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Real Money , a free weekly newsletter giving expert tips on how to save, invest and make the most of your money, is sent every Sunday. You’re reading an excerpt – you can sign up to get the whole newsletter in your inbox .
While roaming through Madrid on a recent overseas trip, I was stopped dead in the middle of the subway by a billboard. Latin American pop star Shakira, most famous for her 2006 hit Hips Don’t Lie , was playing the final dates of her world tour that weekend, in Madrid. It was fate.
My partner and I quickly decided not going was not an option, and jumped online to see if there were any tickets left. After baulking at the €800 VIP tickets (I love Shakira, but not that much), we found that the four nights were fully sold out, which was, understandably, devastating.
We were posed with a dilemma: give up on our dreams to see the Queen of Latin Music (and star of Zootopia 2 ) live, or try our luck with a ticket resale website. Neither option was particularly attractive.
According to a 2025 survey by PayPal, about one in five of us have missed out on events due to fake or undelivered tickets, losing an average of $432 in the process. That number also tells us something: concerts and events have become way more expensive, with the national average ticket price sitting at $120.
This has meant that Australians have started to cut back on buying tickets to gigs and shows, which is both bad for our already struggling arts industry, but also for our own personal fulfilment. This is also playing into the hands of scammers, who often tout cheaper tickets for sold-out events, which are almost always too good to be true.
In the end, after careful research, we bought two tickets from a reputable reseller without a hitch, and were able to attend the concert, with only a small mark-up on the original price. So if you want to know how to nab cheaper tickets, and what to look out for when it comes to buying them secondhand, read on:
Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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