Soccer fans who buy Fifa tickets through online auctions will find themselves holding worthless pieces of paper come match time.
Fifa has implemented a resale policy that aims to cut down on people buying and selling tickets for their own commercial gain, but has not informed local auction sites of this change in the rules.
A quick online search found several offers for tickets for sale, some for prices far above the original prices advertised on Fifa's Web site. An analyst has called Fifa's resale process a “cruel joke” because buying tickets in the first place was so cumbersome.
The recently-implemented policy aims to ensure tickets are sold to true fans of the event. It also provides a safe and legitimate way for consumers to transact in a secondary market for tickets “without being subject to the misleading practices of those who engage in unauthorised re-sales and undermine policies established by Fifa,” the body says.
By January, about two million, or two-thirds of available tickets, had been sold through online sales and First National Bank (FNB) in a random draw process. Between February and April, Fifa opened up a first-come first-served process to push more tickets through the site and FNB branches.
Last month, Fifa opened ticketing centres to sell tickets over the counter. Centres are located in each host city. However, this process had its drawbacks, as day one saw thousands of people queuing as Fifa grappled with failing systems.
Fifa rules
Fifa's transfer policy, according to its Web site, is that: “Ticket-holders may not sell, offer for sale, resell, donate or otherwise transfer their tickets in any way, without the specific prior written approval of Fifa.”
In addition, tickets not bought through official channels are deemed to be invalid, adds the terms and conditions on the Fifa site.
Soccer fans can submit a ticket for resale from 15 April up until three days before the match starts, but cannot sell tickets that have already been printed. In addition, Fifa will charge a 10% administrative fee.
After selling the ticket, fans will only get their money back within four weeks of the last match, which is mid-July, assuming that tickets are resold, as Fifa gives no guarantees.
Cashing in?
A Gumtree advertisement offers two tickets for the SA vs France match, in category three, for R4 000. Fifa sold these tickets for R560 each. However, the game, according to the online advertisement, is “sold out”.
Other category four tickets are going for as much as R1 500, when Fifa has priced them at R350 each.
Online auction site bidorbuy has several tickets advertised for sale. One advertiser is selling four category two tickets to the final for a total of R16 000. Fifa's Web site advertises these tickets for R4 200 each.
Another person is advertising two tickets in category four for the Netherlands vs Denmark game, at R660. Fifa's price is R140 each, or R280 for two tickets. A third advertisement is for six category three tickets to Argentina vs Korea for R2 000. Fifa's price is R3 360.
In the dark
Bidorbuy MD Andy Higgins says the situation is a grey area, because, although ticket auctions are legal, they are against Fifa policy. The company does not condone illegal activity on its site, he says.
Higgins says the company was not informed by Fifa that the body had implemented a policy regarding re-sales. However, it has researched the matter itself, and has decided to allow the sale of tickets, but warns purchasers that they risk getting turned away at the stadium gate, he says.
Based on experiences recounted to the company from the German games, four years ago, officials stop checking names against the tickets just before the matches, says Higgins.
He suspects the same situation will happen in SA, allowing people to enter with tickets bought from online auctions. Bidorbuy has about 70 listings of tickets for sale.
Laughable
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says the new process is a “cruel joke” because Fifa made the initial ticket application process so cumbersome that many people would have ended up with tickets they did not want.
He says the body has created a market for reselling through the “crude structure” of the ticketing process. “People are sitting in a situation where you have tickets that you are not going to be excited about.”
Goldstuck explains that the purchasing process was a scattergun approach, because people did not always know for which games they would be buying tickets, as Fifa used a random draw approach to allocate tickets.
Fifa did not respond to a request for comment.
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