Disgruntled Australian Taylor Swift fans claim Ticketek Marketplace has been closed for over three weeks now, with the official reseller “ghosting” them – but Ticketek has assured Tone Deaf their customer service team is working around the clock to assist genuine fans buy and resell their tickets.
One fan took to TikTok over the weekend to share a series of videos outlining her frustration with the ticket merchant’s reselling facility.
“A lot of you may not be aware of this, but the Ticketek Marketplace to resell Taylor Swift tickets to the upcoming tour that starts in, like, five weeks has been shut down for between three and four weeks now,” Katie Buttnett (@katie_buttnett) said. “Ticketek closed down the marketplace without communicating why – the common belief is that there was some exploitation happening by hackers, but there has been no statement; there’s been no communication.”
@katie_buttnett #ticketek Australia have closed down their resale for #taylorswift tickets for over 3 weeks now. They havent expalined why and are ignoring us. The tour is next month. We want to sell our tickets but they wont allow us. The marketplace is the ONLY approved resale method, any other has been banned and can result in losing ALL out tickets. @Ticketek Australia are silent. This is not good enough. @Taylor Swift @Taylor Nation
The online marketplace is the only “approved” way ticket holders can resell their tickets to other fans, Buttnett pointed out.
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“Ticketek has banned any other method of resale,” she continued in another video. “Which means that if we privately sell our tickets, even if it’s not for a profit (and) we’re selling it for how much we paid or we’re selling it for less – so not scalping, just genuinely trying to make these tickets go into the hands of people that want to use them – Ticketek have banned that, and if they catch wind of that they have the right, in their terms and conditions, that they can terminate all of your tickets.”
For fans trying to avoid this, Buttnett said, ongoing issues with marketplace are proving frustrating.
In Buttnett’s case, she had a “mishap” with bookings and now has a night of concert tickets available for which she can’t afford the flights and accommodation required to attend, and said she has been trying to resell the tickets since New Year’s Eve.
“But Ticketek have closed down the resale for Taylor Swift only – you can resell other concerts, but you can’t sell your Taylor Swift tickets,” she said. “So we have no way to sell it within their rules, but they will not reply to us.”
Multiple commenters on Buttnett’s posts expressed they had been experiencing similar problems accessing the Ticketek Marketplace trying to both sell and purchase tickets to the Australian leg of The Eras Tour, which kicks off at Melbourne’s MCG on the 16th of February.
Tone Deaf reached out to Ticketek with fans’ concerns, and a spokesperson said:
“The Ticketek Marketplace site is working as expected. Fans are listing and buying tickets as inventorybecomes available.
“As is the case with Ticketek’s main site, we have been monitoring performance, and flexing session availability as required to ensure that genuine fans are able to list and buy tickets.
“Ticketek’s customer solutions team are working around the clock to help genuine customers buy and sell tickets, and Ticketek have been contacting all customers who have had difficulty listing their tickets.
“Ticketek is the only authorised seller for the tour and we advise fans to not purchase tickets through any unauthorised resellers.”
