AusLeisure

Scalpers are cashing in on West Coast Eagles's home AFL final on Sunday, with hundreds of tickets being resold online.

The West Australian newspaper reports that while only a small number of restricted viewing seats for Sunday's elimination final against North Melbourne at Perth's Patersons Stadium are still available through ticket agency Ticketmaster, more than 500 tickets are on sale on websites such as eBay and Gumtree - many at more than double their face value.

One seller on eBay offered a pair of gold reserved seats for $499 and a pair of platinum reserve tickets for $599. The original prices were $156 and $170.

Another seller apparently defied Ticketmaster's limit of eight tickets per transaction, offering more than 50 across five different sections of the stadium.

Scalping tickets is not illegal in Western Australia but onselling the tickets for profit is a breach of the terms and conditions attached to the ticket sale by Ticketmaster and the AFL.

The AFL, which works with websites such as eBay to prevent scalping, warned that tickets bought from unauthorised sellers could be cancelled.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane stated "there's a chance the ticket won't be valid and you'll be denied entry.

"We try to work with these websites but, where there's no legislation, there's not much you can do."

West Coast spokesman Gary Stocks said scalping was immoral and a problem the club was determined to stamp out, telling The West Australian "we find it a selfish and abhorrent practice.

"In the past we've cancelled tickets that we knew were illegally onsold and we'll keep doing it.

"People purchasing these tickets could be in for a big let-down."

In Queensland and Victoria it is illegal to profit on tickets to "declared events".

However, Western Australian Minister for Finance, Commerce and Small Business Simon O'Brien said that though he did not like the practice, the WA Government had no plans to introduce anti-scalping laws.

Minister O'Brien stated "I would strongly suggest that no one considers buying tickets for events other than through the official channels."

WA Consumer Protection Commissioner Anne Driscoll said the cost to event promoters of enforcing anti-scalping measures could make tickets more expensive, stating "promoters can limit the number of tickets per transaction but, as we've seen today, people can find a way around that.

"My recommendation is don't buy these tickets. They might not be genuine and by buying them, we're encouraging scalpers."

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