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The official channels show that the Phoenix Legend "Good Luck" 2024 Tour Concert in Hohhot is "out of stock", but the Ferris Wheel ticketing service has all the tickets available, but the 1,380 yuan ticket for the inner field has been "fried" to 6,600 yuan on the platform. During the peak concert season, such phenomena have long been common. But after consumers buy tickets at a high premium, they have repeatedly fallen into a helpless situation. Beijing Business Daily reporters received feedback from many consumers. After buying tickets at a high premium from merchants settled in the Ferris Wheel Ticketing Service, they encountered problems such as slow ticket issuance, difficulty in refunding tickets, and high handling fees. Some consumers even said bluntly: "I thought it was a regular merchant, but I didn't expect it to be a scalper." Beijing Business Daily reporters found in their investigation that at this stage there are special agents who can provide users with the "Ferris Wheel Platform Merchant Qualification Agency" service. The other party said bluntly: "7,500 yuan can complete the agency, and the review success rate is 100%."

Consumers: Buying tickets at a high premium is difficult to protect rights

"I feel helpless and aggrieved!" Consumer Chen Yu told Beijing Business Daily, "I chose the platform because I was afraid that I would pay a high price and still have scalpers run away with the money. I didn't expect so many things to be involved."

According to Chen Yu, the tickets for Eason Chan's concert that he ordered from Ferris Wheel Ticketing were postponed. "My friend bought tickets from official channels, and not only was he able to get a full refund, he also received airfare and hotel compensation from the organizer. I didn't get any corresponding compensation, and if I wanted to get a refund, the platform service fee I paid at the time would not be refunded. If they were all regular channels, why were consumers treated differently?" Chen Yu said.

Li Yuan, another consumer who has not received concert tickets, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that she placed an order on Ferris Wheel Ticketing and the merchant who took the order was Shijiazhuang Yongxing Culture Media Co., Ltd. The reporter found that the company was established in 2018 and is an enterprise mainly engaged in radio, television, film and recording production, but it was deregistered in 2022.

It is worth noting that according to Tianyancha, Shanghai Juqi Network Technology Co., Ltd., a company affiliated with Ferris Wheel Ticketing, was confiscated more than 21,000 yuan of illegal income and fined more than 210,000 yuan by the Shenzhen Longgang District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau for violating the "Implementation Rules of the Commercial Performance Management Regulations". The reason for the punishment is that when the "Commercial Performance License" of the settled merchant Shenzhen Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. expired, it was still allowed to operate ticketing on the ticketing platform for a long time.

Agent: If the certification package is passed, payment can be made after the review

On August 7, a Beijing Business Daily reporter logged into the Ferris Wheel Ticketing App and noticed that many popular concerts are currently shown as "out of stock" on the official ticketing channels, but the Ferris Wheel Ticketing App shows that tickets for all tiers are in stock.

Li Ming, a scalper who has been in the business for many years, said frankly, "The audience is afraid of fake tickets. We have real tickets but we are still afraid that the audience will go back on their word and run away with their orders. Therefore, the secondary ticketing platform is actually a guarantee for our business, but the important thing about being on the platform is to resolve the issue of the company's qualifications."

Audiences buy tickets through the Ferris Wheel Ticketing App, while merchants sell tickets mainly through another app, Sellerbao, owned by Shanghai Juqi Network Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Ferris Wheel Ticketing. Tianyancha describes the app as Ferris Wheel Merchant Ticketing Management Software.

A Beijing Business Daily reporter actually experienced the registration process and noticed that during the actual registration process of Sellerbao, the platform requires uploading of personal information and business information, and the business information includes materials such as the legal representative and business license, commercial performance license, etc.

A Beijing Business Daily reporter contacted an agent who handles the business qualifications for Taobao sellers. The agent said that for 7,500 yuan, two years of merchant qualifications can be obtained, and the agency covers the entire process from account registration to passing the review. "We guarantee that once you get the account, you can directly hang the link and start selling tickets. We all open the links on the e-commerce platform. If you can't get the account, you can just click to confirm receipt. However, we don't charge for the review."

An agent who sells products for 8,000 yuan said that it can be opened and completed in 3-4 weeks. Judging from the account information of the agent on the second-hand trading platform, in addition to handling the merchant qualifications of selling Bao, the agent itself is also engaged in the "ticket scalping" business.

When the Beijing Business Daily reporter asked whether tickets sold through non-official public sales channels such as "invitation letters" and "information entry" could be sold normally on the platform, the agent replied affirmatively: "It is the same as the normal ticket process. As long as you have the corresponding credentials such as information upload, you can sell it like a normal ticket."

Lawyer: The platform has the obligation to review qualifications

It is true that merchants have the responsibility to "make sure that all materials and qualifications are legal and compliant documents, and that there is no theft or forgery", but the Ferris Wheel Ticketing user agreement also clearly states the review of merchant qualifications.

The "Seller Bao Service Agreement" shows that during the registration or activation process, Party B (i.e. the merchant) shall provide Party B's information accurately according to the requirements of laws and regulations and the prompts on the corresponding pages, and update the information in a timely manner when it changes, so as to ensure the authenticity, timeliness, completeness and accuracy of the information submitted by Party B. If there is reasonable reason to suspect that the information provided by Party B is wrong, untrue, outdated or incomplete, Party A (i.e. the platform operator) has the right to send Party B an inquiry or request a correction, and has the right to directly delete the corresponding information, until suspending or terminating the provision of part or all of Party A's platform services to Party B.

The person in charge of Ferris Wheel Ticketing also told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that Ferris Wheel requires merchants on the platform to have business licenses, performance business licenses and other business qualifications. Consumers can check the name of the ticket provider and the verification entrance of the ticket provider's merchant qualification certification before the transaction to ensure the legitimacy of the merchant's qualifications. Through the merchant's entry threshold and the platform's guarantee mechanism, we try our best to ensure that the transaction is formal and legal.

The E-commerce Law states that e-commerce platform operators should require operators who apply to enter the platform to sell goods or provide services to submit their identity, address, contact information, administrative license and other real information, verify and register, establish registration files, and verify and update them regularly. Zhao Hu, a lawyer at Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, pointed out that as a third-party platform providing transaction services, ticketing platforms have the obligation to review the qualifications of merchants when they enter the platform, and this review obligation is also the platform's responsibility to protect consumer rights.

Zhao Hu further said that if the agency or the platform's qualification review behavior involves providing false information to deceive the platform to pass the review, it is likely to constitute illegal business operations or other illegal activities. In addition, if the agency behavior itself is for profit and is not legally authorized by equity transfer or violates laws and regulations, it may also constitute illegal business operations.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Han Xinyuan