Photo: Savannah van der Niet

Splendour In The Grass Responds To Backlash Over “Joke” Ticket Resale Fees

Splendour In The Grass organisers have been forced to defend increases to their ticket reselling fees following a backlash from pissed off punters.

On triple J’s Hack program this afternoon, a slew of both actual and wannabe Splendour-goers spoke out against what they’re calling an “unfair” cash-grab on the part of the sold-out festival, which has this year jacked up fees for both ticket buyers and sellers using its official resale facility on Moshtix.

As JJJ points out, the resale admin fee for buyers has basically doubled since last year, going from a flat $20 to 10% of the ticket price, or $39.90 for a 3-day ticket.

While sellers are also losing more money than they did last year, with the resale admin fee jumping from $20 to $30 plus the original booking fee. It means Splendour’s reselling service charges are effectively five times those of Groovin’ The Moo, which also uses Moshtix but charges just a $6 flat fee.

And things become even more spenno for punters looking to offload camping tickets to the SITG2018, since these are sold separately to the actual festival tickets.

“So if someone needs to sell their 3 day ticket and their camping ticket, they’ll lose $84.57,” Triple J explains. “That’s $60 (2 x resale admin fees) + $15.94 (3 day ticket booking fee) + $8.63 (camping ticket booking fee).”

The whole thing has prompted an online petition, the organisers of which have threatened to lodge a dispute with NSW Fair Trading if Splendour’s “excessive” resale fees aren’t removed and the resale window isn’t extended to allow tickets to be resold up until the day of the festival.

Speaking on Hack, angry punters called Splendour’s resale price hike a “joke” and a “scam”, but festival director Jess Ducrou has defended the new fees, explaining that the profit made from the resale facility is “minimal” and helps cover its administration costs.

“There are hard costs associated with being able to offer the resale facility – tech development, administration, labour and ongoing management, a huge amount of inquiries, complications,” she tells Hack.

“I know there’s suggestions that we’re making a bunch of money out of this, and yes we’re a business and we do need to make money from the event, but we’re definitely not retiring off this resale. It’s not a huge revenue generator at all.”

Splendour’s official reselling facility is of course the only way to safely and legally buy or sell a legitimate SITG ticket now that the festival has totally sold out, and Ducrou warns that not having it in place would be a costly alternative for punters.

“There’s incredible demand for tickets. If we didn’t have the resale facility in place, we would find them on the market for thousands and thousands of dollars,” she says.

And indeed, dodgy tickets have already begun appearing online at insanely jacked-up prices.

ICYMI: Splendour’s monster 2018 lineup features Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Vampire Weekend and more, and the fest sold out less than half an hour after tickets first went on sale.

The official Splendour In The Grass 2018 resale facility is now open and you can get more info on how to sign up right here.

Gallery: Splendour In The Grass 2017 – The Best Of You / Photos: Maria Boyadgis

Must Read