STAR’s Ticket Buying Campaign

 

The Ticket Factory is proud to be supporting STAR’s Safe Ticket Buying Campaign this week.  STAR (the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) are raising awareness of the importance of buying your tickets from reputable sellers that are STAR members, such as The Ticket Factory.

Buying from a STAR member ensures that ticket buyers are dealing with a company that has signed up to a strict Code of Practice, and that you’ve got somewhere to turn to if anything goes wrong.

The campaign has the support of Margot James MP, Minister for Digital and is also being supported by government departments, DCMS and BEIS, as well as other consumer protection partners.

STAR has partnered with Action Fraud to report that between 1 April 2018 and 30 April 2019, Action Fraud received 4,755 reports of ticket fraud – with victims losing an average of £365. Although this was a decrease of almost a third from the reports received in the previous 12 months, there was a spike in reporting in August 2018 where 539 reports were made. This suggests that fraudsters took advantage of people during the peak season for ticketed events such as music festivals.

Here are some top tips to stay vigilant and make sure you’re protected. Make sure to share these tips with family and friends too:

1) Don’t let your desire to get tickets blind you - Do your research before putting in those credit card details. If you’re being offered something too good to be true it probably is. Fraudsters often create fake websites with URLs similar to that of a genuine site. Avoid using the site if there is only a PO Box address and mobile phone number.

2) Don’t panic if it says ‘SOLD OUT’ - Not all ticket companies will sell out at the same time, so try other authorised sellers and the venue. Very often, if sales demand is high, extra seats or dates can be released. All is not lost if you don’t manage to get seats within the first hour of on-sale.

3) Search for the STAR - Most reputable ticket sellers will be members of STAR.

4) Use a credit card rather than bank transfer wherever possible. This gives you more consumer protection if things go wrong.

5) Ignore that craving to share your ticket on social! Sharing the QA code, images of tickets, or barcodes can let others copy your ticket and gain entry using the barcode. You wouldn’t post a picture of your credit card online... don’t post a picture of your ticket.

For more tips, you can find STAR’s online guide to buying tickets safely here: www.star.org.uk/buy_safe.