Interest
Yahoo! Auctions Adds Rule Targeting Ticket Scalpers
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Ticket scalpers are now going to have a harder time selling their items online in Japan. Yahoo! Japan's popular auction website Yahoo! Auctions announced a new rule on Wednesday that prohibits the listing of tickets purchased for the purpose of reselling them.
Yahoo! Auctions added "tickets that [Yahoo! Auctions] deems were purchased for the purpose of resale" to its list of prohibited items, and users may no longer create listings for such items. It is worth noting that the rule does not ban all ticket resales, but only those that the website's staff believe were bought specifically for that purpose. Therefore, people who find themselves suddenly unable to attend a concert or event may still be able to sell their handfuls of tickets on the site. The new rule appears to target scalpers who often purchase large numbers of tickets in order to resell them for a steep profit.
The new rule went into effect on Wednesday, but it did not stop enterprising fans from selling tickets for high prices in the past. Sales of scalped tickets have apparently been rampant on the site, and some affected companies have asked Yahoo! Auctions to remove listings. Although Yahoo! Auctions' move will make it more difficult for scalpers to sell tickets on its own website, scalpers will likely turn to other existing ticket resale websites to profit from fans' enthusiasm.
[Via Nijimen]
