Scalpers aiming for a windfall ahead of Sunday's NRL Grand Final will be sadly disappointed, with NSW Fair Trading taking swift action to address the issue, handing out a series of sanctions after attending the Sydney offices of eBay.
Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann has confirmed the authority worked swiftly to sanction those advertising Grand Final tickets in breach of NSW scalping laws.
“To protect consumers, NSW laws require advertisements of resale tickets to specify the original cost of the ticket and the resale price that is no more than 10 per cent above original cost,” Mann told the Daily Telegraph.
“Fair Trading attended the offices of eBay and issued a number of penalty notices for tickets being advertised contrary to regulations.
“Fair Trading is actively monitoring these platforms where tickets may be re-sold and will take similar actions where tickets are being sold contrary to NSW laws.
“Under the Fair Trading act, corporations found breaching ticket reselling laws can be fined up to $110,000, while individuals can be fined up to $22,000.”
The crackdown comes after ARL Chairman Peter V'Landys took up the matter with the state government after the Telegraph revealed that scalpers were rife in the lead-up to the sold out clash.
The Telegraph reported tickets being sold for more than $1000 apiece, despite the active and enforceable legislation.
“It's against the law to sell a ticket for more than 10% of purchase price,” V'landys said.
“Scalpers are ripping fans off and exposing themselves to a huge fine. We will bring the matter to the attention of Fair Trading and do anything we can to protect fans from being ripped off.”
