Ticket reselling – information for event organisers and ticket resellers

In NSW it is against the law to resell tickets above the original cost, plus transaction costs which are capped at 10% of the ticket cost. The laws apply to tickets to sporting or entertainment events in NSW that are subject to a resale restriction. A resale restriction is a term or condition of a ticket that limits the circumstances in which the ticket may be resold or prohibits resale of the ticket.

Resale restrictions is a term or condition that:

• limits the circumstances in which the ticket may be resold, or
• prohibits resale of the ticket.

Information that must be included in any advertisement

Any advertisement to resell a ticket must include the following or it is a prohibited advertisement:

• Original ticket cost.
• An asking price that is no more than 10% above the original ticket cost.
• Details of the location from which the ticket holder is authorised to view the event. For example, any bay, row or seat number for the ticket.

Publication owners cannot publish prohibited advertisements

It is an offence for publication owners to publish a prohibited advertisement. A publication owner includes:

• ticket resale site operators
• social media companies
• general sale platforms that host ticket resale advertisements
• newspaper or magazine publishers.

The publication can be online or in printed form.

Steps publication owners may take to stop the publishing of prohibited advertisements

Publication owners can consider taking some reasonable steps to prevent prohibited advertisements from being published:

• Conducting regular compliance checks on the advertisements published.
• Checking every advertisement submitted for publication before listing it on the website.
• Tracking suspected or known non-compliant users to restrict or prevent their activity on the website.
• Working with event organisers or other parties to determine official original cost prices for certain tickets and writing the price into the website’s code.
• Having ways for users to report suspected non-compliant advertisements.
• Requiring sellers to provide proof of original purchase showing the original ticket cost and transaction costs paid.