Is $142 too much for an AFL home and away match in May, as one fan has had to pay?
On the eve of the AFL season, when a Melbourne man went to buy tickets to the West Coast-Collingwood match in Perth on May 1 they were sold out less than 10 minutes after becoming available on Ticketmaster's website.
The fan, Mark, had already booked flights with friends to go to Perth and was very disappointed.
"Then I realised there was a section called Ticketmaster Resale," he said.
"Tickets that people had already purchased, presumably in the previous 10 minutes, could be purchased for $142, considerably higher than the original price."
Between 9am and 9.10am, a member of the public had bought tickets for themselves and then immediately offered them for nearly double the price on the same website after the game sold out.
Mark bought four tickets but four others in the group decided it was a "total rip-off" and will do something else in Perth instead.
Growing numbers of disgruntled people say Ticketmaster should not be allowed to facilitate scalping in this way for sporting and other events.
The AFL says it doesn't like it but is doing virtually nothing about it.
It gave AAP a statement mirroring the West Coast response to Mark that it did not like scalping and recommended people not use Ticketmaster Resale.
The league suggested supporters should instead buy tickets through West Coast's own resale program which opens on April 25 in which tickets for the Collingwood match are returned by members and sold, but not at inflated prices.
The AFL Fans Association's Ron Issko called on the league last year to crack down on Ticketmaster's resale site.
Ticketmaster justifies its resale site by saying that in a market where demand exceeds supply, a secondary market will always exist and it guarantees a ticket compared to other sites like Gumtree, eBay or Ticketblaster.
"A key benefit of using Ticketmaster Resale is that it is safe and secure for buyers," a spokeswoman told AAP.
Scalping is not illegal in Australia and resale markets are standard practice, but many fans are concerned the secondary sales are happening almost immediately after tickets go on sale.
The problem is most acute in Perth and Adelaide where stadium capacity is lower than Melbourne, but WA premier Colin Barnett rejected the need to outlaw it despite an outcry from fans about scalpers swooping on preliminary finals tickets in Perth last September.
WA's acting commissioner for consumer protection David Hillyard called the situation undesirable but says products such as football tickets are not essential items and buying them is a personal choice.
"The cost of effectively regulating this type of activity in the marketplace would likely outweigh the benefits for consumers," he said.
