$1,599 to see Obama in Montreal: Resale tickets more than triple in price
Chamber of Commerce warns against buying scalped electronic tickets
Tickets for former U.S. President Barack Obama's speech at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce June 6 have skyrocketed on online resale sites like StubHub and 514-Billets.
The most expensive tickets, originally sold via Evenko for between $57 and $373, are going for as much as $1,000 to $1,599 each.
The 6,000 available tickets went on sale first to members of the Chamber of Commerce and then opened to the public May 13.
They sold out online within half an hour.
Buyer beware
Michel Leblanc, president of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, told CBC that according to the chamber's estimates, only about two per cent of all tickets are popping up online.
He does, however, have concerns about the inflated prices.
"Many people have told us we should have sold at a higher price," he said. "[But] the point was to make it accessible. We want to create events that are accessible to small businesses and professionals who are not able to pay the incredible prices we see on those websites."
Leblanc also warned that buying tickets, even on well-respected sites, could be risky.
"They are electronic tickets. So [someone] could sell many copies of the same ticket."
He also noted that some buyers paying premium prices for $57 tickets would surely be disappointed, noting that it's a large space and people should know what they are getting for that price bracket.
4 times face value
Tickets are popping up on different reselling platforms, including community-oriented sites like Kijiji and Craigslist.
Ticket prices range from a low of $214 (USD) on StubHub to a low of $899 on 514-Billets.
Often tickets in the exact same sections range greatly in price from one site to another.
Canadians call for crackdown
A poll by Angus Reid Institute released last month shows that 81 per cent of Canadians want to see tangible legal consequences such as fines or jail time for people using bots to scoop up large numbers of tickets for resale.
It is, however, impossible to know whether bots are being used in a specific case, or whether the resale tickets are coming from individuals looking to turn a small profit.