Ticket exchange
A ticket exchange is a market where tickets are bought and sold.
Secondary market
Ticket exchanges allow people to advertise, trade, sell, and buy highly sought or otherwise unobtainable tickets online. Some ticket exchanges also provide a marketplace for individuals to list tickets to events they may no longer be able to attend. For example, an individual who purchased tickets to a football game may find that they can no longer attend the event and subsequently lists their tickets for sale on a ticket exchange. Another common example applies to season ticket holders who find it difficult to attend every game. Ticket exchanges allow these individuals to trade or sell their tickets with other fans or brokers wanting to attend these events. This gives the consumer an opportunity to recuperate the money spent to purchase the tickets, and in some instances the original purchaser may even turn a profit.
Those most likely to use the services of a Ticket Exchange are ticket brokers (commonly known as "scalpers") who use the exchange to list and sell tickets. Brokers may purchase tickets in bulk from a promoter or directly from the venue (box office) hoping that the tickets will sell at a premium (i.e. above face value) due to an increase in demand for highly sought or difficult to obtain tickets.[1]
Ticket exchange in air travel
There are online marketplaces where private persons can offer their transferable flight tickets for sale. For travellers without a travel insurance, it can be a good way to cover the costs for a flight cancellation due to medical, personal, or professional reasons.
Flights are transferable, if the name on the ticket can be changed. US-based airlines are very strict about changing names on flight tickets, even a small typing error might force a traveller to buy a completely new airline ticket. In UK and Ireland, the sale of flight tickets is strictly regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom), and only agents authorized to Air Travel Organisers' Licensing are allowed to sell flight tickets. Even though several British airlines allow name changes, the customers are not allowed to resell their flights.[2] In other European countries, such as Germany, France, and Netherlands, the exchange of flight tickets by private persons is not prohibited.