September 2, 2024 • 4 mins
Consumer New Zealand says Ticketmaster's 'dynamic pricing' for the Oasis tour tickets is likely to be following the law.
People have complained after wildly different rates were charged on the same tickets.
Consumer New Zealand CEO Jon Duffy says as long as Ticketmaster is transparent prices can change, it's not breaking the law.
He says transparency could be improved.
"For example, if you had a running tally of how many tickets had sold and you disclosed that - at which point, the next tier of pricing would kick in."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together, du CL's do what the huddle's got to say
about that? Shortly now, the UK government is going to
look into dynamic pricing after complaints about skyrocketing prices for
those Oasis tickets. The prices on ticket Master for the
band's reunion went from being around two hundred and eighty
New Zealand dollars to around seven hundred and ten seven
hundred and forty bucks for the same tickets consuming New
Zealand's chief executive, John Duffy is with us.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
He John, Hey, here the hell's it going? Very well?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I mean, obviously this is a bit stink to be
caught out like this. But are they doing anything wrong?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, as best I can tell under UK laws, no,
they're not doing anything wrong, and they certainly wouldn't be
doing anything wrong under New Zealand law unless they made
some sort of misrepresentation about whether the pricing was dynamic
or not.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, so would you argue? So if they're not doing
anything wrong, then what rules can they possibly put in
as the UK government to actually clamp down on this?
Do they even want to clamp.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Down on this? Well, I mean it is it is
the market doing what markets do right. As long as
Ticketmaster are informing people that as demand increases, the price
will increase, that they should be well that they are
under current law entitled to do that. What the changes
they could make are to potentially force Ticketmaster to be
(01:20):
more transparent about the algorithm that it's using to calculate
the price, because that's where that's where trust starts to
fall over with consumers, where something's happening in the black
box behind the website and they can't consumers can't see,
you know, what demand is and therefore what influence that's
having on problem?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
John, What is it that we would see that would
make this whole experience feel better for us?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, I think probably many oasis stems would prefer that
there was one price for the for the ticket and
that the ticket sellers just stuck to that price. But
where it could be more transparent is, for example, if
you had a running telly of how many tickets had
sold and you disclosed at which point the next tier
(02:08):
of pricing would kick in. But also, that's not going
to deal with the frustration of people who are stuck
in the queue on the website trying to get through,
you know, sometimes for hours I've got a colleague who's
trying to was trying to book to go to one
of these concerts from here in New Zealand and was
on a queue for seven hours. Did they get to
(02:28):
get missed out? No, they missed out unfortunately. So you
know that's a really frustrating experience for consumers.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, what about Okay, So if I was a total
conspiracy theorist, I would I would probably concoct a story
in my head where ticket Master, because I buy so
many tickets from them, knows how much I'm prepared to
pay for a gig. Therefore will charge me more than
let's say you because they know that you're you're really
tight and you're not going to pay a lot. Would
that be too conspiratorial?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No? And I think there are there are businesses out
there that will use what they know about you to
offer you a price. And I think this is something
that as we've increasingly digitized purchasing journeys, we need to
be aware of as consumers. So, you know, businesses, we
know they collect lots of data on us. And it's
(03:21):
not a misrepresentation to say that the price for Heather
is different than the price for John If they know.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So let's take an example of an airline and I'm
not going to name any names, but let's say that
I like to fly from Auckland to Wellington regularly, and
I'm happy to spend five hundy on those return tickets.
Would they possibly charge me five hundy because they know that,
but charge you three hundy because you're tight for the
same ticket.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, they could do that as long as they don't
come out and say tickets from Auckland to Wellington on
that day are two hundred and fifty dollars. As long
as they make an individual offer to you in an
individual offer to me, neither of us have been misled.
What that airline is saying is we're willing to fly
you from Willington to Auckland at the time that you
want to go four five hundred dollars. The fact that
(04:09):
they know that you're you know you've paid that in
the past, and I know maybe you're a cro club member,
and therefore they can infer that you've got a higher income.
Well that they collect that you willingly hand that information
over to them, and they can they could weaponize that
effectively and set a price back at you.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Oh interesting, Hey, John, thank you very much. Just makes
me think that you've got to look up the airline
tickets before logging, and I really appreciate it. John Duffy,
Consuming New Zealand Chief Executive.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk Said Be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Together, du CL's do what the huddle's got to say
about that? Shortly now, the UK government is going to
look into dynamic pricing after complaints about skyrocketing prices for
those Oasis tickets. The prices on ticket Master for the
band's reunion went from being around two hundred and eighty
New Zealand dollars to around seven hundred and ten seven
hundred and forty bucks for the same tickets consuming New
Zealand's chief executive, John Duffy is with us.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
He John, Hey, here the hell's it going? Very well?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I mean, obviously this is a bit stink to be
caught out like this. But are they doing anything wrong?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, as best I can tell under UK laws, no,
they're not doing anything wrong, and they certainly wouldn't be
doing anything wrong under New Zealand law unless they made
some sort of misrepresentation about whether the pricing was dynamic
or not.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay, so would you argue? So if they're not doing
anything wrong, then what rules can they possibly put in
as the UK government to actually clamp down on this?
Do they even want to clamp.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Down on this? Well, I mean it is it is
the market doing what markets do right. As long as
Ticketmaster are informing people that as demand increases, the price
will increase, that they should be well that they are
under current law entitled to do that. What the changes
they could make are to potentially force Ticketmaster to be
(01:20):
more transparent about the algorithm that it's using to calculate
the price, because that's where that's where trust starts to
fall over with consumers, where something's happening in the black
box behind the website and they can't consumers can't see,
you know, what demand is and therefore what influence that's
having on problem?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
John, What is it that we would see that would
make this whole experience feel better for us?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, I think probably many oasis stems would prefer that
there was one price for the for the ticket and
that the ticket sellers just stuck to that price. But
where it could be more transparent is, for example, if
you had a running telly of how many tickets had
sold and you disclosed at which point the next tier
(02:08):
of pricing would kick in. But also, that's not going
to deal with the frustration of people who are stuck
in the queue on the website trying to get through,
you know, sometimes for hours I've got a colleague who's
trying to was trying to book to go to one
of these concerts from here in New Zealand and was
on a queue for seven hours. Did they get to
(02:28):
get missed out? No, they missed out unfortunately. So you
know that's a really frustrating experience for consumers.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, what about Okay, So if I was a total
conspiracy theorist, I would I would probably concoct a story
in my head where ticket Master, because I buy so
many tickets from them, knows how much I'm prepared to
pay for a gig. Therefore will charge me more than
let's say you because they know that you're you're really
tight and you're not going to pay a lot. Would
that be too conspiratorial?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
No? And I think there are there are businesses out
there that will use what they know about you to
offer you a price. And I think this is something
that as we've increasingly digitized purchasing journeys, we need to
be aware of as consumers. So, you know, businesses, we
know they collect lots of data on us. And it's
(03:21):
not a misrepresentation to say that the price for Heather
is different than the price for John If they know.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So let's take an example of an airline and I'm
not going to name any names, but let's say that
I like to fly from Auckland to Wellington regularly, and
I'm happy to spend five hundy on those return tickets.
Would they possibly charge me five hundy because they know that,
but charge you three hundy because you're tight for the
same ticket.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well, they could do that as long as they don't
come out and say tickets from Auckland to Wellington on
that day are two hundred and fifty dollars. As long
as they make an individual offer to you in an
individual offer to me, neither of us have been misled.
What that airline is saying is we're willing to fly
you from Willington to Auckland at the time that you
want to go four five hundred dollars. The fact that
(04:09):
they know that you're you know you've paid that in
the past, and I know maybe you're a cro club member,
and therefore they can infer that you've got a higher income.
Well that they collect that you willingly hand that information
over to them, and they can they could weaponize that
effectively and set a price back at you.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Oh interesting, Hey, John, thank you very much. Just makes
me think that you've got to look up the airline
tickets before logging, and I really appreciate it. John Duffy,
Consuming New Zealand Chief Executive.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk Said Be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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