SINGAPORE: Consumer marketplace Carousell is moving to suspend the sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets ahead of her shows in Singapore, noting that ticket scams rise in the lead-up to her shows globally.
Ticket sales for her concerts will be suspended from Friday (Feb 23) to Mar 9. Existing listings will be removed by Feb 26, said Carousell.
The move affects Carousell’s platforms in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
The US pop sensation has six sold-out shows in Singapore from Mar 2 to Mar 9 – her only stop in Southeast Asia.
“While a vast majority of ticket listings are from genuine sellers, given the unique case of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, Carousell has made the one-off exception to adopt this approach, and apologises for the inconvenience caused,” said the e-commerce company.
Although the sale of concert tickets is not prohibited on the platform, Carousell’s chief of staff Su Lin Tan said Swift’s concert is “unique in that we expect many overseas concertgoers who may not know how to adequately protect themselves from local scam tactics”.
“Additionally, we realise that the two weeks leading up to the Eras tour shows are prime for scammers taking advantage of last-minute panic buying of concert tickets,” she added.