Face-value ticket exchange site Scarlet Mist relaunching for 2012

Written on Sat 07 Jan 2012

We don’t need the Scalpers, Touts and Whores. We can do this ourselves.

Scarlet Mist - the genuine non-profit ticket exchange site - is coming back by popular demand. This new site, still in development, is intended to make ticket exchange safer and more sociable, with the emphasis on meeting other users whenever possible.  It is still in Beta, and you will see various tweaks and improvements over the coming months, ahead of a full, drumrolled, relaunch in the Spring!

Secondary ticketing has been dominated by the Scalpers, Touts and other profiteers. Although some people see nothing wrong with their activities, they hamper the genuine music fans who find themselves with spare tickets that they cannot use. And the costs of selling a spare ticket through traditional secondary sites are often substantial.

Scarlet Mist was set up in 2003 to beat the monopoly of the touts, and to allow the music-loving community to come together and help one another. Launched to help a friend get a Glastonbury ticket, it has built up a steady and faithful following from users who are more interested in making music than making money.

The site was taken offline in the autumn because of concerns about security. This ongoing redevelopment goes some way towards making the process more secure, but ultimately buying tickets from strangers carries an inherent risk. Scarlet Mist has taken advice from the police, and has worked with them to apprehend fraudsters who have targeted the site in the past.

However these risks have been offset by the introduction of ‘Scarlet Mates’ a new and optional feature which encourages users to go to see bands and festivals together. Why deal with a tout, when you can deal with a Mate? If you are going to the event with the person that you are buying from then you can have a beer together!

The new site also has social networking integration built into it, with a ‘Tweet my Ticket’ feature that spans Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

The core service provided by the site is a free face-value ticket exchange. Users are introduced to one another privately, and names and contact details are not shared with the public. They can offer to sell tickets at below their face value, especially when the gig has not sold out, and they can offer to swap tickets for something similar (like a standing ticket for a seated one).  And it is possible to set up an Alert, if you are waiting for a specific ticket to come into the site, to notify you by email as soon as one becomes available.

Over the next few months some additional functions will be added. We are always looking at ways of making the site safer and more secure. We would also like to add better support for mobile devices, and are looking for a partner to help develop Scarlet Apps.

We are delighted to be back in the Mist. We look forward to welcoming our old and new users back. We’ve missed you.

Richard and Olly