Keith Rumjahn was immensely frustrated after failing to get tickets to recent shows in Hong Kong by American comedian Jimmy O. Yang and British band Coldplay. Tickets were available in the secondary market – but cost at least twice their face value.
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Trying to book a public basketball court is another great source of irritation for Rumjahn, as he and his friends are only able to secure slots from touts who mark up the charge tenfold, from HK$100 to HK$200 to HK$1,000 to HK$2,000.
Rumjahn, the founder of a fitness and sports apps and games company, attempted to counter the scalpers with a self-made automated booking agent but it proved futile. He said scalpers’ sophisticated bots – software applications designed to perform automated, repetitive tasks – entered the system within 10 seconds of bookings opening and snapped up all the courts, while his own programme took a few minutes.
“We have a group that plays three times a week and we still buy from the scalpers. I guess that’s the only way anyone is getting to play, right?” Rumjahn said.
But Rumjahn, who is in his forties, said he refused to support concert ticket touts even though it had become the norm for anyone wanting high-demand experiences to buy from them.
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“The whole ticketing system is not very transparent. Getting tickets was impossible,” he said. “Every single Kai Tak show has been sold out, so obviously there are scalpers.
“I think the culture of making fast money, that flip mentality, in Hong Kong is so deep and people just got accustomed to buying from scalpers.”