Once again, the Student Union’s annual whole building Halloween extravaganza became a sold out event, with resale tickets being highly sought after. Some students are reporting spending up to three figures on second hand Fright Night tickets. Since there is no Union official platform for resale, many students are forced to find resale tickets elsewhere, raising concerns over the reputability and reliability of purchasing a resale ticket and the risks involved.

Credit: St Andrews Student Union

The Student Union website states that they will do their “best to support legitimate ticket transfers” but recognise that they “cannot guarantee the validity of tickets obtained from unofficial sources.” In order to ensure entry, the Union urges that you purchase from a “trusted and authorised seller.”  However, no official channels are provided on the Union webpage. Furthermore, Fixr, another official ticket sale platform, isn’t offering ticket resale either. The only choice given to those who couldn’t get tickets originally is secondhand resellers which are often found on University Hall group chats or Facebook groups.

But what about students who can’t attend Fright Night and don’t want to turn a profit on their ticket? The Union states on their website that “refunds will not be accepted and any refund requests will be considered on an individual case.” If refunds are not allowed, then the only option left for students who can no longer attend the event is to sell their ticket. Since there are no official platforms for reselling tickets, this means that there are no regulations on the pricing of the resale tickets.

One Third Year student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Stand about her experience, stating that the tickets are “all overpriced.” She recounted that someone she knows “sold a Fright Night ticket for £100.” This is a 700% mark up from the £12 tickets sold in the General Sale. When asked what method was used to transfer the tickets, the student stated “most Union resales are just screenshots. The only reliable ticket resale is through Fixr because it sends the ticket to their account.”

The Stand spoke to a Second Year student about their experience with obtaining a Fright Night ticket. Though the student was able to get a ticket, his friends weren’t so lucky. He told The Stand that “some people, at the start, were sending ridiculous messages like “'Selling Fright Night ticket, highest bid gets it’ like it was an auction.” The student experienced price gouges too. It appeared to the student that “the majority of tickets sold for £50 or £60” he added,  “If I wouldn’t feel like a scumbag, I’d probably do the same.”

When the student offered £30 for a ticket, one reseller responded “Bro [laughing emoji] I can’t do that.” The student also suggested that some people were buying tickets to Fright Night just so that they could resell them for a higher price. He remembered seeing someone selling three tickets. The student added, “When I asked them out of curiosity where he’d managed to get three tickets from […] he said by using multiple accounts.” 

The student continued: “I think it’s scummy how much people are charging for [Fright Night tickets]. I understand supply and demand, but it’s kind of unfair on students in this town who don’t exactly have money to throw away. Lacking disposable income should not be a barrier to leisure.”

Another student in fourth year was also a victim of these resale prices told The Stand, “I bought the ticket because I didn’t want to be socially isolated. All of my friends were going and I didn’t want to spend my Halloween alone.” She continues, “I didn’t have the money to get them [the resale ticket] but I felt like I kind of had to so I did.” When asked how she felt about people selling tickets for such high prices, the student responded, “when there’s a market there’s a way, I guess. It does sort of feel like they’re taking advantage a bit though.”

Some students have attempted to solve the issue of the resale market. Evan Patel, Second Year Student, founded St Tix, a website in which students can resell and buy St Andrews tickets, without the fear of being scammed. Patel tells The Stand that he founded St Tix after he “bought a BPM ticket, then went on a trip and couldn’t go. I was at home trying to sell it through a Facebook group chat and it was such a mess, and at the end of it I got scammed. So I sat down with no coding experience, no background, nothing, and just started building.”

As of now, St Tix has over one thousand student sign-ups and have sold over 170 tickets which Patel believes is due to the fact that “[St Tix] is a safe place: prices are capped and there’s so much safety built in [to St Tix] that you know you’re not getting scammed [...] sellers don’t have to chase strangers or risk getting scammed. Buyers know they’re getting a real ticket at a fair price.”

In addition to this, Patel tells The Stand that he believes the biggest issue for overpriced resales “is the last minute stuff. When something sells out, people still end up in random DMs and group chats where it’s easy to get scammed. Anything that pushes resale into safe, face-value spaces is a win for students.” However, Patel states that “I’m losing money right now. I’m looking into ways to make St Tix more sustainable long term, but never by charging students to resell. Right now it’s just about fixing a real problem.” 

 Happy Halloween from The Stand!