Australian ticketing companies partner to try to offset scalpers & rip-offs

The return of concerts and festivals has seen the high volume of rescheduled events flood the secondary ticketing market, bringing back the nightmare of scalper hoodwinks and cancelled tickets.

Two independent ticketing companies are using their tech savvy to try to offset the problem.

Primary ticketing firm Oztix has integrated the technology of “buy safe, sell easy” secondary ticketing platform Tixel to help tackle price gouging, fraudulent activity and inefficiency.

Tixel technology verifies each ticket, catching fake tickets before they’re listed, and automatically caps the resale price at a maximum of 10% over the face value.

If they are still available, Tixel links back to Oztix so a fan can buy an originally priced ticket.

In case a show is sold out, Oztix will link to Tixel as the preferred resale marketplace.

Seth Clancy, commercial director at Oztix, said the integration of the two platforms should have an immediate impact on consumers trying to get tickets to the slew of concerts and festivals being announced.

“​​The sheer quantity of new event builds on our platform is something I’ve never seen before and it’s all in response to a huge demand from fans wanting to get back out there,” Clancy said.

“The partnership with Tixel is landing at the perfect time to give fans more flexibility and confidence as they make decisions about which summer events they want to attend.”

Oztix, which set up in Brisbane 18 years ago, also has sporting events, exhibitions and art galleries among its clients.

Tixel CEO and co-founder Zac Leigh noted Oztix has an impressive roster of promoters, venues and events, and said his team is honoured to be working with the team there.

“They share our ethos of creating technology that helps event organisers make better decisions about their business while also taking good care of the fans that drive it.”

Tixel was founded in 2018, with investors including Future Classic, Galileo Ventures, I OH YOU, Rose Avenue and UNIFIED Music Group.

It partners with festivals and promoters such as Beyond the Valley, Boardmasters, Dekmantel, Strawberry Fields and Corner Hotel, and primary ticketing platforms Eventbrite, Humanitix, and Oztix.

Sharlene Harris, national entertainment manager at ALH Group, which operates over 300 licensed venues said she couldn’t be happier with this partnership.

“Dealing with heartbroken punters with fake tickets at the door — everyday people who have been scammed by unscrupulous ticket sellers — has been a problem for some time, but this integration has never been more important than right now.

“With so many shows and events having to be rescheduled during the pandemic, sometimes up to a handful of times, purchasers that can’t attend on the new date are able to sell their tickets simply and confidently.”

Melbourne venue Corner Hotel reported a 50% reduction in no-shows after it tied up with Tixel.

“That means more fans showing up, buying drinks, singing along to the band, grabbing a t-shirt, and telling their friends what a bloody great time they had,” said venue GM Rod Smith.

“I can’t overstate what a huge difference that makes to our business.”

Other ways that earlier start-ups addressed the ticketing dilemma were BitTicket which allowed the cycle of a ticket to be tracked, ShieldSquare which blocks bots, and Ticketmaster Presence’s “tap and go” venue entry system.