* Ariana Grande returning to Manchester to perform benefit concert this Sunday
* Ticket proceeds will benefit victims of terrorist attack at her concert last month
* The in-demand concert has caused uproar over exploitative tactics surrounding tickets
Ariana Grande is returning to Manchester less than two weeks after a terrorist attack at her concert claimed the lives of 22 people. On June 4, the 23-year old singer will perform a concert to benefit the victims and families who were affected by the tragic event which took place after concert goers were leaving her show on May 22. Tickets for this weekend’s #OneLoveManchester concert went on sale through Ticketmaster on Thursday and were quickly sold out.
There were a number of free tickets reserved for those who attended the concert on the night of the attack, with non-reserved tickets priced at £40. Unsurprisingly, tickets sold out quickly–in six minutes to be exact–leaving those who were lucky enough to score a ticket on time, with options to resell on websites like eBay for inflated prices. Some sellers on eBay and Stubhub marked up prices to £200 to £500 ($258 to $645).
In fact, the demand to attend this concert was so high that over 10,000 hopeful concertgoers falsely claimed to be a survivor of the attack, forging applications to score the free tickets, Ticketmaster reports. This announcement, in addition to profuse markups on third-party websites, have sparked an social media uproar of disgust and disbelief, in response to what is being seen as a gross exploitation of victims by re-sellers profiting from the tragedy.
In response, eBay UK has banned the sale of #OneLoveManchester tickets on their marketplace, receiving universal applause from vocal Twitter users. The company made their announcement via Twitter on Thursday, advising re-sellers not to list tickets to charitable concert. “This is completely against eBay rules. We are immediately removing all listings which attempt to profit unfairly from what happened,” the company said in a Tweet.
