Grey market tickets to Expo for June go cheap
- Source: Global Times
- [10:53 June 29 2010]
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By Chen Xiaoru
Prices of grey market tickets to the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai are falling as sellers become desperate to get rid of the large number of tickets that expire at the end of tomorrow.
Many of the Expo tickets being resold were sourced from the first batch of tickets distributed free to eligible Shanghai residents in Huangpu, Luwan and Jinshan districts, Pudong New Area and Chongming Island from May 15, and valid for use in June.
As of Sunday, only 1.7 million of the 2.6 million tickets in the first batch had been used, leaving 900,000 unused tickets that will expire tomorrow, Youth Daily reported Monday.
The deadline has seen the price of June Expo tickets through unauthorized channels drop, as both individual ticket holders and scalpers seek to shift the tickets before they become useless.
Monday on Shanghai Baixing, a popular customer-to-customer online marketplace for locals, there were over 50 posts advertising cheap Expo tickets that expire tomorrow. The lowest price offered was 60 yuan ($8.83) for one ticket held by a resident of Pudong New Area, which was quickly snapped up. Other websites carried similar adverts.
The face value of Expo tickets is 160 yuan ($23.55).
