Reselling train tickets for profit is scalping

Passengers queue at the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Feb 12, 2016. Railway stations around the nation witnessed surging passenger flows on Friday as the Spring Festival holiday came to the end and people started to return to work. [Photo/Xinhua]

Spring Festival travel always makes headlines with the competition for train tickets a focal point of media attention. This year, some of the e-commerce platforms have launched ticket reselling services to profit from people's wish to return to their hometowns. China Youth Daily commented on Thursday:

Train tickets during the Spring Festival holidays are always in short supply and the demand is always huge. The recent participation of internet companies in the fierce competition for train tickets has only made the situation worse.

Every major online platform is trying to profit from people's desperation to get a ticket, which distorts the normal market order, harms people's right to buy tickets through the normal channels and even ruins the public property of train tickets.

The companies are not a source of train tickets, only resellers, like scalpers.

If the online scalpers in previous years conducted the practice in a gray area, this year the reselling services of the major platforms should be seen as infringing on people's rights and legal interests in a similar way.

The use of software to grab tickets has increased the congestion on the official website channel, causing serious damage to the fair trade rights of consumers.

Cracking down on suspected illegal profit-making behavior requires resolute law enforcement.

The relevant departments should define whether the software-bought tickets resold by internet companies are legal or not, to purify the environment for Spring Festival train ticket sales.

Online scalpers, whether individuals or companies offering an expensive service in the guise of helping people to return home, simply grab tickets online to earn a profit, and they should be prevented from doing business.