A good time for touts: Ticket resellers charging MORE THAN TRIPLE the price charged by artists to Scotland shows this summer

• Analysis by O2 of hundreds of Scotland gig tickets listed on uncapped resale platforms shows them being sold for more than TRIPLE the face value (a 214% increase) on average, by profit-making ticket touts  

• In one instance, a pair of tickets originally sold by the artist for £65 were relisted with an outrageous mark up of 825%   

• The data is revealed ahead of Oasis’ highly anticipated return to Scotland this weekend – tickets to the band’s tour are being resold at more than FOUR times their original value (a 302% increase)  

• O2 is urging the UK government to act fast following its consultation on the resale of live events tickets earlier this year, calling for a 10% price cap to combat industrial-scale touts who are making £145 million out of music fans every year  

• As part of its Fight for Fairer Ticketing campaign, O2 launched an online hub Stamp It Tout – www.stampittout.co.uk – designed to help music fans navigate the ticket resale market safely and without being ripped off 

Amidst a massive summer for live music in Scotland – which is still to welcome tours from Oasis, AC/DC, Sam Fender, Chappell Roan and more – O2 has revealed the extent to which ticket touts are ripping off music fans on uncapped ticket resale platforms. Analysis of hundreds of tickets (July 2025) found that tickets are being resold at an average of 214% above face value on these platforms – more than triple the price being charged by the artist – and in one instance, with a markup of over 825%.   

Tickets to see Oasis’ highly anticipated return to Scotland are being sold for more than quadruple (302% higher than) their original face value on uncapped resale websites, with tickets to shows by AC/DC (151% above face value), Chappell Roan (151%) and Sam Fender (253%) also being resold at vastly inflated prices*.    

In one instance, across the gigs investigated, a pair of tickets originally sold for £65 were re-listed at £601 each – an outrageous 825% inflation in price.    

The data follows research previously shared by O2** which shows that ticket touts are costing music fans an extra £145 million per year. The telecoms company – which sells over 1.5 million tickets to fans every year via its Priority Tickets platform – is urging the government to act quickly and introduce a 10% maximum price cap on the resale of live events tickets to protect fans and the country’s live music economy.   

Gareth Griffiths, Director, Sponsorship and Partnerships at Virgin Media O2, said “At O2, we understand that live music is one of life’s great joys and we are tired of seeing professional touts snapping up tickets at scale and then reselling them at vastly inflated prices. The millions of pounds made by ticket touts on uncapped resale sites every year does not go to artists, it does not go to venues or promoters, or the UK’s live music industry – it goes straight into the pockets of touts.  It’s time for the UK government to take action to protect our gigs and to stop fans from being ripped off.”  

Fighting for Fairer Ticketing    

As a longtime supporter of FanFair Alliance – the UK campaign against industrial-scale online ticket touting, which the company has been a member of since 2017 – O2 has been working to shine a spotlight on the issue through the Fight for Fairer Ticketing campaign.    

Earlier this year, O2 teamed up with Bastille frontman, Dan Smith, to launch Stamp It Tout –  www.stampittout.co.uk – an information hub created to help music fans navigate the ticketing market safely without being ripped off by touts. This followed research which found that a majority of music fans (62%) buying a ticket from a resale platform are unaware they are buying it from another person, suggesting touts are making money out of consumer confusion.   

O2 also revealed that in a period of just six weeks, it blocked more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering its Priority Tickets platform in its efforts to protect tickets from professional ticket touts.   

To protect its customers and music fans everywhere, O2 is calling for legislation which would see a 10% price cap put on the resale of concert tickets. The company believes this would go a long way in combatting the £145 million profit that touts are currently making by selling tickets at overinflated prices, whilst ensuring no fan loses out and can recoup their money if they can no longer attend a show.  They can already do this by reselling via capped resale platforms – such as AXS or Ticketmaster – which offers fans a safe and secure platform to buy and sell a second-hand ticket, with price caps in place to ensure nobody is ripped off.