Why are they being sold online? , Museum free tickets Cai Wujin | Reservation | Scalpers
During the recent Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the domestic tourism market continued to be hot, especially for some popular museums, where the reservation tickets were snapped up as soon as they were released. At the same time, some "scalpers" who resell free museum tickets appeared online.
Mr. Peng from Huanggang City, Hubei Province, reported that he and his friends planned to go to a provincial museum together during the holiday, but they could not get tickets. However, they found that some netizens were selling tickets at high prices. Ms. Zhai from Nanning City, Guangxi Province also found that tickets for a museum that she could not make an appointment with were being sold publicly online. Some merchants claimed to provide tour guide services, but they were just "scalpers" selling tickets at high prices under the guise of a fake ticket.
In this regard, Cai Wujin, director of the Hubei Think Tank Cultural Strategy Research Institute, said that selling free tickets as commodities infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. "According to the provisions of the Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law, the behavior of scalpers in reselling tickets violates the original intention of the museum's free admission policy and undermines the basic cultural rights of consumers to participate and enjoy equally. It may also constitute an act that hinders social management in the Public Security Administration Punishment Law." Cai Wujin said.
The author found on some second-hand trading platforms that searching directly for "museum tickets" often prompts "go to the formal channels to make reservations", but some merchants play tricks and take advantage of loopholes to sell tickets after changing the description, and some of them show that they have been traded more than 100 times. The sales price of these tickets is related to the popularity of the museum, ranging from 10 yuan to 100 or 200 yuan. Some free science and technology museum tickets have also been resold.
"With the development of network technology, various malicious ticket grabbing and ticket swiping software continue to appear. Relevant departments should improve the level of science and technology, strengthen supervision, and technically eliminate malicious ticket grabbing." Xu Zewei, president of the Beijing Internet Financial Industry Association, said that, for example, the number of tickets that can be purchased per month for the same account or the same ID number can be limited; for accounts with abnormal ticket purchasing behavior, their ticket purchasing qualifications can be suspended, etc. At the same time, technical means such as intelligent verification codes can be used to prevent "scalpers" from grabbing tickets and placing orders through plug-in software.
Regarding the situation of scalpers reselling tickets, museums in many places have issued statements to resolutely resist, stating that they will eliminate this problem from the perspective of technology and management mechanisms, and cooperate with relevant departments to crack down on reselling. In August last year, the Hunan Museum adjusted the ticket reservation and ticket inspection rules, prohibiting the registration of virtual mobile phone numbers for ticket reservation accounts, and set up a special complaint mailbox for scalpers reselling. On April 14 this year, the Sanxingdui Museum issued the latest visiting instructions, strengthened the review and inspection of tour guides, and added guard booths to ensure entry through identity verification. The Shaanxi History Museum also stated in this year's "May 1st" reservation guide that for audiences who have failed to show up twice or more in 12 months, the blacklist rules and anti-scalper mechanism will be triggered, and tickets will not be available for reservation within 180 days.
To rectify the chaos of ticket scalpers, we still need to rely on the power of the rule of law. Cai Wujin suggested that the governance of ticket scalpers should be standardized first, and the expressions of "malicious ticket grabbing" and "ticket scalping" in relevant laws and regulations should be improved to provide operational standards. "We should increase law enforcement efforts to prevent before, control during, and hold accountable after. We should block the source of illegal ticket scalping, strictly punish ticket scalpers in accordance with the law, implement the blacklist system, and enhance the deterrent effect on ticket scalping." Cai Wujin said.
In addition, resisting ticket scalping requires the joint efforts of multiple parties and social governance. Xu Zewei believes that museums should improve the reservation mechanism and optimize the identity verification system; increase the exposure of "scalpers" who scalp tickets, and promptly handle relevant reports and disputes. Consumers must be vigilant, refuse to buy tickets from informal channels, and report to relevant departments in a timely manner when they find "scalpers" scalping tickets. "This will not only prevent consumers from being deceived, but also make ticket scalping lose the market, so that the cultural benefits of the museum can benefit more people." Xu Zewei said.
