for £141 via the Hydro. It is ridiculous and wholly unacceptable that StubHub offer tickets costing thousands of pounds and push pressurised sales tactics.

“When I checked out the information provided to me at Stub Hub, I was greeted with messages such as ‘get your ticket in case price changes’ and ‘we don’t reserve tickets. Buy yours before someone else does’.

“This appears designed to push impulse sales, including a five-minute countdown when a customer is completing a sale. This is another example of why we require clear regulation and enforcement to drive out unscrupulous operators.”

Consumer watchdogs and politicians have recently cracked down on secondary ticket sellers.

Rival ticket firm Viagogo came under fire from MPs, who took the unusual step of urging consumers to boycott the site. Westminster’s digital, culture, media and sport select committee criticised Viagogo for “misleading” consumers, many of whom found the site through paid-for ads on Google. Last year, the site pledged to start displaying ticket prices including VAT and booking fees upfront.

Eleanor Snow, consumer rights editor at Which? said: “Tickets being sold at hugely inflated prices on secondary ticketing sites is unfortunately not a rare occurrence and we would advise people to treat these sites with caution.

“If you are looking to buy a ticket from a secondary ticketing website be aware that you might be paying well over the odds but could still be turned away at the door as many events will not accept tickets that have been resold.”

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A spokeswoman for StubHub said: “Tickets listed at a price considered too high ultimately may not sell, which is why our platform offers guidance on the average price of a ticket being sold to that event [to sellers] at the time of listing. Ultimately, we are a consumer-to-consumer marketplace, so as a platform we ensure transparency regarding the ticket’s face value.”