Kilimanjaro Live has defended Ed Sheeran’s anti-touting ticketing policy for his record-breaking Divide tour after some fans said its strict face value resale rule left them out of pocket.
Prices were set at the face value of the ticket plus a 10 per cent resale fee, in an effort to deter scalpers from using such secondary platforms such as StubHub and Viagogo to make a profit.
Some complained that the policy hurt some genuine fans who could no longer attend concerts, as the 10 per cent resale fee mark-ups meant it was cheaper for last-minute buyers to purchase remaining primary tickets instead.
Those unable to attend were therefore unable to shift their tickets via Sheeran’s fan-to-fan resale and were unable to offload them for a lower price on other resale sites, because the ticketing policy requires fans to turn up with the credit or debit card that they ordered with to gain entry.
One fan said on Twitter: “Question for Kilimanjaro Live – you set resale for Ed Sheeran at face value stating this was to be fair to those who bought at face value. Why couldn’t tickets be refunded minus an admin fee to cover the hassle to you? I offered this and was turned down, yet who would lose?”
Question for @KilimanjaroLive – you set resale for Ed Sheeran at face value stating this was to be fair to those who bought at face value. Why couldn't tickets be refunded minus an admin fee to cover the hassle to you? I offered this and was turned down, yet who would lose?
— Jon Barbuti (@jonbarbuti) August 30, 2019
Kilimanjaro Live said in a statement to the Guardian newspaper: “From the outset we have tried to find a way to be fair to fans, to facilitate the ethical resale of tickets and to leave as many fans as happy as possible whilst preventing the daily horror stories of them being ripped off by ticket touts profiting from the panic to get a ticket to see Ed. We have undoubtedly had a huge impact here.
“Whilst we understand the frustration of someone who is unable to resell and wants to drop the price accordingly to give themselves a better chance of recouping some of their money, unfortunately this throws up more questions than answers.”
Ed Sheeran, whose two-year Divide tour drew to a close last week, became the highest-grossing tour ever, bringing in $776.6m (£636.9m/€700.2m) from almost nine million tickets.
Image: Markus Hillgärtner
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