It’s a tale as old as time — tickets for a highly-anticipated event are sold online, only to be snapped up quickly by the crowd. Hours later, listings with marked-up prices appear on web-based marketplaces, where scalpers rear their ugly heads and wait to ensnare their prey.
The latest profit-making effort comes by way of the upcoming Disney Presents: A Night of Stars event in Singapore, promising an opportunity to meet actors from several anticipated Disney films and Disney+ series, including Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Brave New World) and Korean stars like Park Eunbin, Sul Kyunggu, Yoon Chanyoung, and Park Byungeun. While admission is free, entry is limited to successful registrations on the Marina Bay Sands website, which opened this morning at 10am SGT.
And like clockwork, the scalping forces are quick to act. Two separate listings on Carousell have put out an offer of S$100 and S$150, with the former even accepting bids. “Selling 4 tickets, only selling as pairs,” reads its description at the time of writing. “PM your best quote. Current bid: [S$]110 each ticket”.
Meanwhile, the second post writes that the tickets are being let go at a fixed rate of S$150 each due to “overwhelming bids”. There’s also an accompanying paragraph that touts the seller’s ability to alter the names on the tickets:
“Marquee – scan barcode to enter. Will change to your name before sending e-tickets for ID check. Names CAN be changed. If others are saying it can’t be done, they just don’t know how to change it via the site. You cannot enter if the ticket name does not match your ID. :)”
Marquee refers to the iconic nightclub MARQUEE Singapore, located within Marina Bay Sands. Disney Presents: A Night of Stars will be held on 20 November from 5.30pm to 7.30pm SGT, but since there’s still some time leading up to the grand fan event, more listings from scalpers are expected to drop — and likely with higher prices, reinforcing once again how they continue to be the bane of everyone’s existence.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
Natalie
