On April 12, tickets for Jay Chou's second concert in Hangzhou were sold out as soon as they were put on the shelves. Some netizens reported that Damai.com had launched a waitlist ordering function, but it would charge a handling fee of 6% of the ticket price.
According to media reports, the process of waiting for tickets to the concert is similar to the process of waiting to buy train tickets. Users need to pay the full amount in advance. When the item has new inventory, priority matching will be carried out to grab tickets according to the payment order of the waiting orders. The difference with
is that when prepaying for concert tickets, users also need to pay a 6% waiting service fee of the total ticket price. Taking the waiting ticket of 980 yuan as an example, the system shows that you need to pay 1038.8 yuan. The price details indicate: The total merchandise price is 980 yuan, and the waiting service fee is 58.8 yuan.
On the order page, the ticket seller also stated the services related to waiting tickets:
Users can refund at any time during the waiting process. If a refund is required after the waiting list is successful, the same can be refunded, but a refund handling fee will be charged, but the details are There is no clear explanation of the proportion of handling fees that will be charged for refunds after the waitlist is successful.
The platform responded: The additional fee is based on technical cost considerations.
Currently, although the tickets for Jay Chou's Hangzhou concert have been sold out, Damai.com will release waiting places from time to time. Damai.com customer service stated that the 6% service fee is based on platform technology development and operation and maintenance costs.
On this point, customer service emphasized that a written explanation was also given on the standby ticket payment interface. "Priority for refunds will be given to those on the waiting list. If the waiting list is unsuccessful, all handling fees and prepaid tickets will be refunded."
In fact, as early as November 2023, Damai.com caused widespread controversy over the waiting fee for tickets.
Discussions about this feature have been mixed.
Some consumers said that compared with "scalper tickets" that often increase the price by hundreds or even thousands of yuan, as long as they can buy the tickets for the show they want, the 6% waiting fee is acceptable.
Some people are also worried that another kind of "scalper" will appear.
Zhejiang Consumer Protection Committee: Ticketing platforms should face consumers openly and transparently
Is the 6% waiting fee reasonable? In this regard, Zhou Lin, a staff member of the Zhejiang Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Committee, said that the launch of the new model should be based on protecting the original rights of consumers. Whether consumers should be charged additional service fees is still an issue worth considering. "Ticketing platforms need to pay extensive attention to the reasonable demands of consumers and provide consumers with heart-warming services."
Regarding the opinions of netizens questioning "the waitlist process is not open and transparent enough", Zhou Lin believes that ticketing platforms should be open and transparent to consumers. Timely disclosure of ticketing information, product quantity, after-sales service information, etc. In addition, the service fees collected should consider a more scientific pricing method. Whether it is appropriate to simply charge a certain percentage of the ticket price is open to question. "Only by making refund data more transparent can netizens' worries and doubts be eliminated." Lawyer Shao Bin, founding partner and honorary director of
Shanghai Bohe Hanshang (Hangzhou) Law Firm, said that judging whether the handling fee is reasonable needs to be based on the platform's disclosure Whether the ticket sales data is true, open and transparent. If the platform conceals the actual ticket data by changing it, or even commits fraud to attract more people to use the ticket purchase waiting list function and charges a handling fee, this may be suspected of commercial fraud.
"It is recommended that the platform disclose relevant sales data, promptly answer consumers' confusion, provide effective solutions, and continuously optimize services." Shao Bin said.
Source: China Youth Daily comprehensive
