In colloquial terms, this is called “ticket scalping”.

According to observations by ticket provider CTS Eventim, black market dealers are using computer programs in large numbers to obtain tickets. "We receive millions of bot requests during our major online sales," Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg (74) told the German Press Agency in Hamburg. Eventim is able to prevent such purchases.

Automated bot requests occur at all events, reports Bremen-born Schulenberg. They are particularly prevalent at major sporting events such as the Olympic Games. Many purchase attempts also occur when well-known artists such as Ed Sheeran perform.

Speculators attempt to acquire tickets in order to resell them at high prices on unauthorized secondary markets. The extent of this practice, known as "ticket scalping," is not recorded. Private resale of tickets is generally permitted in Germany. Organizers can prohibit commercial resale.

Eventim has operated the Fansale platform, where customers can resell tickets, since 2007. Schulenberg emphasizes: "It wasn't just back then that excessive profiteering, abuse, and fraud occurred on unauthorized secondary market platforms." That's why Eventim decided to build its own platform. Fansale operates at a cost-covering level.

Last year, Eventim temporarily suspended the resale of Taylor Swift tickets following a hacker attack. There had been a low double-digit number of unauthorized resales, which were subsequently reversed.

The publicly listed company CTS Eventim claims to be the world's second-largest ticket provider. The largest provider is Live Nation Entertainment from the USA. Eventim sells tickets for concerts, theater performances, and sporting events, organizes concerts itself, and operates venues such as the Waldbühne in Berlin.