Beijing Tix Scalping Rampant

After an initial buying round, Olympic seats re-sell for 10X face value
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2007 5:10 PM CST
Beijing Tix Scalping Rampant
People line up outside a Bank of China branch to buy tickets to next year's Olympic Games, in Beijing Tuesday Oct. 30, 2007. (AP Photo)   (Associated Press)

Tickets for 2008’s Beijing Summer Olympics are already being illicitly re-sold over the Internet for ten times their original price, the BBC reports. An initial offering in which consumers were able to buy 50 tickets per person is being blamed for kick-starting the scalping frenzy, and that allotment has been scaled back to eight tickets per customer for the second buying round.

The BBC reports finding marked-up tickets for notable events such as the opening ceremony and the 110 meter hurdles final, which Liu Xiang became the first Chinese man to win in 2004. The International Olympic Committee says that it is up to China to enforce the ban on ticket resale, which can be done using a tag on the ticket which identifies the original buyer. (More 2008 Beijing Olympics stories.)

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