Scalpers are already flogging off Ed Sheeran concert tickets

Tickets to Ed Sheeran's concerts are yet to go on sale to the general public, but scalpers have already swooped to take advantage of punters.

Pre-sale tickets to the show - at Forsyth Barr Stadium on March 29 - sold out in about 20 minutes yesterday.

The same thing happened for his Auckland show at Mt Smart Stadium on March 24, leading to a second show being announced for March 25.

But almost immediately after the pre-sales, tickets began to appear online at highly inflated prices.

Tickets valued at $69 in the pre-sale were being offered for more than five times that price.

A pair of tickets bought for $159 each were being on-sold together at $1403.

Promoter Brent Eccles, of Frontier Touring, hit out at the scalpers.

''If there was any chance in the world not to honour them we wouldn't,'' he said.

''We don't like it. The artists don't like it. It's not right. It's a pretty poor practice.''

Many consumers were being misled into thinking that on-selling agents were the genuine promoter, which irked him further.

''People get duped into going to these sites.''

One successful ticket buyer, Amelia Hermens from Dunedin, joked the wait to get tickets was ''worse than having children''.

But Trista Townsend wasn't so lucky. She ''desperately, desperately wanted tickets'', and would try again next week when general tickets went on sale.

''I've gone from happy to sad to near tears,'' she said.

Those wanting to secure tickets at the promoter's price could attempt to buy them from next Tuesday at 2pm during the general sale.

A second Ed Sheeran concert in Auckland was announced as a result of demand, as pre-sale allocations were exhausted in minutes in both centres.

Two new shows were confirmed today - one in Auckland for March 26 and one in Dunedin for March 31. Tickets going sale Tuesday, May 23 at 1pm for Auckland, 2pm for Dunedin.

Stay tuned to The Hits we will be giving away Ed Sheeran tickets soon!

This article was first published on Otago Daily Times and is republished here with permission.