“Your ticket refund application has been approved,” and “Refund handling fee of 1,320 yuan (RMB, hereinafter)” – When the fan named Wang Lin received this message, there was only one week left until the concert. Just two days ago, the ticketing platform “Ticket Planet” notified him that the ticket allocation was successful.
According to Wang Lin, on April 24, he purchased three tickets for Taiwanese singer Xu Jiaying’s concert in Beijing on “Ticket Planet,” with each ticket priced at 880 yuan. On May 14, as the seats were not displayed after the allocation, Wang Lin inquired online customer service for the reason, and was told at that time that “a specialist will follow up.” The next message he received was that the tickets couldn’t be issued, and he was forced to refund the tickets. Wang Lin said, “So, does this mean I spent over 1,000 yuan just to participate in a ticket scramble?”
In response, the customer service staff of “Ticket Planet” explained that since Wang Lin purchased the same session tickets on another platform, they could not issue the ticket due to the “one ID, one ticket” policy, thus forcing the refund and charging “50% handling fee” as per the organizer’s regulations.
Wang Lin helplessly asked, “How can I prove that I did not purchase the ticket repeatedly?”
As reported by “Daily Economic News,” “Ticket Planet” stated that, following the organizer’s notice, the user had a situation of one ID with multiple orders, making it impossible to issue the ticket, and despite contacting the user three times, no resolution was reached. Therefore, on May 16, they decided to proceed with a “forced refund” to minimize their losses. However, Wang Lin insisted that he did not purchase the ticket repeatedly.
The report pointed out that such “ticketing paradox” phenomena are not isolated incidents. A consumer named Xiao Li, residing in Hong Kong, purchased two tickets for Jacky Cheung’s concert in Xiamen on May 4 on “Ticket Planet” early in April and also booked train tickets and hotel accommodations from Hong Kong to Xiamen.
Just a week before the performance, Xiao Li received a ticketing message without specific seat details. After inquiring on May 1, she was informed that the tickets were forcibly refunded due to “one ID with multiple tickets,” and the information in her ticket wallet changed to “already refunded.” Xiao Li also insisted that she did not purchase the ticket repeatedly. After verification by “Ticket Planet,” they claimed it was a mismatch in personal information and could not issue the ticket. Despite communication with the customer service team and confirming the consistency of personal details, Xiao Li was still not assisted. She not only missed the concert but also had to pay a refund handling fee of 2,280 yuan without reason.
Responding to the “Daily Economic News,” “Ticket Planet” stated, “Due to the feedback from the organizer about the mismatch of user identity information that could not be entered, and after attempting to call the customer seven times without success, we followed the organizer’s refund rules and handling fees.”
Interestingly, it’s not just “Ticket Planet,” similar cases on platforms like “Damai” and “Maoyan” are also common. Fans have reported more than 3,000 complaints related to “concert forced refund” on platforms like “Hei Mao Complaints,” and on social platforms like Xiaohongshu, many users have shared their experiences of being inexplicably forced to refund by ticketing platforms.
Many fans have pre-booked concert tickets only to unexpectedly receive refund notifications a few days before the show, and they have to deduct 50% of the ticket value as a handling fee. The most common reason given by the ticketing platforms is: “Our system detected that you have multiple platform purchase records for the same show, violating the ‘one ID, one ticket’ principle.” This situation puts consumers in a dilemma of not being able to prove they did not purchase the ticket repeatedly and end up having to pay for the concert they couldn’t attend.
In response to the aforementioned cases, Lawyer Wang Rongmei and her team from Beijing Jing Shi Law Firm stated that if consumers did not purchase tickets repeatedly, but the ticketing platform forces a refund based on this reason, it violates the consumer’s right to fair trade and is fundamentally a breach of contract. The defaulting party should compensate for the losses caused to the other party due to the breach. The team also mentioned that if there is indeed a situation of buying tickets from multiple platforms, the platform should provide evidence or proof.
According to insiders, concerts are divided into general ticket agents and ticketing agents, and each ticketing platform will consolidate information to the general ticket agent after the ticket sales end for unified issuance. In case of duplicate purchases, one platform usually retains the ticketing, and other platforms enforce the ticket refund.
As for whether a handling fee is charged for a forced refund and how much, it mainly depends on the organizer’s decision, and the specific details will be explained in detail on the pre-sale page. Concert organizers also mentioned that the ultimately collected handling fees will be handed over to them. Netizens lamented that “one ID, one ticket” has become a gimmick for concert organizers to exploit consumers.