Viagogo

[akcity]

Glad you raised this gkmcfc. I am a Blue Card member with ticket priority costing £20 per annum. I usually get an e-mail from the club that tells me when tickets are available & I have a narrow window to apply. Last Friday I got one form the club advising me that tickets are available for Liverpool from VIAGOGO. When I clicked on, the prices quoted were £42.30 upwards. I am a Senior Citizen & never pay those prices. They were also quoting Chelsea at £79.00. I am not registered with them & never deal with them, & don't want to.So why have the club referred me to them? When I don't recall getting an e-mail from the club prior to this offering me the facility to book direct for Liverpool. This seems to indicate a very worrying trend. Am I being paranoid? or, are the club now about to start outsourcing ticket sales to this lot? I didn't buy my Blue Card to end up buying tickets through them. Comments Please........?

They have been outsourcing tickets to Viagogo ever since the contract started.

MCFC have to give them a few hundred tickets for each game, this was mentioned at a Points OF Blue meeting but I can't remember the exact figure, maybe a couple of hundred.

Needless to say its generally the slowest tickets to sell, there are 3 pages against Dipperpool in the East Stand and the Colin Bell Stand, with a lot of them in the 3rd tier for example.

This is why there are more empty seats than ever before for 'sold out' games.

I don't think it's a case of Blues intending to rip fellow Blues off, at least not entirely. The cheapest ticket for Chelsea was £45, the minimum that I could sell mine for on Viagogo is £45.90 but I would only get £40.48.

It's the principal of Viagogo that rips people off. My Seasoncard costs me £30 per game so that is what I would ever sell my ticket for, yet on Viagogo I don't get that option.

The easy answer is dont use Viagogo and flood the club with complaints - but that leaves hundreds of empty seats where proper Blues can't get tickets due to affordability.

The club should sell all of the tickets and set up their own 'exchange' scheme on the website where tickets can only be sold UP TO face value.

 

[gkmcfc]

I don't know why the club don't just do their own seat exchange. They'd have far more control particularly with everything being electronic. They could even justify charging a small admin fee and would actually make money over the actual game by game cost to a season card holder.
Part of the problem is clearly the cost, but accessibility too. I reckon many fans would rather call in at the ticket office or phone to buy a ticket rather than mess around on Viagogo's website. When the "sold out" signs go up I think the availability of tickets through Viagogo isn't particularly well promoted either.

 

[fbloke]

I must say that it is becoming very clear now that the club are fully in bed with Viagogo and will choose to remain so.

I am disgusted that they are and I have made it clear directly with the club that I feel they are in the wrong.

In the world of the online ticket tout we footy fans are easily bought and sold, the going rate for your information and details of your season ticket is one free pie.

Anyone who 'has' to use them is fleeced but lets be honest here the club CHOOSE to allow us to be fleeced and actually benefit financially.

The club will gain a % of any ticket sold by Viagogo and it seems that they are happy for a fan to be charged over £100 for a ticket as long as they get their cut.

I have never been more disappointed in MCFC as I am with this.

I wont ever use Viagogo but I fear that in the not too distant future there really wont be any choice as I am being warned that an outsource of the ticket office will be the inevitable consequence of the relationship that is being built.

So if you feel that you are doing no harm in using them you could not be any more wrong.