Ed Sheeran: ‘I’m not stitching fans up’ as he tackles secondary ticket sites
Written by News on 28/05/2018
Ed Sheeran says he is not trying to stitch fans up by invalidating tickets bought on secondary websites when people arrive at his gigs.
The British singer is taking resale sites and touts to task by declaring tickets bought through them invalid at the door of his concerts, offering fans the chance to buy the tickets at face value instead.
It means fans have to apply for a refund after the show from resale sites.
But fans who arrived at his Manchester show in the Etihad Stadium had to fork out £80, the tickets’ face value, leaving many to state the policy is unfair and leaves fans out of pocket.
However, Sheeran said: “It’s all being done properly, I’m not stitching people up.”
He insists it is the resale sites, that allow tickets to be sold at more than the face value, which will lose out.
He told Radio 1 Newsbeat that the “strong” approach, will be “positive” in the long run for fans.
Sheeran added: “The only people it is going to harm in the end is the touts.
“I hate the idea of people paying more than face value for tickets when you can get them at face value.
“People just need to start taking a stance and within two or three years companies like Viagogo are going to be kaput.
“I think (Viagogo) are the ones who are pushing out all this stuff that seems really negative, but it will be very positive for fans in the long run.”
He said there are other artists also adopting the same policy, including Adele and Arctic Monkeys.
Sheeran said people can get refunds through Viagogo.
On the Viagogo website, it states tickets are “genuine tickets that have been sold on by the original ticket purchaser in good faith”.
It adds: “Therefore, as with all tickets on our platform, Viagogo customers should feel confident that they will gain entry to the event, and that is why we back every ticket with the Viagogo guarantee.”
(c) Sky News 2018: Ed Sheeran: ‘I’m not stitching fans up’ as he tackles secondary ticket sites
