Ticketmaster to shut resale sites Seatwave and Get Me In

Ticketmaster on Monday said it was closing its resale websites Seatwave and Get Me In to reduce the number of “professional sellers” who exploit the platforms and hike up prices.

The sites which currently allow customers to offload unwanted tickets and are sometimes exploited by touts, will be shut down in October.

"We know that fans are tired of seeing others snap up tickets just to resell for a profit on secondary websites, so we have taken action," said Andrew Parsons, head of Ticketmaster UK.

“Closing down our secondary sites and creating a ticket exchange on Ticketmaster has always been our long-term plan. We’re excited to launch our redesigned website, which will make buying and selling tickets fast and simple, with all tickets in the same place,” he added.

The platform will now allow customers to sell unwanted tickets on Ticketmaster where they will be released back into the market. The website will only let customers to charge the original price or less with a 15% surcharge to cover for booking fees paid.

By shutting the sites down Ticketmaster has escaped a probe by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority into the secondary market, in which it is already considering taking action against Swiss firm Viagogo.

Ticketmaster will also be able to compete with fan-to-fan ticket exchanges such as Twickets and Scarlet Mist that are favoured by artists such as Ed Sheeran and Adele.