Please note that these guides do not constitute legal advice and any information provided in the guides should not be construed as legal advice or legal interpretation. We do not accept any liability for any loss caused by your reliance on this guide.
The DoneDeal guide to buying event tickets
Concert and event tickets
- Exercise caution. For all major events thousands of counterfeit tickets flood the markets
- Is the ticket an e-ticket or a physical original ticket? e-tickets can be reprinted numerous times
- Be extra vigilant if prompted to lodge money into a bank account or to pay online on the promise the tickets will be posted to you
- Meet the seller in person and examine tickets carefully
- Individual sellers are not licensed or bonded, so you have no comeback if sold a fake
- Always ask if the ticket was originally purchased from an official agent
- Check with Ticketmaster or the official distributor of the tickets to verify their authenticity
Identify forged tickets
- Examining the ticket in detail should help detect a counterfeit.
- Compare a genuine Ticketmaster ticket, for example, issued in the last six months with the one you are thinking of buying
- Does it contain similar information such as seat information, section, restrictions?
- Compare font size and logos
- Read the information on the ticket carefully, look for misspellings, wrong dates, wrong telephone numbers
- Take a UV (ultra violet) light and shine it on both sides of the ticket.
- Security markings will be revealed when you do this. If it’s fake/counterfeit they won't. (Keep in mind that not all genuine tickets have these security markings.)
- The genuine ticket will be of good quality paper and the print won't smudge. Scrape your finger on the ticket to test the quality of the ink