dreaming

I purchased a ticket to a sold out ballet through the Paris Opera Bourse on Tuesday. I don't speak French and have been using a translation program to understand the pages, so may have missed something. The seller sent me the ticket via e-mail on Wednesday and I confirmed receipt of the ticket with the bourse. In reading the FAQs, I believed at that point that the "escrow" was closed, the sale completed and the funds released to the seller. However, today I received an e-mail from the seller saying he was disappointed to let me know that he is canceling the sale.

Now I'm confused, as I thought the sale was final. This morning the ticket on my Paris Opera Bourse page showed with a status of "en cours", but now it shows as "termine", so I believe the sale has been completed. I'm not sure how the seller could cancel the ticket now.

Does anyone have any experience with the Paris Opera Bourse and have an understanding of how this works? Can the seller cancel the ticket now? I have no proof that the ticket I have in hand is the ticket that the seller sold me via the bourse. The bourse receipt just list the day/time/section. The ticket I have matches that day/time/section, but the seat and row are not specified on my receipt. I'm concerned that I'll show up and the gentleman will have already used the ticket and will claim the seat.

I have sent my questions to the bourse via their contact page, but they won't be available to answer them until Monday.

Many thanks for any assistance or suggestions.

Robert2533

How did you pay? Credit card or wire transfer?

Robert2533

Did you use BOURSE AUX BILLETS OFFICIELLE (http://boursechange.operadeparis.fr) to purchase the ticket?

dreaming

I paid with a credit card and I used the official website- the URL you linked.

Southam

This is not a full answer, just a suggestion. First, the link that another poster supplied works only if the brackets are removed. It connects to a page in French which describes the opera's attempt to regulate what North Americans know as scalpers. It is a reselling procedure for tickets that have been turned back in. If it has informed you that your transaction has been nullified, the central question is how it will refund your money.

dreaming

Thank you Southam. The ticket exchange site has not informed me that the transaction has been nullified. The site says that the transaction has been completed. It's the seller whose ticket I purchased on the site who has since informed me that he's canceling the sale. I don't believe that he can, so now I'm concerned about potential issues.

Christina

That's interesting as I had never heard of that website. I actually think it's a good idea to have a venue-sponsored website for people to sell/exchange tickets instead of people going to the black market or whatever.

You don't quote hardly any French at all, so it isn't possible to translate what happened. You gave only one word, termine, which could probably mean anything. However, it does usually mean finished, and a different word would usually be used to mean the sale was cancelled (annule) on most French websites.

If the seller told you he was cancelling the sale, I would assume he probably could and would not be confident you have a valid ticket. Did he give you a reason? Perhaps you are not understanding what he wrote, what exactly did he say in French about being disappointed and cancelling it? The website says it guarantees the validity of the sales, so that is reassuring.

However, the website clearly states that the seller has the right to refuse or cancel a sale if he wants. So perhaps the seller got rid of the ticket some other way or something like that. The website also says that if the seller cancels the sale, you are supposed to get an email telling you that, which would verify the refund on your credit card.

So was your credit card charged or not, and if it was, was it by any chance credited later? If you are already in Paris, you could probably go to the ticket office to find out if your ticket is valid or not. An eticket doesn't prove anything, though, of course, as someone could print a million copies, so I'm not sure how that works for people to be selling etickets online. As basically, that would just mean the first person to use it would get in.

dreaming

Hi Christina- the ticket exchange site shows three possible status levels: en cours, termine, and annule. My ticket shows under tous mes achats as termini. It shows as one transaction for 1 billet, with 1 achetees and 0 annules. The transaction detail says, ÉTAT DE LA COMMANDE, Vente terminée le mercredi 20 novembre 2013 à 17h13.

My credit card does not appear to have been charged or have a pending transaction applied yet. So no credit either. And no email canceling the sale other than the email direct from the seller.

The email from the seller (sent yesterday) says:
Bonjour,
Je suis désolé mais je suis contraint d’annuler la vente.
Désolé pour la gêne occasionné.
Cordialement.

I'm not currently in Paris, but will be in Paris a few days before the ballet, so I could go to the ticket office if I'm not able to clarify beforehand. The downside of waiting is losing an opportunity to acquire a different ticket, but Im feeling a little gun-shy at the moment, so probably wouldn't try anyway!

I very much appreciate your thoughts or suggestions.