GENEVA, September 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• Half a million Aussies who were scammed in the last year now have a safe, secure and guaranteed way to buy tickets
• New partnerships with Collingwood and Richmond football clubs announced

viagogo, the world's largest ticket marketplace, has launched its service in Australia, providing consumers Down Under with a safe, secure and guaranteed way to buy and sell tickets to live sports and entertainment events in Australia and all over the world, up to the last minute and even if the event is sold out at the box office.

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Eric Baker, founder and CEO of viagogo, said: "Our launch in Australia marks another major milestone in our international expansion. We have already introduced choice, convenience and consumer protection to ticket resale in nearly 50 countries and we believe our service will go on to revolutionise the way Australians buy and sell tickets to the events they love."

According to independent research* commissioned by viagogo, more than a third (38 per cent) of Australians who buy a ticket want to resell it because they can no longer go to an event. However, half a million Australians were scammed buying tickets in the last year and the majority (95 per cent) are sceptical about trusting resellers on auction websites, such as eBay, and online classifieds, such as Gumtree.

Baker continued: "What the research clearly shows is that there is huge demand in Australia for a service like ours that guarantees the ticket and reduces the risk for consumers. Eight out of 10 Australians are in favour of ticket resale but they have been burned on sites like eBay and Gumtree and are looking for a safer alternative. Now our service is available in Australia, they never have to take their chances again."

viagogo also marked the launch by unveiling partnerships with two of the biggest Aussie Rules football clubs, Collingwood and Richmond. As part of a three-year deal with each club, viagogo will become their official ticket marketplace and provide their members and fans with secure access to an unrivalled choice of events at home and abroad.

Baker said: "We already partner with nearly a hundred of the biggest names in sports and entertainment around the world and we're looking forward to kicking off our new partnerships with Collingwood and Richmond. These long-term deals demonstrate our investment in Australia and our commitment to this market."

viagogo's service is now available across Australia at http://www.viagogo.com/au.

Notes to Editors

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*This research was conducted by Galaxy Research using a representative sample of 1,000 Australians aged 18-64 years between 3 and 5 September 2013, weighting the data by age, gender and region to reflect the latest population estimates. For further details about the research or case studies, please contact the press office.

About viagogo

viagogo is the world's largest ticket marketplace, headquartered in Switzerland, with local language websites in nearly 50 countries.

viagogo provides choice, convenience and consumer protection, so that people can buy and sell tickets for live events all over the world with confidence:

• Our secure online marketplace has tickets to thousands of sports and entertainment events, even if they are sold out at the box office
• We guarantee that buyers will get the tickets they paid for, in time for the event, or we will provide replacement tickets (or, in the rare cases where this is not possible, a full refund)
• Our strict consumer controls have significantly reduced the amount of fraudulent tickets being resold
• All tickets are delivered by a secure method, either electronically, by courier or at one of our pick-up points
• We provide a high level of customer service, in six languages, seven days a week

Nearly a hundred of the world's leading sports and entertainment properties partner with viagogo to help them control and manage the resale market for their tickets. We work with more than 30 football clubs in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, including some of the biggest names in the English Premier League (e.g. Chelsea FC and Manchester City FC), the German Bundesliga (e.g. Bayern Munich) and Paris Saint-Germain in France. In tennis, we have official partnerships with the Roland-Garros French Open, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and the BNP Paribas Masters. In entertainment, we are the official ticket marketplace of several European music festivals (e.g. the Isle of Wight, Benicassim and Sonisphere), the Boyzone BZ20 Anniversary Tour and Madonna's recent European tours.

To learn more about viagogo, please visit: http://www.viagogo.com/about/explained

For further information, interviews or images, please contact the viagogo Press Office:

+41-2251-80696
press@viagogo.com

SOURCE viagogo