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 Legions of fans are still in shock over the sudden passing of pop superstar Micheal Jackson in Los Angeles Thursday, leaving tens of thousands of concert goers that held tickets for his planned 50 concerts in London queuing up for refunds. The Jackson concert series was already a massive process, and the scramble to get money back will likely to be just as intense. With the face value of the 750,000 tickets sold ranging between $83 and $124, concert organizer AEG Live is left having to refund $85 million in ticket sales. But with all 50 shows selling out in minutes, the secondary market for the concerts was booming, sending the price of resold tickets sky-high. The process will be a major test, and perhaps opportunity, for European and U.S. secondary ticket sellers such as Seatwave, Viagogo Ltd., StubHub Inc., TicketsNow Inc. and RazorGator Inc. Nearly all of the secondary-ticket sales companies that have popped up in the past three or four years have been able to prosper by guaranteeing that tickets bought through their sites would be valid, but that they would make good on the sale if the concert was canceled. Where the secondary sellers could run into trouble is in refunding the (usually large) premium paid over tickets' face value. If that process goes smoothly, the reputation of each could be heigthened, but problems issuing refunds or not paying back anything above the face value could quickly label one as untrustworthy in this age of social networking and twittering. The industry saw plenty of buyouts in 2007-2008 as larger corporations decided to enter the space by acquiring startups that already held market share instead of starting their own. TicketsNow and and U.K.-based GetMeIn.com were bought by IAC/InterActiveCorp's (NASDAQ:IACI) Ticketmaster for $265 million, and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY) acquired StubHub for $310 million a year earlier. Venture capital continued to pour money into the sector, and their portfolio companies either made transactions quickly or were bought out. Viagogo raised a $30 million Series C, and London's Seatwave got a $25 million third round. Viagogo, the official secondary ticketing partner for the O2 residency, was swift to assure fans they would get a full refund. Even the concert's official ticket seller Ticketmaster may find itself digging deeper into its own pockets as secondary-ticket operation GetMeIn will find itself on the hook for refunds over and above a ticket's face value. Fans who bought through eBay or other auction sites -- not to mention less savory methods -- will have to eat the premium for the tickets, as the face value is the best they'll be able to get back, and for some of the best seats that could be substantial. EBay buyers may be saved if they also used PayPal, which will give them their money back if the purchase was made during the last 45 days. - George White Update: Viagogo is the the official secondary ticketing partner for the O2 residency; an earlier version of this post listed Seatwave as the official partner.
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We at Worldticketshop were saddened to hear that Michael Jackson suffered a heart attack and passed away yesterday at his Holmby Hills home.
His passing, which has reverberated around the world, has also shocked all of us here in the Worldticketshop offices in the Netherlands
We would also like to inform the public that Worldticketshop will fully refund all Michael Jackson tickets – we are currently organizing refunds starting today, in order to ensure your payment comes as soon as possible. It may take a short time as we have quite a number of clients to remunerate. We will personally be in contact with all our affected clients shortly.
At Worldticketshop, unlike some other companies in the secondary ticket market – will fully honour our Buyer Guarantee – and in situations such as Jackson’s death, of course we will do the correct thing – which is to get all the money back to fans as soon as possible.