Expert: The "blind box" sales of concert tickets are suspected of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers

Manga/Takadake　　

□ reporter Sun Tianjiao

The concert tickets that I finally grabbed depreciated by 200 yuan?

Recently, a singer's Nanjing concert "ticket seat does not match" incident appeared on the hot search, and many fans reported that they spent 580 yuan on the ticketing platform to buy the seat, but after the ticket was opened, they were arranged to the area of 380 yuan on the original seat map. In this regard, the ticketing platform replied that the original picture was "rendered incorrectly, wrong", and refunded or changed seats for some ticket buyers.

However, some consumers are not satisfied with this solution, and some people bluntly said: "Only a very small number of people enjoy the change of seats, and we don't want to refund the ticket, and the concert we have been looking forward to for a long time has such an 'episode', which is very uncomfortable." ”

The "Rule of Law Daily" reporter's investigation found that in recent times, concert ticket incidents have repeatedly caused controversy. Obstruction of the line of sight but not explained in advance, mismatch between the fare and location, and unreasonable seat allocation of tickets grabbed in seconds are all common problems reported by consumers.

The interviewed experts pointed out that the use of the "blind box" sales model of concert tickets harms consumers' right to know, the right to choose independently and the right to fair trade, and suggested that the relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of the concert ticket sales model, and the organizers must enhance the transparency of concert ticket sales, disclose complete ticket sales information to the public before ticket sales, and refine the tiered ticket prices, and publicize the seats in different ticket ranges, and limit the proportion of high-ticket seats.

The position of the ticket grabs in seconds is very poor

Random assignments are non-refundable

At the end of June, Mr. Liu, a Beijing citizen, his wife and friends, a group of 4 people watched the concert of a male star, and the whole process was almost spent in torment.

According to Mr. Liu, the ticket they bought for 680 yuan was only one row apart from the 380 yuan ticket (the worst class), and the location was very remote. The time to grab tickets for this concert was one night in April, when he contacted a number of friends to help grab it, and after grabbing it, he paid in seconds, and the order time showed that the order was placed in 1 second and paid in 4 seconds. Since the successful ticket grabbing, he has been full of expectations for the concert. Two months later, Mr. Liu checked the seat map and found that his seat was in the leftmost area of the stands, and the number of rows was very high, so he didn't pay much attention to it at that time. It wasn't until he arrived at the scene on the night of the concert that reality hit him hard.

From the concert photos sent by Mr. Liu, the reporter saw that only half of the screen could be seen from the seat, and there was a sound block above the screen. Because I sit on the "top of the mountain", there is a step fence below the view. "At that time, I paid for the tickets in seconds, and later the concert also sold two more tickets, and as a result, my seats were worse than those grabbed by others when they 'opened the second time'."

The reporter searched for the male star's concert on a social platform and found that among the posts posted by netizens, many of them were "second open" and "third open" (the second and third subsequent ticketing) to grab tickets, and at the same price, their seats were either higher in the row than Mr. Liu, or closer to the middle area.

After the concert, Mr. Liu contacted the platform to try to refund the ticket, but the platform replied that this situation was normal, and the seats were randomly assigned and refused to refund the ticket. Mr. Liu believes that this method of randomly assigning seats puts all the risks on consumers, just like opening a "blind box", and only after the ticket is issued or the scene does it know whether the seat is good or not. "Even if you choose to refund the ticket as soon as you know the seat after the ticket is issued, it will not be successful, because the ticket is issued in mid-June, but at the end of May, no refund of any kind is allowed."

Mr. Liu's case is not unique. Recently, some netizens reported to reporters that they spent 1,314 yuan to buy tickets for a concert, but after entering, they found that the location was remote, not only difficult to see the singer, but also unable to see the stage and the main screen. Tickets of the same price are spread across multiple areas, and they are assigned "arguably the most partial". The netizen grabbed the ticket at the first time of ticket purchase, showing that the payment was completed in 3 seconds, and there were still many remaining tickets after the ticket purchase.

The reporter checked the ticket sales page of many concerts and found that the vast majority of concert tickets are randomly assigned seats, that is, independent seat selection is not supported, and tickets are issued to determine seats at a certain time before the concert starts. But in reality, the ticketing time is often after the time allowed for refunds in the ticketing rules, which means that consumers are not able to refund their tickets even if they are not satisfied with their seats. And some of the tickets that some viewers grabbed in seconds are not as good as the seats that some viewers grabbed when they "opened two" and "opened three".

In practice, the tiered pricing of concerts and the corresponding seats have also been criticized by many people. According to the reporter's observation, the difference in ticket prices for many concerts is between 200 yuan and 500 yuan per stall, but in some concerts, there is actually no obvious gap between the seats of the two stalls in the seating arrangement, resulting in a large psychological gap between many audiences. Judging from the current situation, the concert organizer and the ticket seller have not made any announcements or explanations on how to determine the tiered price and how to divide the seats corresponding to the price.

Undermines the right to know and choose

or ticket scalping

According to lawyer Ma Lihong, a senior partner at Beijing DHH Law Firm, concert tickets are usually of high value and the viewing experience is different in different locations, and the use of a "blind box" sales model without the consent of consumers undoubtedly damages consumers' right to know, the right to make their own choices and the right to fair trade. From a legal point of view, it is necessary to determine whether the conditions of sale of concert tickets constitute standard terms.

"A standard clause is a clause that is pre-drafted by the parties for the purpose of reuse and not negotiated with the other party at the time of conclusion of the contract. Where standard clauses are used to conclude a contract, the party providing the standard clauses shall follow the principle of fairness to determine the rights and obligations between the parties, and take reasonable measures to remind the other party of the clauses that have a major interest in the other party, such as exempting or reducing its liability, and explain the clauses in accordance with the requirements of the other party. If the party providing the standard clause fails to perform the obligation of reminder or explanation, resulting in the other party not paying attention to or understanding the clause in which it has a material interest, the other party may claim that the clause does not become the content of the contract. The party providing the standard clauses unreasonably exempts or reduces its liability, increases the liability of the other party, or restricts the main rights of the other party; or the standard clause that excludes the main rights of the other party by providing the standard clause is invalid. Ma Lihong said.

Lawyer Zhen Jingshan, deputy director of Beijing Xingquan Law Firm, believes that the random allocation of concert tickets has both advantages and disadvantages. For the organizer, the random allocation of concert tickets saves the organizer's ticket sales cost; For consumers, the random allocation of concert tickets improves the efficiency of consumers in grabbing tickets.

"But there are certain problems with this approach. First of all, the random allocation of tickets is suspected of infringing on consumers' right to know and the right to choose independently, and consumers can only choose the price area according to the seat distribution map provided by the organizer when purchasing tickets, and cannot know the actual situation of the seats in advance, so they can only wait. In view of the timeliness and scarcity of concert tickets, the organizer usually sets a more stringent refund time limit, but the random seats are only announced a few days before the performance, which leads to the fact that when consumers are not satisfied with the randomly assigned seats, the refund time stipulated by the organizer has been exceeded, which indirectly restricts the refund rights and interests of consumers. Zhen Jingshan said.

He pointed out that the random allocation of concert tickets also increases the difficulty of supervision, providing an opportunity for gray transactions such as reselling tickets, because consumers cannot choose seats in advance, and there is no way to know the number of tickets sold publicly, so there may be organizers in advance and "scalpers" and "ticketing" collusion, lock in the front row of seats with a good view, good location of the seat to sell at a higher price, and seek high profits.

"Due to the different audio-visual effects, stage distances, and viewing experiences in different locations, it is inevitable that different stalls will be differentiated to sell tickets to meet the needs of consumers with different payment capabilities, but if there is a large price difference between different stalls and the actual seats are not clearly distinguished, it is suspected of infringing on consumers' right to fair trade." Zhen Jingshan said.

Tiered fares are set fairly

Full disclosure of ticketing information

So, how are concert tickets usually priced and seating zones?

A senior industry insider told reporters that the pricing of concert tickets and the division of seats are determined by the organizers. The Organiser mainly considers costs and constraints when setting prices. The cost of a concert usually includes artist performance fees, venue rental fees, approval fees, lighting and stage design, security and other expenses.

"There are still some constraints." One is the regulatory factor, the industry said, and the organizers will not touch the red line by setting too high a price when selling tickets. the other is the requirements of the artist, such as the requirement for special numbers, there will be more special numbers such as 717 yuan and 1314 yuan; Or out of the protection of the artist's image, the price is set a little lower. The rest is the "tacit understanding" that is customary in the market, generally 180 yuan, 280 yuan, 380 yuan for low ticket stalls, and then a few hundred yuan is added to the ladder to increase. "To be honest, these tiered prices are all decisions made by patting their heads and getting a few conventional figures, because the market is like this."

Ma Lihong believes that although the organizer has the pricing power, but on the basis of fairness and reasonableness, the pricing law of concert tickets is usually based on different areas and seat levels, and the location close to the stage and VIP seats tend to be more expensive, while the price of away from the stage and ordinary seats is relatively low. This pricing method is to meet the needs of audiences with different spending powers, and it is also to balance the revenue and costs of concert organizers. However, if there is not much difference between the audience who pays the high price and the audience who pays the low price in terms of location and audio-visual experience, it will definitely cause consumers to feel unfair and unreasonable, and if the organizer does not publicize the difference between the ticket price and the seat, it will actually damage the consumer's right to know and the right to fair trade.

She also mentioned that the meaning of clear price marking is that the products sold by merchants must be true and accurate, the labels must be eye-catching, and the products and prices must correspond one-to-one, so that consumers can clearly understand the price of goods or services. Clearly marked prices cannot simply be understood as only indicating prices, but operators should also indicate other information closely related to prices, so as to reduce information asymmetry as much as possible, so that consumers and other business operators have a clearer understanding of the value of the goods or services corresponding to the price. If a merchant sells a product that is not on the right board, or the price is obviously unreasonable, and it is not publicized, it may be liable for price fraud.

"Consumers usually do not know in advance whether there is an obstruction of view in the seat, and if the consumer purchases a seat with obstructed view at a normal fare without prior notice from the Organiser, the Consumer has the right to request compensation from the Organiser or take reasonable measures to properly resolve the issue." Zhen Jingshan said that in practice, the organizers often refuse to refund on the grounds that "the consumer has already entered" and "the refund time has expired", or the obscuration is not serious, does not affect the viewing experience of consumers, and refuses to solve the reasonable demands of consumers.

In this regard, he suggested that the organizer should ensure the basic audio-visual experience of the audience, and try to avoid and reduce the occurrence of visual obstruction when designing the stage and seating layout; For locations where there is a line of sight, no matter whether the degree is serious or not, as long as it is sold to the public, it should be explained and prompted, and the ticket price should be appropriately reduced to protect consumers' right to know and the right to choose. It is recommended that the organizer actively make a plan, allocate sufficient manpower and solutions, and quickly deal with similar problems in case of occurrence to meet the reasonable demands of consumers.

"To strengthen industry supervision, relevant departments or industry associations should issue corresponding standards to regulate issues such as sight occlusion and ticket refund mechanisms, and at the same time spot check the stage construction and seating layout before the performance starts, check the problem of sight occlusion in advance, urge the organizer to rectify, and support corresponding punitive measures. Improve the feedback mechanism and smooth the channels for complaints. Relevant departments may set up special feedback channels for local large-scale performances, so as to deal with consumer complaints in a timely manner and solve the problem of difficulties in protecting consumers' rights. Zhen Jingshan said.

Set reasonable ticketing rules

Continue to strengthen supervision

More than a year ago, at Liang Jingru's concert in Shanghai, some of the audience were blocked by load-bearing pillars throughout the whole process, and the concert organizer was sued to the court afterwards. The court recently pronounced a judgment in the first instance that the defendant's behavior was a defective performance and constituted a breach of contract. The defendant was ordered to refund the plaintiff's ticket price at the rate of 420 yuan, 650 yuan and 910 yuan for a single ticket.

After the first-instance judgment was announced, the court reminded that the concert was originally a "two-way rush" between fans and idols, and that it was the right of consumers to obtain a complete and immersive audio-visual experience of the concert, and it was the obligation of the organizer to provide the corresponding venue and environment. Pricing rules, refund and replacement rules, and industry norms should also be gradually improved in order to promote the healthy and orderly development of the performing arts economy.

"After some incidents such as 'pillar tickets', consumer rights protection is actually forcing the industry to continue to improve. After the verdict of the Shanghai 'Pillar Ticket' case, I asked some organizers, and they all paid more attention to it, and they would mark it out if there was any obstruction of sight in the future, and put a certain discount on the original ticket price. Some organizers will reserve a part of the remaining tickets, and if the audience is not satisfied with the seat allocation, they can be exchanged on the spot. However, whether this will lead to new problems may need to be considered separately, but it is certainly a top priority for organizers and ticketing platforms to continuously improve their practices, said the industry insider.

Ma Lihong believes that it is the basic obligation of the organizer to clearly indicate the products and services sold. Consumers have the right to know the truth about the goods they buy or use or the services they receive. When purchasing goods or receiving services, consumers have the right to obtain fair trading conditions such as quality assurance, reasonable prices, and correct measurements, and have the right to refuse the forced trading behavior of business operators.

"It is recommended that the relevant departments strengthen the supervision of the concert ticket sales model, require the organizers to set reasonable, fair and transparent ticketing rules, and ensure that consumers' right to know, right to choose, and right to fair trade are not infringed upon, and to govern them from the source." Ma Lihong said.

Zhen Jingshan suggested that the transparency of concert ticket sales should be enhanced. The organizer shall disclose complete ticketing information to the public before ticket sales, including ticket prices and pricing strategies, seat maps, whether there is any obstruction of sight, seat opening time, refund policy, etc.; At the same time, advanced imaging technology can be considered to show the concert scene layout to consumers in an all-round way through appropriate public methods.

"Tiered fares should be refined. There should be no obvious distinction between seats in the same fare class, and seats in different fare classes should be publicly explained, and the proportion of seats with higher fares should be limited to protect consumers' right to fair trade. For seats of the same class, a reasonable seating arrangement can be adopted, which can be arranged according to the time of ticket purchase, can be randomly arranged by the computer, or other fair seating arrangements can be adopted, but the premise is that a reasonable way is adopted to publicize to consumers. On the premise that the supporting technology is mature, it can be considered to adopt the ticketing method of clarifying the specific seat at the time of ticket purchase, so as to fully protect the consumer's right to choose. Zhen Jingshan said that at the same time, we should also strengthen the supervision of concert ticket sales to ensure the fairness of concert ticket sales and seat allocation, and prevent the organizers from reserving a large number of seats or reserving high-quality seats and colluding with "scalpers" to seek benefits.

Source: Rule of Law Daily-Rule of Law Network

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