How about just making it illegal to sell a ticket for more than face value?
Free market, perhaps ?
A lot depends on how you view a ticket. If it's property, then letting the state dictate what you may or may not buy or sell, and what you buy/sell it for is a really bad idea. Price controls generally are a magnet for even more crookery.
If it's not property, but a unique placeholder for an event, then maybe the ticket industry could take a break from counting their profits, and devise a system the end punter can have faith in.
In fact, anyone who has been to a Robert Plant show will know they have. Never seen a tout at a Percy gig because his management link the ticket to the card that bought it. No card. No ticket. Simples. Hardly a new idea either - it was trialled in 2007 when "Led Zeppelin" played the 02
Given that, one has to wonder why it's not in more general use. Clearly the ticket agencies aren't in a rush to help.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
