Scalpers cash in on fans of TV star Kim
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 24, 2014
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Kim Soo-hyun meets his fans yesterday at the Shanghai Grand Stage. The South Korean actor is the star of the hugely popular TV show "My Love from the Star." [Sina.com.cn] |
Tickets for a meet-and-greet event hosted by Kim Soo-hyun in Shanghai yesterday changed hands for up to 25,000 yuan (US$4,015) as scalpers sought to cash in on fans' passion for the South Korean TV star.
The face value of the best tickets for the show at the Shanghai Grand Stage was just 1,280 yuan.
Scalpers began congregating outside the venue early yesterday morning. One of them, who declined to give his name, said he's been working as a scalper for 10 years and never has a problem getting hold of tickets for the big events.
He said he was offering seats in the first 10 rows for between 15,000 and 25,000 yuan.
"If you don't buy now, they'll be more expensive this afternoon," he said.
More than 4,000 tickets went on sale for the event, but because of the huge popularity of the star of the fantasy romance "My Love from the Star," many were snapped up by scalpers.
"Kim Soo-hyun is undoubtedly the hottest South Korean star this year," the scalper said.
A month ago, tickets for the first 10 rows of seats were selling on taobao.com for "just" 3,500 yuan. But asking prices soon soared, first to 10,000 yuan and then even higher.
One online vender said he had five front row tickets available, each priced at 15,500 yuan.
Despite the massive markup, fans were undeterred. All they cared about was landing a golden ticket for what they considered the event of the year.
A woman surnamed Wu told Shanghai Daily that she had traveled from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, for the show.
"I bought an 880 yuan ticket from a scalper for 1,400. I'm quite happy because Kim is worth it," she said.
The total cost of her trip, including a hotel room, was more than 2,000 yuan, she said.
Another fan from Anhui Province, surnamed Tao, said she'd also paid more than 2,000 yuan for the chance to see her idol.
While some scalpers cashed in, others were not so lucky.
Police in Xuhui District dispatched 700 officers to cover the event, including several plainclothes teams on the hunt for pickpockets and scalpers.
A 45-year-old surnamed Cai said police told him to leave the area when they caught him trying to sell tickets at 8am. He said he'd paid 23,000 yuan for 10 tickets, but hadn't sold any.
Three others were arrested about 3:30pm, one of whom was accused of trying to pass off fakes as the real thing.
Many of the vendors hoping to cash in on Kim memorabilia also had a disappointing day.
One said he'd been working outside the venue since 8am and had managed to sell about 1,000 items.
"But we still didn't make much profit because there were too many people competing for business," he said.
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