AXS integrates PayPal for streamlined ticketing experience

PayPal has become the official digital payments provider for AEG-backed ticket agency AXS. Integrating PayPal across various customer interactions, AXS hopes to provide fans with a truly mobile ticketing experience from purchase to performance.

Following the agreement, buyers on AXS platforms will be able to enter their PayPal account information at checkout to purchase tickets more quickly and effectively. Fans who resell tickets through price-capped secondary ticketing platform AXS Marketplace will receive swift reimbursements via their PayPal accounts.

In the United States, customers will also have the option to buy through the PayPal-owned digital wallet, Venmo, facilitating simple split payments and allowing users to share their live event experiences through social platforms.

“With the integration of PayPal, the entire event experience is even more seamless”

“Fans expect a familiar and secure payment experience to make purchasing tickets to a live event even easier, and integration with PayPal was the obvious choice for us,” said Ashish Kapur, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Digital Media at AXS.

The ticket agency aims to become ever more mobile-friendly with the addition of PayPal. The payment service will integrate with AXS Mobile ID, an innovative identity-based digital ticketing platform, through which fans can buy tickets and gain entry into events using mobile devices.

“Our ticketing platform combines standard and resale tickets so that no event is ever sold out for a fan who wants to attend,” says Kapur.

“Now, with the integration of PayPal, the entire event experience is even more seamless, and we look forward to working with them as we continue to innovate the ticketing process.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Ticketek to launch price-capped ticket exchange

TEG, the parent company of leading Australasian ticket agency Ticketek, has announced the launch of Ticketek Marketplace, a price-capped ticket exchange for Australian consumers.

Ticketek Marketplace, set to go live later this month, will serve as an online portal to resell tickets previously purchased from Ticketek, with a single Ticketek user ID and login applying across both it and Ticketek’s primary platform.

The Ticketek announcement follows the launch of several similar solutions by its European cousins, including See Tickets’ Fan-to-Fan, CTS Eventim’s FanSALE, AXS’s Marketplace and, most recently, Ticketmaster’s upcoming replacement for Get Me In! and Seatwave.

Like FanSALE and AXS Marketplace, Ticketek Marketplace will cap resale prices at a maximum of 10% above face value.

“Many sports and entertainment fans have fallen victim of resale scalping practices based on highly inflated ticket prices, misleading marketing, a lack of transparency and often outright fraud,” says TEG CEO Geoff Jones (pictured).

“The launch of Ticketek Marketplace is another important step in protecting fans and ensuring the integrity of ticket transactions”

“TEG believes that fans want a secondary ticket marketplace they can trust, where the authenticity of tickets is guaranteed and where the prices are fair. Ticketek Marketplace delivers these requirements to fans.

“The launch of Ticketek Marketplace is another important step in protecting fans and ensuring the integrity of ticket transactions.”

According to the International Ticketing Yearbook 2018, Ticketek is, with Ticketmaster Australia, one of the ‘big two’ primary ticketing platforms in Australasia. TEG also owns promoters TEG Live and TEG Dainty, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and data firm TEG Analytics.

“We are delighted to offer a service for all events and fans through the launch of Ticketek Marketplace,” comments Ticketek Australia MD Cameron Hoy. “This is a consumer-led, price-capped and ethical ticket exchange service for fans with a genuine need to buy or sell on the secondary market.

“Over several years Ticketek has worked with industry bodies, venue partners, promoters and governments to educate fans about the dangers of resale scalpers. We commend the steps taken by state governments to legislate against these unscrupulous operators.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Perez reveals international ambitions for AXS Marketplace

AXS is taking its US-based resale solution, AXS Marketplace, overseas for the first time, establishing its facilities in two iconic British venues – but potentially offering its services openly to primary ticketing operations across Europe.

AXS Marketplace has been operating in the United States for a number of years, where it has been extensively used by sports clients, but its launch in the UK will provide those visiting The O2 and the SSE Arena, Wembley, with a fair way to resell their event tickets. The Marketplace platform will provide the option to resell tickets at face value with a cap of no more than 10% above the price originally paid, thus allowing the original buyer to break even on a ticket’s resale.

Built-in controls also allow artists and promoters to manage restrictions on the resale of tickets to their shows as required. With the ability to provide better management over the resale market, AXS claims this will be the only ticketing solution that allows fans to buy and then resell through the same platform, meaning that both primary and secondary tickets for sale on AXS will be visible to consumers at the point of purchase in real time.

The method of delivery for AXS Marketplace – Flash Seats – is a mobile-friendly, identity based system, with tickets assigned directly to fans attending, replacing the standard PDF attached to an email. To alleviate the problems surrounding counterfeiting, all tickets are assigned to individuals via Flash Seats’ unique digital ID technology. This includes a dynamically changing barcode system, which ensures that the tickets cannot be copied or shared illegally, emphasising the company’s ongoing commitment to combatting fraud.

“We’re hoping other primary ticketing retailers will embrace Flash Seats”

“The ability to launch in these two iconic UK venues is pretty extraordinary,” AXS CEO Bryan Perez tells IQ. “We’re now working on getting the technology deployed and incorporating the tech into the AXS app: we need to set up accounting systems for the fans to include payment, for instance.”

Perez believes that because the problems associated with secondary ticketing affect the industry, the best way to resolve those issues is via an industry driven solution. “Our Flash Seats system is a very powerful anti-counterfeiting solution and we’re hoping that other primary ticketing retailers will embrace this,” he says, adding that the technology allows AXS to convert other tickets into Flash Tickets so that they can be resold via Marketplace.

The technology will be offered free of charge to the sellers of primary tickets for events at Wembley and The O2, but Perez reveals ambitions beyond those venues. “We’ll look to roll out Flash Seats in our AXS venues in Sweden, and will act otherwise on a market-by-market basis. But Flash Seats is built outside a ticketing system, so it can also be made available to other ticketing operations.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

AEG ends ties with StubHub, launches AXS Marketplace

AXS has announced the launch of its first price-capped secondary ticketing platform in the UK, signing up AEG’s London venues the O2 and SSE Arena Wembley as the first partners.

AXS Marketplace – which the company says it also plans to roll out across various European markets – will allow the resale of tickets at no more than 10% above the original price paid.

Built-in controls also allow artists and promoters to enforce any restrictions on the resale of tickets to their shows, and a dynamically changing barcode ensures the digital-only tickets (delivered to mobile devices via Flash Seats) cannot be counterfeited or shared illegally.

Both primary and secondary tickets will be visible to consumers at the point of purchase, which AXS says will “eliminate confusion and remove fan anxiety as to whether their ticket is actually valid for entry”. For sellers, meanwhile, AXS Marketplace will be the “only ticketing solution that allows fans to buy and then resell through the same platform”.

AEG-run AXS is the latest major ticket agency to launch its own ‘fair value’ ticket resale site, amid a growing backlash against high prices in the traditional secondary ticketing market. StubHub was formerly the exclusive resale partner for the O2; a StubHub spokesperson tells IQ the two parties have mutually ended their relationship.

“StubHub and AEG have taken the mutual decision to end their partnership after five years,” reads a statement, “as AEG moves exclusively to AXS. In this time, we have enjoyed a successful partnership with AEG in the UK.

“As we part ways, we welcome the increased competition which AEG’s marketplace will bring to consumers and the industry at large.”

AXS Marketplace’s launch follows that of See Tickets’ Fan to Fan and Eventim UK’s FanSALE, as well as fast-growing industry backed platform Twickets, all of which similarly cap resale prices (Fan-to-Fan and Twickets at face value and FanSALE at +10% above).

“More of our artists and promoters want a better solution to ensure fans get an authentic ticket at a fair price”

Robert Byrne, managing director of AXS Europe, says: “AXS is proud to provide a fully integrated platform across both the primary and resale markets, giving everyone the opportunity to sell and purchase tickets at a capped, fair price. This will help prevent ticket touting and help combat illegal counterfeiting.

“We know that fans, artists and their representatives have been looking for a solution to these issues for a long time and we believe AXS Marketplace with Flash Seats mobile delivery will be a real game-changer. I’m also really pleased that AXS is partnering with AEG on this important initiative and delighted that such iconic venues like the O2 and the SSE Arena Wembley will be leading our launch plans.”

“There has been a noticeable shift in the industry recently, and more of our artists and promoters want a better solution to ensure fans get an authentic ticket at a fair price,” adds Tom Miserendino, president and chief executive of AEG Europe. “We have been deeply impressed with this technology and what it allows us, our partners and our customers to do.

“Through AXS Marketplace, Flash Seats mobile delivery and capped pricing, we can now deliver this. It is fairer for fans, eliminates counterfeiting, combats touting and allows us to have a complete view of everyone at the event.

“We have listened and responded. This partnership is a ground-breaking solution for ticketing in Europe and we encourage other ticketing providers selling seats at our venues to join it.”

The announcement was also welcomed by Adam Webb, campaign manager for anti-touting campaign group FanFair Alliance. He says: “While our campaign has helped deliver significant legislative and regulatory changes, we are now seeing tangible progress in the UK’s ticketing market and a seemingly unstoppable trend towards services that offer consumer-friendly resale.

“AXS Marketplace looks like a significant addition to these, capping resale at 10% of the original ticket price and deploying mobile technology so that artist teams can better protect fans and lock out the touts. Our supporters will look forward to further information from AXS about the platform’s rollout and launch.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.