Paradiso cancels 2,400 tickets on secondary market

Amsterdam’s Paradiso cancelled more than 2,400 tickets being sold on resale platforms at inflated prices for a large number of upcoming shows.

The Dutch club has resold the tickets at their original prices via a waiting list system introduced in 2022.

Paradiso’s head of ticketing Erik Luyten says the venue was compelled to act after seeing tickets for gigs by acts such as Air and PinkPantheress being advertised online at several times’ face value.

“At some popular concerts, 10 to 15% of the tickets are bought up and resold at a higher price,” Luyten tells Parool. “Black marketers operate in a very sophisticated manner. As a result, they often remain under the radar for a long time. Through extensive research, we were able to understand various practices of these individuals or groups, identify the suspicious orders and void their purchases.

“They use many different names and email addresses, but we were able to match them to specific people or parties by searching our data by bank account number or IP address. We hope to hit a number of major players on the secondary market with this action.”

“It is very bad that people who would like to go to a concert cannot now come for a normal price”

People whose tickets have been invalidated will not be refunded by Paradiso and have been advised to contact the relevant resale site.

No anti-touting legislation currently exists in the Netherlands, although a motion for legal measures was adopted by the House of Representatives in 2022.

Luyten adds that Paradiso is keen to keep concerts accessible to a large audience by keeping ticket prices as low as possible.

“These people and groups take advantage of this,” he says. “It is very bad that people who would like to go to a concert cannot now come for a normal price.”

The 1,500-cap venue has upcoming concerts with the likes of Lucinda Williams, Tricky, Róisín Murphy, Griff, Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen, Thundercat and Declan McKenna.

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