Australia’s largest independent primary ticketing firm, Oztix, and the “Buy safe, sell easy” secondary ticketing platform, Tixel, have come together to solve the problems of price gouging, fraudulent activity and inefficiency in the secondary ticketing market. The technical integration of the two platforms will have an immediate impact on the slew of concerts and festivals being announced as punters hungrily snap up tickets to summer events.
Oztix partners with many of the nation’s top independent promoters, venues and festivals and starting today, the integration with Tixel ensures that all events on the platform also have a safe place for fans to easily trade tickets. Tixel automatically verifies each ticket catching fake tickets before they’re even listed, as well as capping the resale price at a maximum of 10% over the face value — making the platform highly unappealing to scalpers and fraudsters and creating a safe and honest resale marketplace.
“The sheer quantity of new event builds on our platform is something I’ve never seen before and it’s all in response to a huge demand from fans wanting to get back out there,” said Seth Clancy, Commercial Director, Oztix. “The partnership with Tixel is landing at the perfect time to give fans more flexibility and confidence as they make decisions about which summer events they want to attend.”
Sharlene Harris, National Entertainment Manager at ALH Group, a company that operates over 300 licensed venues, said of the partnership: “I couldn’t be happier with this partnership. Dealing with heartbroken punters with fake tickets at the door — everyday people who have been scammed by unscrupulous ticket sellers — has been a problem for some time, but this integration has never been more important than right now. With so many shows and events having to be rescheduled during the pandemic, sometimes up to a handful of times, purchasers that can’t attend on the new date are able to sell their tickets simply and confidently. And punters that want to go to a particular sold-out show can now register at Tixel and grab those tickets as soon as a seller lists them. It’s a win-win for fans, acts, venues, and the industry-at-large, enabling as many people as possible to enjoy their favourite acts. We all reap the benefits.”
Fake tickets and no shows are two painful symptoms for venues of a resale market left unchecked. It can be both distressing and time consuming for event producers to deal with fans who have unknowingly paid good money for what turns out to be a fake or duplicate ticket. And no shows, or people that buy a ticket but don’t show up, are a huge issue for venues around the country, with shows priced at under $30 being the hardest hit — without an easy way to resell a ticket, many fans that can no longer attend simply eat the price of the ticket which results in bands playing to smaller crowds and venues missing out on the bar, food and merch sales that often keeps them alive.
Iconic Melbourne venue, Corner Hotel, has already seen a significant reduction in no shows after bringing Tixel on as its preferred place for fans to trade tickets.
“After we brought Tixel on board, we saw a huge 50% reduction in no-shows. That means more fans showing up, buying drinks, singing along to the band, grabbing a t-shirt, and telling their friends what a bloody great time they had. I can’t overstate what a huge difference that makes to our business,” said Rod Smith, General Manager, Corner Hotel.
After recently signing on with Oztix as their new primary ticketing partner, Corner Hotel is primed to take full advantage of the new integration, seamlessly bringing their primary and secondary ticketing solutions together.
Fans can also fall into the trap of paying too much for tickets online by accidentally buying a marked-up resale ticket when there are still originally priced tickets available. In a feature that sets them apart globally, Tixel makes it clear that there is still primary ticket inventory available by linking back to Oztix so that a fan can buy an originally priced ticket. If a show is sold out, Oztix will link to Tixel as the preferred resale marketplace for fans to buy and sell tickets. This integration happens in real time, making it much easier for fans to avoid being duped by sellers on other unregulated, open marketplaces.
“Oztix has such an impressive roster of promoters, venues and events and we’re honoured to be working with the team there. They share our ethos of creating technology that helps event organisers make better decisions about their business while also taking good care of the fans that drive it,” said Zac Leigh, CEO and co-founder, Tixel.
