Online scalpers gouge unlucky Ed Sheeran fans despite singer’s best efforts

DOWN-TO-EARTH superstar Ed Sheeran made sure tickets to his Australian tour were as inexpensive as possible - but he couldn’t account for this.

ED SHEERAN fans went into meltdown yesterday afternoon as online ticket outlets struggled to cope with an initial pre-sale for his upcoming Australian stadium tour.

Fans of the British singer took to social media to lay blame with Ticketek and Ticketmaster, which are handling different dates for the singer’s tour, blaming everything from poor management to crashing servers for missing out on the coveted tickets.

To try to avoid tickets being sold on sites such as Viagogo, eBay and Gumtree for inflated prices, tickets purchased this month will not be sent out until January 30 next year.

But that hasn’t stopped scalpers flooding those sites offering tickets at inflated prices: The controversial ticket reselling site Viagogo is already offering hundreds of tickets to the coveted concerts.

Sheeran had insisted on capping ticket prices for the tour at around $165 for A-reserve seats, also offering two cheaper pricing options, at around $70 and $100.

It makes Sheeran’s show a much cheaper option than the average big-name pop tour - fellow musical A-listers like Adele and Madonna offer VIP concert packages costing many hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

“The prices (for Sheeran’s tour) are very civilised and that’s come from Ed himself. He doesn’t do any VIP packages whatsoever. He hates the idea of charging people to meet him,” promoter Michael Gudinski told News Corp .

But on Viagogo today, you can expect to pay up to $500 for a single A-reserve ticket for the shows.

It comes after a frustrating aftenoon for many Sheeran fans yesterday:

been on the @edsheeran presale since before it opened, still "sit tight" mate I'm sitting tight and about to punch ticketmaster #edsheeran

— Adelaid (@AdzyPadzy) May 16, 2017

The year is 2178.

People are still waiting to buy pre-sale Ed Sheeran tickets.

— Matt Cannot Be Back. (@MattiusBackius) May 16, 2017

@blvrrysouI @frontiertouring @96Ashleigh @edsheeran @Ticketek_AU poorly organised again (: what a shock (: didn't see this coming at all (: kill me (:

— jj 🖤 (@JJstar52) May 16, 2017

@edsheeran 😲still trying ....I think the whole of Australia's on my queue.

— Natalina De Lucca (@lucca_nat) May 16, 2017

@frontiertouring @edsheeran hello been on here for over 5 hours with 4 different devices what is this ????

— angie x (@puretanaaa) May 16, 2017

Ticketek’s social media manager had a tough day at work yesterday, frantically trying to calm disgruntled fans on Twitter.

Ticketek attempting to calm angry fans.

Plenty of Facebook users were furious about missing out.

“Disgusted is too mild for how I feel about Ticketek dodgy transactions ... (not you Ed, I know it’s not your fault!) but I am gutted!” one user wrote. Another slammed Ticketmaster, writing: “Could’ve at least given us fair warning the second show pre-sale was going to be today. Turned computer off after giving up on the first show only to see I’d missed out on this announcement. Poor customer service.”

Sheeran’s post on his own Facebook page about his Australian and New Zealand pre-sale tickets has more than 6,000 comments, with most of them raging about missing out.

“What a shame you pre-sale advertise then don’t have enough to go round. JUST SELL THEM ALL AT ONCE, stop causing hype. Fans buy & go regardless. SO ANNOYING waste of time,” one user wrote.

Sheeran hasn’t toured Australia since March, 2015 where he played arenas around the country.

This time around the Castle singer has upgraded to stadiums — Adele and Justin Bieber have just finished stadium tours in Australia.

Adele’s second concert at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium in March, where she played for 100,000 fans, was the biggest single concert in Australian history.

Justin Bieber, who toured in the same month as the British singer, played for more than 70,000 at the same venue.

Justin Bieber on stage during his concert at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium. (Picture: Jonathan Ng)

Adele at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium. (Photo: Graham Denholm)

Ed Sheeran ispopular worldwide but the British singer has especially felt the love from his Australian audience.

His newest album Divide has been No. 1 for almost 10 straight weeks and his single Shape of You beat ABBA earlier this month to become the longest-running No. 1 in Australian chart history.

Ed Sheeran performs for his Divide Tour in Amsterdam on April 3. (Photo: Paul Bergen)

The Divide tour has already weaved through all of Europe and the UK, with Sheeran coming to Australia and New Zealand between March 3 and March 29 next year.

Tickets for the general public go on sale next week on May 23 — a day no Ticketek and Ticketmaster are no doubt preparing themselves (and their servers) for.

Originally published as Online scalpers gouge unlucky Ed Sheeran fans despite singer’s best efforts