How to get hold of Olympics resale tickets

Just over six months, around 28.5 weeks or under 200 days: whichever way you phrase it, the London Olympics are closing in. And if you’re still after tickets – or indeed have tickets you need to shift - now’s the time to do it.

False start

The process got off to something of a false start on Friday after resale tickets that had already been sold remained on the website. As a result Locog suspended the site in order to ‘refresh and update’. At the time of writing the ticketing portal remains closed. The London 2012 press office has said that they are waiting for Ticketmaster (the ticket site provider) to come back to them.

Keep an eye on the London2012 Twitter feed and the lovemoney.com Twitter feed for updates on the resale throughout the week.

Locog will be keen to avoid another ticketing disaster after it emerged last week that as many as 10,000 non-existent tickets for synchronised swimming were mistakenly sold last June. Nobody who was mis-sold these tickets will be made to give them up. Instead, Locog are upgrading thousands of people to tickets for bigger events.

So how exactly can you buy or indeed sell Olympic tickets in this resale period?

The process

You are able to submit tickets for resale through the London2012.com site until 6pm on 3 February 2012. These tickets will then be resold through the London2012.com site on a first come, first served basis.

Any re-advertised tickets that are not resold by 6pm on 3 February will be returned to the original buyer’s account. Olympic football and Paralympic tickets will also be available.

You can post tickets for resale by signing in through London2012.com and reviewing your confirmed tickets. From here, you will be able to select some or all of your tickets for resale. Different sessions and price categories within sessions will be listed separately on the resale page.

Before confirming the resale, a review of the amount you will be refunded if all of your tickets sell will be displayed to you. If you submit all of your tickets for resale, and they all sell, you will be refunded your delivery charges. Any tickets remaining in your account will be delivered in the summer and the delivery charge will remain.

Resale rules

Locog has set out a few rules for the resale:

• Only tickets bought before 6 January 2012 can be resold. A resale for tickets bought after 6 January 2012 will go live in April.
• If you bought your tickets through an official overseas avenue, you should contact that retailer to discuss making a resale.
• A young person’s ticket must be accompanied by a full price, senior or wheelchair space ticket.
• A wheelchair companion ticket is only valid with an accompanying wheelchair ticket.
• A Ticketcare ticket is only valid with a full price, senior or young person’s ticket.
• Ticketcare, wheelchair space companion and group organiser tickets have no monetary value if resold.
• Group organiser tickets are only valid with a minimum of 20 Paralympic Games tickets per session. If you are left with fewer than the minimum number after submitting tickets you will no longer be eligible for a group organiser ticket.

And these aren’t the only dos and don’ts for those trying to get hold of Olympics tickets...

What not to do

The official London2012.com ticket resale is the only official avenue through which Olympic tickets can be resold. In fact, it is a criminal offence to sell tickets on the open market without the permission of Locog.

So be on the lookout for fraudulent ticket sites attempting to shift fake tickets. In the run up to the official ticket sale police made 32 arrests in connection with fake Olympics tickets. And as the games close in and the scramble for tickets heats up, it’s likely that Olympic scammers will get back to work.

Theoretically, there are still a handful of Locog-authorised ticket retailers (you can find a list of these on the London2012 site). However most, if not all, will have already sold out. This means that the only way you’ll realistically be able to get hold of tickets is by using the official resale. So if you do come across websites offering tickets, it’s almost certainly a scam.

Have a read of The scam that could ruin the Olympic Games for some tips on spotting fraudulent ticketing sites.

Your take

Have you bought or sold tickets using this resale portal? What are your experiences?

Let us know using the comment box below.

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