Taylor Swift fans crash American Express website during first pre-sale event

It appears many Taylor Swift fans are about to have bad blood with American Express Australia after its website suffered - and continues to deal with - “technical difficulties” during their ticket pre-sale event. 

It’s the first of two pre-sale events for the highly anticipated concerts set to take place in Melbourne and Sydney next year and it appears that there are so many Swift fans – aka. Swifties – trying to get tickets through the American Express Australia pre-sale that has caused website outages. 

Taking to Twitter, many fans shared images of their attempts to get on the website with the help page reading “Site help, thank you for visiting American Express. 

“We’re sorry. We are momentarily experiencing technical difficulties. We are working on bringing our services back online. For immediate assistance, please call the number on your card or statement. We apologise for any inconvenience.” 

Taylor Swift fans appear to have caused site outages as they attempt to secure pre-sale tickets on the American Express Australia website. Photo / Getty Images, Twitter

It appears the company is yet to give fans a timeline on how long it will take for the website to be back online and has replied to fans complaints on Twitter with a generic message with all the pre-sale information. 

Fans trying to access the American Express Australia pre-sale will only be able to access the top-priced VIP ticket packages priced at AU$1249.90 (NZ$1355.78) and $899.90 ($976.13). 

It comes after the Sydney Morning Herald reported that within 12 hours of the concert dates being announced, over one million people had registered for a presale code. 

Taylor Swift fans trying to access the American Express Australia pre-sale will only have access to the top two VIP packages. Photo / Twitter

Taking into consideration the seats available at Swift’s five Australian shows in Australia – three in Sydney, two in Melbourne – less than half of those fans will secure tickets as the news outlet has estimated that approximately 450,000 tickets are available. 

The American Express Australia pre-sale is the first of two pre-sale events for the shows. Cardholders have ticket access on Monday, June 26 from 10am Sydney (12pm NZT) or 2pm Melbourne (4pm NZT) with the presale lasting for 48 hours, or until the allocation is exhausted. 

Members of Frontier Touring will also have the ability to register for a presale from Wednesday, June 28 at 2pm (4pm NZST). The presale will last 24 hours, or until the allocation is exhausted. 

Finally, Tickets officially go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 30. The Sydney shows will go on sale at 10am (12pm NZT), while tickets to the Melbourne shows will be available from 2pm (4pm NZT). 

Costs will vary from AU$79-$379 ($86-415) depending on the location of the seats, while VIP packages range from A$349-$1249 ($382 -1368). 

It’s believed fans from Australia and New Zealand are trying to secure tickets after the popstar appeared to snub Aotearoa. 

Speaking to the Herald, a well-placed insider believes Swift’s snub isn’t due to bad blood with NZ but rather two more innocent reasons. “Why isn’t she coming? Is it because of the stage size? Or is it because Kiwis are losing their love of live music?” 

Using Pink as an example, the insider said that the singer’s three NZ shows - taking place in Auckland and Dunedin between March 5 and 9 next year - are yet to sell out. 

“We can do big shows here, but can we?” they said. 

The industry insider went on to claim that the lack of ticket sales could be more of a reason for the snub than the stage size. “People [musicians] come here and they can’t financially make it work. How many shows does Taylor Swift have to sell before she starts covering her costs? How many crew is she travelling with?” they said. 

“There are some shows on that scale that they have to sell out the first two before the promoter even starts making money.” 

But they also admitted stage size could be a massive reason for the snub. Swift’s Eras Tour stage is reportedly 75 metres long with an additional 10m backstage space. Eden Park - New Zealand’s largest stadium - comes in at 109m, meaning if the Eras tour visited the grounds, there would be little room for an audience. 

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.