Ethical Ticket Exchange Gives Up

The website has acted as a means for music fans to sell unwanted gig and festival tickets at face value, in reaction to the increasing numbers of tickets being sold at high markups by online touts.

Richard Marks, a hospital doctor who set up Scarlet Mist in 2003 as a “part-time hobby,” says he doesn’t have time to continue as his wife is now disabled. Marks also admitted that continued problems with scammers using the site were also to blame, the “final straw” being the discovery of the latest fraudster to use the site.

“I am very sorry to those of you who have been hit by fraudsters. I’ve tried everything I can to stop them, but I cannot do enough to protect you,” he said. “Ticket touts and the secondary ticket market are here to stay. There is very little political will to address it, money talks in this world.” In 2011 Marks temporarily closed the site because of the “unacceptably high levels” of fraud carried out on the platform. It reopened later in that year.

Although Marks says he can’t continue running Scarlet Mist on a day-to-day basis, he says he’s interested in finding someone who wants to develop the site – if only as a Facebook app – and use the knowledge and expertise he’s developed. On Nov. 19 the UK’s House Of Lords voted to include a new clause in the Consumer Rights Bill that would force people touting tickets online to provide buyers with extra information about the tickets they’re offering.

They include making it clear who exactly is reselling tickets, how big a markup is being added, and what the risks are to the consumer by buying tickets via the secondary market. The amendment, which doesn’t have government backing, will now return to the House Of Commons, where it may or may not become law. Marks says the terms of the amendment would provide some protection for consumers, but would not put an end to the market for secondary tickets sold at inflated prices.