Is it a problem? Yes absolutely. Even the club know that, Ian Ayre saying approx 30% of away tickets are touted testifies to that.
What do the club do about it? Very little it seems. Focus seems to be more on spot checks and confiscating cards from easy targets (who have passed on for face value, or are using concession pricing they are not entitled to) as opposed to dealing with people openly selling for vastly inflated prices.
The club need to clarify their aims here. Last season the head steward who works outside the ticket office before kick off (Tony) helped me get rid of a spare for the Watford game. All stewards there are quite happy to assist anyone looking to offload a spare and pair them with anyone looking for a spare. They always ask you to scan card with the fan support team to verify there is a ticket on the card. So all these spot checks and confiscating cards if the name on card isn't the person using it seem bizarre. Personally I don't think the club have the balls to deal with the people outside the Albert etc.
However there was one time one of my cards got banned after Sheffield United at home in February 2007. I let a friend use one of my cards as he needed a few for a mate of his. He then passed it on to said mate, along with a few other tickets (4 in total). A couple of weeks later a letter arrives from the club saying there is evidence this ticket was touted and my fancard was banned along with the other 3. It turns out my friend's so called mate sold them to some Irish agency and the buyer complained to the club. This was back in the day of paper tickets and the fancard number was on the ticket. So pretty easy to identify and investigate. After writing to the club, all 4 fancards were unblocked as none of the fancard holders had acted with bad intentions and were unaware of what was going to happen.
Back then there used to be something on the tickets about only passing on for 'face value plus pro rated administration cost'. So face value plus booking fees/postage etc. Now members cards quite simply state it can only be used by the registered holder, so a similar scenario today would likely result in permanent loss of membership and it would not be reinstated. However with people asking for deposits for cards and collecting either inside the ground or straight after the game, and not having a paper ticket to report/send to the club as evidence, it is much harder to obtain categoric proof of touting for a club investigation. Cards were brought in to help reduce touting, however in some ways they make it easier.
What do supporters groups and unions think about it/do about it? I spoke to Jay Mckenna outside the HJC the other week and he said SOS have asked the club to clarify policy on passing cards to friends/family at face value etc in light of these spot checks. He also said they have told the club that they should focus more on touting/selling for profit and try to clamp down on that as opposed to targeting face value exchanges between friends and family.
As for the Supporters Committee and any other groups, I am not sure what their stance is. However I would guess it would be similar to the above.
What can we the fanbase do about it? Tickets could be bought from sites if people chipped in and then reported. However even that is not firm evidence. People can argue that they sold it to a friend at face value and then they listed it for sale at a profit. Also a lot of these sites act as a middle man so there is no proof of postage from the site/agency as evidence to prove purchase from there and directly link it to the person selling for money. Not saying it can't be tried, but it isn't as easy to definitively prove as people think.
However it isn't a court of law and the standard of proof required by LFC to suspend a membership does not have to match the 'beyond reasonable doubt' standard of a criminal court.
However, those dumb enough to post on craigslist or gumtree etc with screenshots of seat numbers/barcodes/membership numbers on the advert can easily he reported. However for most of these adverts, people are smart enough to blank out any unique identifiable information on the cards/tickets/purchase emails. If they do leave any information on and have advertised a price clearly way above face value, then that is fairly easy to report and investigate if a few screenshots are taken and emailed to the club.
I find that this occurs more when we are playing well/make a final. Perhaps people who don't normally sell see a chance for a quick profit on Wembley/Basel tickets etc and don't take the same precautions as a 'professional'. Something to look out for if we make Wembley/are still challenging at the top come the business end of the season.
Can we create something to take forward and get other fans involved? I guess so but I am not exactly sure what. According to Jay Mckenna the club will do another season ticket amnesty in the near future and after that spot checks will result in suspension of season tickets or membership. If that is the case then surely the club would do something about sales for profit too, and ideally focus on that as a priority.
The only way to really tackle it properly is to tackle credit hunting too. And how practical is it to spot check loads of people every game? The reason I say that is because most touts have a trusted list of clients/regular punters who are happy to pay and will not report to the club or whatever. So only by doing spot checks can things be investigated and cards monitored to see if there are different people using them each game. It is breaking in to these circles that is the most challenging hurdle. Also a lot of the ones outside the Albert etc have a lot of back up, so it is dangerous trying to confront them or buying from them and not returning cards etc.
In summary, yes things can be done. But it isn't so straight forward and most of the people who are regularly selling for profit are pretty wise to anyone who is trying to get them done. Doesn't mean it is impossible however. As for the occasional sellers who see a big pay day for Wembley/Basel etc and enter the ballot with no intention of going if successful, they often slip up more and can be caught as discussed above. It will never completely go away, demand exceeds supply and it is as simple as that. Although for aways they could ask 10% of people to collect at home stadium on day. Something similar to Man U. Not as draconian with the sanctions however, as plenty of people genuinely can't go or pass on spares for face or even let someone else use their card for all aways. But certainly something to think about.
