[Brighton] Ajax Season Ticket Exchange

[Skaville]

Those of us who bought three-pack got a seriously good deal - before the draw was made.

Looked even better once we knew our opponents.

Club perfectly entitled to sell (or even resell) one-off match tickets for full price.

There's no debate here, surely?



https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/3616509

"Three-match packs are sold on the basis of unknown opposition, date and kick-off times and can’t be changed, transferred or cancelled after purchase."

Agreed, we got a good deal. However, to charge me a £20 ‘admin fee’ on a ticket they resold for more money than I originally paid for is a bit steep. I wouldn’t have expected the full value of my ticket back but £15-20 would have been fairer IMO given they sold it for more than I paid for it.

Certainly left a bitter taste with me and I’m clearly not alone. Feels like a rare own goal for a club that does so well looking after its fan base.

 

[el punal]

Ajax at home.

I don’t really understand the discounting argument. Yes, the initial price was good, but they were reselling a ticket I bought at £25 for £35 and reimbursed me just £5. They sold that seat twice for £60.

As other posters have stated it was a ‘use it or lose it’ package which was made quite clear by the club in the T&Cs blurb.
My daughter was also in a similar situation of not being able to attend two of the three home EL games - she‘s accepted that that’s the way the cookie crumbles. The fact that you received any form of refund surprised me considering that initially the club stated that that would not happen.

As with season tickets being returned to the ticket exchange for a PL game you will receive a nominal refund (1/19th of your season ticket fee) the club will then resell your seat at full whack - which will be considerably more for a ‘top six club’ fixture. That’s their prerogative, at least then all parties are happy - the ST holder has been reimbursed, a hopeful fan has acquired a match ticket which might not have been the case, and the club have increased their revenue.

 

[Weststander]

We won’t be able to make the Marseille game, we didn’t know that when paying, but it wouldn’t have changed our decision to buy. Seeing two European games, a priceless first for the club/supporters, was well worth the price.

Anyway, it’s a sunk cost, so no complaints here.

Regarding the club, assuming that the true cost of “admin” in an IT system set up is really next to nothing, are later resales virtually all unexpected super-profit? So the claim is true that they’ve made money on the seat for a game twice?

 

[Skaville]

I think your maths are completely wrong here. The whole point of the 3-match deal was that you got three tickets for the price of two.

All that has happened is that you’ve ultimately been left paying full price, for the two games you will attend - which is what people who were unable to commit to all the dates were advised to do in the first place.

Okay, I’m with you.

I’m probably still gutted to miss the game through COVID (with many people telling me to go anyway), then doubly disappointed to find the money I got back was just 20% of my outlay. I didn’t read the small print, I had no intention of missing any of the games

 

[Wozza]

Agreed, we got a good deal. However, to charge me a £20 ‘admin fee’ on a ticket they resold for more money than I originally paid for is a bit steep. I wouldn’t have expected the full value of my ticket back but £15-20 would have been fairer IMO given they sold it for more than I paid for it.

Certainly left a bitter taste with me and I’m clearly not alone. Feels like a rare own goal for a club that does so well looking after its fan base.

Wow. Entitled or what?

"£15-20 would have been fairer" - you're just picking figures out of mid-air!

Don't think you're going to get much sympathy on this.

 

[timbha]

Certainly left a bitter taste with me and I’m clearly not alone. Feels like a rare own goal for a club that does so well looking after its fan base.

not sure many on here consider it an own goal

 

[Skaville]

We won’t be able to make the Marseille game, we didn’t know that when paying, but it wouldn’t have changed our decision to buy. Seeing two European games, a priceless first for the club/supporters, was well worth the price.

Anyway, it’s a sunk cost, so no complaints here.

Regarding the club, assuming that the true cost of “admin” in an IT system set up is really next to nothing, are later resales virtually all unexpected super-profit? So the claim is true that they’ve made money on the seat for a game twice?

They definitely resold my ticket (I had an email confirming this) and tickets in my price bracket are going for £35 for Marseille, so they made £55 on my seat.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

We won’t be able to make the Marseille game, we didn’t know that when paying, but it wouldn’t have changed our decision to buy. Seeing two European games, a priceless first for the club/supporters, was well worth the price.

Anyway, it’s a sunk cost, so no complaints here.

Regarding the club, assuming that the true cost of “admin” in an IT system set up is really next to nothing, are later resales virtually all unexpected super-profit? So the claim is true that they’ve made money on the seat for a game twice?

It’s not, no.

The entire concept of the 3-match deal, was effectively pay for TWO matches, get the third free.

At the time, it was suggested that no returns would be possible, but they relented and allowed people to put them up.

If taking up the offer but subsequently returning one, they refund you £5 so that you are left paying only the standard list price for the two £35 individual matches that you do attend. In this scenario they have effectively NOT sold you the ticket for the missed game, so cannot be fairly considered to have sold it twice.

 

[Horses Arse]

Hi all,

First time posting here, but absolutely shocked to receive the resale refund confirmation email from the Ajax game to see a £20 admin fee included, meaning only a £5 refund.

I purchased the multi-game pack with every intention of attending all fixtures, however was rushed into emergency surgery on Wednesday due to illness so couldn’t attend on Thursday night.

Essentially this means the club gets to sell the ticket twice (to me, and then again once resold), with little to nothing back to the original purchaser.

Not sure if I missed any early comms from the club on this, but has left an incredibly sour taste. There must be others in the same boat, so apologies if I’ve missed any other posts.

Thanks

Yes, they're have been other posts. Ultimately this was a three match pack for the price of 2 matches, hence the low refund for the first one.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

They definitely resold my ticket (I had an email confirming this) and tickets in my price bracket are going for £35 for Marseille, so they made £55 on my seat.

Again, no they didn’t. You paid £75 and got £5 back. You thus paid the standard £35 for each of the AEK and Marseilles matches and nothing for Ajax.
The club sold that seat once, for £35.

 

[PeterT]

They definitely resold my ticket (I had an email confirming this) and tickets in my price bracket are going for £35 for Marseille, so they made £55 on my seat.

I bought the 3 match pack for £75 but knew I couldn’t make one of the 6 possible match days, September 21, which turned out to be a home game. However buying the pack did give me an early choice of tickets compared to buying the games individually, and a sizeable discount over 3 games.

I was prepared to write off the cost of the one game but when the exchange opened I put it on there and it sold and I got back £5, as the club communicated in advance. So I don’t think I can have any complaints at that, I still onLy paid £35 per game and had a good choice of seat, my ticket didn’t go to waste and the club made it clear how this was going to work via the exchange from the 3 match pack. Yes I know they resold it for full price, but then arguably they could have done that from the start anyway and not even offered the 3 match pack, so from my perspective I think it was all fair enough.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Did I dream it or did I read that if you don’t atttend the game you have a ticket for and don’t tell the club to resell the ticket, you are blacklisted for following home European games?

 

[dazzer6666]

Nothing to see here really……the initial comms was 100% clear that there would be no refunds or exchange, full stop (also confirmed at the fan Zoom call PBOBE/JG held to talk through the ticketing etc before they went on sale). The ability to offer any ticket you couldn’t use was added later with it being made crystal clear then that the admin fee would essentially wipe out the discount you got for buying the ‘three for two’ offer. I bought the three pack knowing I might miss one, and was happy to be able to at least make sure the seat was occupied when it worked out I couldn’t go.

 

[Bozza]

Again, no they didn’t. You paid £75 and got £5 back. You thus paid the standard £35 for each of the AEK and Marseilles matches and nothing for Ajax.
The club sold that seat once, for £35.

This feels like that puzzle about the £30 restaurant bill and the missing pound.

 

[Skaville]

Again, no they didn’t. You paid £75 and got £5 back. You thus paid the standard £35 for each of the AEK and Marseilles matches and nothing for Ajax.
The club sold that seat once, for £35.

Gotcha. Thanks. I guess it was just a disappointment when I got the email today but it all makes sense now.

 

[BNthree]

Did I dream it or did I read that if you don’t atttend the game you have a ticket for and don’t tell the club to resell the ticket, you are blacklisted for following home European games?

Haven’t heard that one but the club did say those that bought Europa away tickets may have some sort of sanctions if they didn’t attend.

 

[Bozza]

Gotcha. Thanks. I guess it was just a disappointment when I got the email today but it all makes sense now.

If you didn't know about it in advance, it would come as a surprise, particularly if you've used the exchange for league games.

 

[Weststander]

It’s not, no.

The entire concept of the 3-match deal, was effectively pay for TWO matches, get the third free.

At the time, it was suggested that no returns would be possible, but they relented and allowed people to put them up.

If taking up the offer but subsequently returning one, they refund you £5 so that you are left paying only the standard list price for the two £35 individual matches that you do attend. In this scenario they have effectively NOT sold you the ticket for the missed game, so cannot be fairly considered to have sold it twice.

I get that, no complaints from me.

Putting an accountant’s hat on, if 5k put theirs on the exchange and they all resold, in broad terms that’s unexpected additional income of £175k using the £35 resale price someone mentioned above. Less the minor compensation paid out.

 

[Skaville]

If you didn't know about it in advance, it would come as a surprise, particularly if you've used the exchange for league games.

Exactly. More a surprise than anything.

 

[monty uk]

So you missed a game though illness and received a small amount back. Try that on a London theatre and you won't get far.

You paid £70 for two matches, the same as other people who bought ad-hoc tickets. You had the benefit of sitting in your usual seat with the same fans around you, rather than some random knobheads.

How is that something to complain about?

And you are bitter because the club made money by buying your ticket back and reselling it?

I suppose that that is the definition of touting (allegedly).

The club didn't have to offer discounted packs and probably didn't need to. With the demand they would probably have made the same revenue, or even more, selling individual tickets for the first ever Europa League campaign. I believe they did it partly as an expression of gratitude to loyal fans - were the packs available to everyone or just ST holders, I dunno? Anyway Tony Bloom has a bit of a history of playing the odds and probably sussed this one out; weighing probability of no-shows against general sales to maximise revenue,

So you could consider yourself, and C19, beaten by one of the best gamblers around. No shame in that.