So you've probably heard that Oasis are doing a reunion tour next year, and unsurprisingly, given their popularity in the 1990s, there was A LOT of demand for a limited amount of tickets.
And so Ticketmaster used something called 'dynamic pricing' which alters the price of tickets in relation to the demand for said tickets.
And in most case the dynamic pricing algorithm seems to have altered those prices up rather than down from the original advertised price!
There are now well documented tales of people having paid £350 for tickets which were originally advertised at £150, having waited online for hours and then feeling pressured to buy at the higher price in a relatively small time window when they had the opportunity.
And then waking up with a severe case of 'buyers guilt' the following day!
This is how NOT to do Dynamic Pricing...
Dynamic pricing is a common practice, it's commonly found on flight and hotel booking sites. As a general rule if you book early you get a cheaper price, and last minute you get a higher price, but dynamic pricing can also work to help fill hotel rooms and plane seats that haven't shifted at the last minute by lowering the price.
So it can work in consumers' favour, although not always in the case of perpetually higher prices in school holidays for flights and hotels, but that's just capitalism: demand goes up, supply is fixed, price goes up.
And when you're buying holidays then all of this is transparent, everyone knows prices fluctuate depending on demand.
But this wasn't the case with Oasis!
The problem with the dynamic pricing with the Oasis tickets is that the blurb surrounding the sale made if feel like these guys had yer backs.
There was an initial ballot to get in on the online purchasing and also assurances that there would be no secondary sales of tickets, which all sounded like the guys wanted their fans to get a decent deal.
And then no warning about dynamic pricing, at least no obvious warning, so you're waiting for hours expecting one price and then PANIC when you get told you've got 10 minutes to buy at £350 rather than £150.
And the final insult...
If you bought at the market rate then you've got a 'PLATINUM TICKET', which is EXACTLY the same as an ordinary ticket except that you paid a dynamic rather than a fixed price for it.
So not only have you paid double what you thought you were going to in the first place, you've got a badge of shame to remind you of that!