Competition for seats at Kelly's intimate Anita's Theatre shows in August was fierce, with all 800 pre-sale tickets gone "in about five minutes" as they went to market for $95 last Tuesday, according to venue manager Nick Josifovski. Another 800 tickets were snapped up in similar time at general sale, from midday Thursday.

Some fans have taken to online forums to express anger after tickets quickly appeared on the website of reseller Viagogo, which is now offering tickets to the August 5 show for $561, plus $180 in GST and booking fees.

The price is at odds with fineprint on Viagogo's own site, which notes "resale of tickets for more than 110% of their supply cost is prohibited for this event" under state law, a detail met with incredulity by promoters Frontier Touring.

"Amazingly Viagogo have posted the ... wording on their site ... for Paul's NSW concerts, yet allow listing of tickets for considerably more than 110% (a single stall ticket is currently listed at $560 + fees)," a Frontier Touring spokeswoman said.

"Unfortunately we are limited in what action can be taken from our end, other than identifying fraudulent tickets on the night of the event and refusing those patrons entry.

"We continue to talk with government at both a state and federal level with regards to Viagogo and similar platforms being held accountable for the listings on their platforms.

"Currently they claim they are just the platform and not the seller and are therefore not breaking any laws. We maintain that it is like a car dealer knowingly selling a stolen car and not being held in any way accountable because they weren't the ones to actually steal the car."

Frontier Touring and Kelly's official Facebook page have urged against buying from the platform, warning "there is a high chance you will never receive your tickets", or that the same tickets will be sold multiple times.

Frontier added that those who bought from resellers had no recourse if the show was later cancelled.

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On-selling aside, the promoters noted Kelly's tour was a "special" one, taking in some regional east coast locations he hadn't visited for a long time, and that demand was always expected to outstrip supply.

Tickets sold out almost immediately in nearly every location.

All tickets to the Thirroul shows were immediately "on dibs" (placed in an online cart but not yet paid for). The occassional ticket later dropped back into the system if the purchaser changed their mind, explaining why someone who was unable to buy tickets at midday might have gotten lucky 30 minutes later.

Mr Josifovski is among industry workers grappling with the question of how to stop the practice.

"What has to happen now is for people to not buy them, because these guys will not continue to do what they're doing if people don't buy them."

Viagogo indicated it would respond to the Mercury's questions, but was unable to meet Monday's deadline.

Update, Tuesday morning:

A spokesoman for viagogo provided the following statement:

"An open and transparent ticket resale market is in the interests of Australian fans. It provides a valuable mechanism to recoup the cost of unwanted tickets and protects against fraud and the kind of scams that previously plagued the streets outside venues.

"We protect our customers through the viagogo guarantee which ensures all buyers receive valid tickets in time for the event and in the extremely rare case of a problem - less than 1% of tickets sold worldwide in 2019 had any issues - viagogo steps in to find comparable replacements or offer a full refund. Further, viagogo has measures in place to deter fraudulent seller such as not paying the seller until after the buyer has been able to enter the event.

"The prices listed on our platform are set by sellers and may be below or above face value. Tickets that are listed at unreasonable prices get the most media attention but rarely, if ever, sell.

"We are, as always, constantly open to discussing any issue event organisers may have with certain listings and have created a portal on our platform for them to contact us directly. We would hope that if they ever feel there is an issue, contacting us directly would be the first action they take.

"We strongly reject the sensationalist analogy used by Frontier Touring. If Frontier is aware of any actual stolen ticket available on any marketplace, it should contact that marketplace immediately if the compnay's interest is to actually protect consumers."

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