Ticketmaster is to close resale sites Get Me In and Seatwave in a bid to combat ticket touting.
The sites, which allow ticket holders to resell tickets they are unable to use, have proved to be a haven for touters, who hike up the prices way above what they originally paid to make a profit.
As a result, Ticketmater is taking action against these so-called professional sellers by doing away with their secondary sites from October.
Head Of Ticketmaster, Andrew Parsons, said in a statement: “Our number-one priority is to get tickets into the hands of fans so that they can go to the events they love.
“We know that fans are tired of seeing others snap up tickets just to resell for a profit on secondary websites, so we have taken action.”
Fans with unwanted tickets will still be able to resell them through Ticketmaster, where a new simple system will be introduced to put them back onto the market.
However, sellers will only be able to ask for the price they originally paid for them or less, though there will be a 15% surcharge for buyers to pay in order to cover fees paid by the seller.
Ed Sheeran is just one of the artists to have made a stand against tickets touts in recent times.
Last year, the singer cancelled 10,000 tickets for his Wembley Stadium gigs, as some originally costing between £49 and £88, were being offered online for up to £1000 each.
However, after he faced a small backlash when some fans were left with invalid tickets, he defended his crusade against the touts.
He told BBC Newsbeat: “I hate the idea of people paying more than face value for tickets when you can get them at face value.
“I just think people need to start taking a stance and within two or three years, companies like Viagogo are to be kind of kaput.
“It’s a very positive thing for the fan in the long run. Obviously the people that we are harming are not going to put stuff in the press that is going to look positive to us, are they? There are loads of acts doing it, I know Adele did it and Arctic Monkeys are doing it.”
