The British government is set to ban the resale of tickets for profit. With this measure, the UK aims to put an end to excessive prices, bots and professional ticket sellers who bulk-buy tickets in order to resell them at significantly higher prices. The ban will apply to concerts, festivals and sporting events and will be introduced through new legislation.
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End to excessive prices
According to the British government, tickets may soon only be resold at their original price. Selling tickets above so-called face value will become illegal. Platforms that facilitate this risk substantial fines. Resales via social media and informal channels will also fall under the new rules. The measures are aimed at so-called ticket touts: parties that use bots and bulk accounts to buy tickets as soon as sales open, only to resell them later for profit.
Sold out
Within the harder styles scene, experiences with sold-out events and rising resale prices are common. Fans who decide later or want to attend at the last minute often end up relying on resale platforms or social media.
This regularly results in significant price increases. Tickets for the Project One show are currently being offered online for around €100, while they originally cost €70 and €80 during the official sales phases. Supremacy Classics, which is now completely sold out, is also seeing high resale prices. Tickets that originally cost €82.50 are currently being resold for approximately €110.
TicketSwap: limit and lottery
In the Netherlands, a large part of ticket resales takes place via TicketSwap, where a price cap of up to 20% above the original ticket price applies. This is intended to prevent extreme price gouging. However, for popular events this system often results in lotteries, as demand far exceeds supply. As a result, many fans miss out, even if they are willing to pay the maximum allowed price.
Consequently, part of the resale market shifts to social media and private channels. There, no price caps or controls apply, meaning tickets are often offered for higher prices than on TicketSwap. For highly sought-after events, sellers on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook regularly ask more than the maximum allowed on TicketSwap.
In addition, resales via social media are less reliable. Buyers have no guarantee of receiving valid tickets or getting a refund, whereas official resale platforms do offer verification and buyer protection. Despite this, fans often turn to these channels because, for popular events, they are sometimes the only remaining option.
The Netherlands has experimented before
That stricter rules are possible has already been shown in the Netherlands. Last year, Paradiso, together with TicketSwap, introduced a maximum resale price of 100% of the original ticket price for events taking place at Paradiso itself. This eliminated any possibility of making a profit on tickets for shows at that venue.
Should the Netherlands follow this example?
By banning profit-making ticket resales, the United Kingdom is opting for a hard intervention in the ticket market. The move aims to protect fans from excessive prices and unreliable resales, but also raises questions about enforcement and availability. In the Netherlands, policy currently remains focused on regulation via platforms such as TicketSwap, while prices for popular hardstyle events can still rise significantly once they sell out.
Should the Netherlands follow the UK’s example and fully ban profit on ticket resales, or is the current system sufficient?
