With live events set to return, the BC government has put a new act in place to remove some of the frustrations of the ticket buying process.
The Ticket Sales Act is focused at increasing consumer protections and notably blocking bots from buying large amounts of tickets for resale purposes.
“Before the pandemic, British Columbians told us they were frustrated with not being able to get tickets to live events in their local area without resorting to tickets sold on the secondary market at highly inflated prices,” says Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
He says the act will provide greater transparency and accountability in the industry, so everyone will get a chance to buy tickets and feel confident in the consumer protections that are in place for their benefits.
It affects those selling tickets as a business, not consumer-to-consumer transactions.
The act will lay out clear rules for when refunds are owed to customers, will ban businesses from selling tickets they don’t control, and increase transparency about ticket prices.
The Province says they will establish enforcement and compliance tools to ensure the rules are followed. Details on what that will tangibly look like still haven’t been released.
This act applies to larger-scale, live events, that have high demand. The province says it won’t apply to K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions; places of public worship; places owned and operated by local governments; or movie theatres.
“We are all excited to attend live concerts, sports and performances again,” says Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film, Bob D’Eith. “We’re making sure consumers will be better protected when buying advance tickets, so they can look forward to enjoying the cultural activities we’ve all missed so much. This is how we’re building back better.”
