Tickets for the U2 360 concert in New Zealand sold out within an hour of release this morning.

In true, 100% pure  rip- off NZ fashion,  people who had no intention of going to the concert bought multiple tickets with a view to selling them off to fans for a massive profit.

Within minutes of the sale closing scalpers were already offering tickets on New Zealand’s online auction site TradeMe.co.nz, and there is nothing to stop them from doing so. Neither are they likely to be taxed on the profit they make.

Ironically the fan who launched the campaign to bring the band to Christchurch lost out in her attempt to buy a ticket through ticketek and will probably have to buy it from a *scalper.

“Chelsea Daly, from Ilam, logged on to buy tickets this morning but they sold out before she could buy any.

“I was on the site at 8.30am and still failed to get a ticket, so gutted.”

Daly had started a campaign on Facebook called Bring U2 and Jay-Z to Christchurch in Nov 2010 last week.” source Stuff

Stuff.co.nz published some readers’ comments about the pros and cons of scalping. Here are a selection, you can find the rest here

Im_a_Scalper

I got 8 tickets and Im not even going. I would love to though, concert of a lifetime! I leave the country the day they play, lame.

Anywho, we scalpers are not heartless scum! Its called supply and demand. Its just Business. I got up at 4am and yes I got tickets. People who say, ‘leave them for the real fans’ need a reality check. Everyone knew this would happen, it always does. If you were a ‘real fan’ you would have got up early and taken the day off work like I did. The Earlybird catches the worm, why is it that all the people who claim to love worms cant be bothered doing what is necessary to get them. Its a Shame.

And just so you know, I gave away 2 of my 8 tickets to 2 strangers this morning. They were in front of me and could only afford the cheap seats, unfortunately, they were all sold by the time they got to the counter. I gave them 2 of mine so they could enjoy the show. I will probably never see them again.

Scalpers are just people………. I paid $300 to see kings of leon. I didn’t whine or moan on the internet about it. I just accepted it because I had stuffed around and not bought a ticket early enough.

If ya didnt get tickets…….. tough!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jane 12:18pm

Hey guys, as part of my new business model I have started an organisation where I buy up a large number of tickets to seemingly popular events that I myself have no interest in going to. I then sell them at over inflated prices to real fans. As such I have twelve tickets up for grabs starting at as low as $350, please check my trademe listings

my 12:11pm

Ok, it is HARDLY the government’s role to interfer with Ticketek’s business practice by banning scalping. Face facts that there is a LOT that Ticketek could do on its own to stop scalping. Such as: a) Limiting the number of tickets sold to 4. b) Ticketek steps in to become the only official reseller of tickets sold by them in the genuine case someone can’t attend and has to forfeit their ticket. Then if the ticket is sold, the person who originally bought the ticket gets refunded. There, everyone happy :D.

And if you think that sucks and brings the country into disrepute, wait until you try to get a ticket to the Rugby World Cup 2011.

*Scalping

1. a fraudulent form of market manipulation
2. a legitimate method of arbitrage of small price gaps created by the bid-ask spread.
3. a legitimate method of trading based on quick momentum trades triggered by order flow reading setups.