DUBAI // Organisers of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships have warned classified websites against running advertisements from ticket touts.
Tickets for the men’s event sold out within hours of going on sale on Tuesday, although tickets for the women’s competition were still available on Wednesday.
Within 24 hours of tickets going on sale, some were appearing on classified ad websites for more than double their face value.
A spokeswoman for the event said reselling tickets was illegal.
“One of the conditions of purchase of the tickets is that it’s not to be resold,” she said. “That’s actually written on the back of the ticket.
“We’ve been in touch with all of those websites to let them know it’s an illegal transaction, and to take those ads down.”
A spokesman for Dubizzle, a classified website, said: “We operate as a transparent and open online portal for buyers, sellers and community members.
“At no stage does Dubizzle act as a reseller or seller of any item listed on the website and at no stage does Dubizzle act as a party to any transaction between buyers and sellers.”
However, on Wednesday morning, there were several adverts on the site offering tickets for next month’s event.
One individual, who declined to be named, was offering Dh500 grandstand tickets for the final for Dh1,000.
“There were two people from overseas who asked us to get them for us, and now they can’t make it,” he said.
The Briton said he did not buy the tickets directly from the box office but through someone who was reselling tickets online. He said he paid Dh1,000 for them and was selling them at the price he paid for them.
Another person who posted on Dubizzle said he had bought Prime B tickets for the event, which are sold for the whole week, rather than by the day.
He was offering to sell tickets for select days of the championship, rather than the whole ticket stub.
“I’m going to the quarter and semi-finals but I don’t need to go to the finals, so I’m selling those tickets,” said the Indian.
“I bought them for Dh700 and I’m selling them for Dh1,000. I don’t think that’s a major profit. I don’t care really about making money, I just want them to get used because I queued for four hours to get them yesterday.”
He added: “I have my own business, I’m not a ticket tout.”
Michael Borst, from the Netherlands, posted an advert on Dubizzle saying that he needed three tickets for the opening day of the tournament.
The original ticket price was Dh75 and he had been offered the tickets for Dh125. “I’m still considering it,” he said.
“The problem is that I’ve already booked a trip for my family to come over, and they want to watch the tennis. So I need the tickets.”
An Indian, Navin Pardardasani, posted an advert saying he was looking for three tickets for February 26.
“A lot of people who bought the tickets seem to be those who wanted to sell them off for a higher price later on,” he said. “That’s really not fair.
“The organisers should find a way to restrict this. That could take care of more than 60 per cent of the problem of people not getting tickets.”
The box office yesterday was restricted to selling four tickets per individual, or 10 tickets per company.
There are 5,000 seats at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Centre in Garhoud, divided into Grandstand, Prime A, Prime B and VIP seats.
Roughly half of the seats in each section, apart from the VIP section, were open for the public, while the remainder were reserved for sponsors.
The spokeswoman for the event said: “There may be tickets available later on, depending on sponsors’ demand and the ticket allocations that they need.
“It’s not completely sold out, we’re just saying that sales at the moment are closed.”
mcroucher@thenational.ae
