gkJaguar169
인기 게시판 TOP 50
[All]
EXO Concert Ticket Re-opening Controversy: Why Are Global Fans Angry About Domestic Pre-sales?
2026.09.04 12:24
With the decision to reopen seating for the EXO concert following the detection of fraudulent bookings, a heated controversy regarding fairness is raging among domestic and international fans. We have summarized everything from the reopening schedule to the structural background behind the split between domestic and global pre-sales.
The EXO fandom timeline is totally chaotic these days 😭 Domestic and international fans are clashing head-on regarding the encore concert ticketing. It turns out this isn't simply a fight over "who is more wronged," but is even entangled with structural issues in the ticketing system. Let's go through them one by one.
1. The Beginning of the Incident, What Happened on the Day of Pre-sale
On August 27th at 8 PM, EXO fan club pre-sales took place on the Melon Ticket domestic page. Even for fans who had completed paid fan club registration and pre-verification, Reviews stating that the connection was not smooth immediately after ticket sales began and only error screens were seen repeatedly. They say there were many such cases. There were even instances where payments were made for a performance on a different date than the one the user had selected.
After the pre-sale ended, verification posts claiming to have "personally obtained tickets through the domestic pre-sale" flooded Chinese social media and overseas fan communities. Numbers have been uploaded. While we cannot statistically confirm how many of the total seats went to overseas buyers based solely on this post, it is true that several verification posts from abroad were uploaded while domestic fans were experiencing errors.
2. SM's Official Statement & Concert Schedule
The agency stated that they have been continuously monitoring ticket reservation records and posted an announcement via Weverse on September 2nd. Here is a summary of the content.
Cases confirmed as fraudulent bookings will be cancelled and fully refunded without separate individual notification.
Accounts that attempted fraudulent bookings will be blocked from making future reservations.
Remaining seats resulting from cancellations will be reopened according to the scheduled timeline.
Reopened seats are available only to members who have completed pre-verification during the existing domestic page fan club pre-sale.
3. Why did it have to be divided between domestic and global?
This is where the real crux of the controversy begins. Melon Ticket originally operates separate domestic and global pages. On the global page, payments are only accepted using credit cards issued overseas, and domestic cards cannot be used at all. This implies that they already possess the technical capability to distinguish between a user's payment method and sales channel.
The problem is on the other side. It was pointed out that while the global page was clearly blocked by only accepting overseas cards, the domestic pre-sale lacked sufficient practical priority mechanisms regarding domestic identity verification, payment methods, and access routes. This comes out. They had the ability to distinguish the target audience, but that ability was not actually used to fulfill the conditions for "domestic" pre-sales. So, " Questions remain as to whether the domestic pre-sale is truly a priority opportunity for domestic fans, or simply a simultaneous global competition opening first on the Korean page. This is coming out.
The standard here should be the method and purpose of purchase, not nationality. A purchase made by an individual overseas fan for the legitimate purpose of viewing is not a problem, but, Organized purchasing that secures a large number of seats for resale purposes by mobilizing multiple accounts That is a different matter. It is being pointed out that the responsibility for identifying this lies not with individual fans, but with Melon Ticket and SM Entertainment, which hold the transaction records.
4. How are other countries handling this? (Japan case)
Japan is often mentioned for comparison. Not all Japanese performances block overseas access, but, In cases where major booking sites like e+ require verification with a Japanese domestic mobile phone number or a Japanese-issued credit card There are many such cases. e+ explains that this certification is a measure to prevent fraudulent acquisition and resale for profit. It is frequently compared to cases where a domestic priority sales structure has been firmly established through clear certification procedures.
5. Summary of the Key Issues of the Controversy
Domestic fans : Position that legitimate fans suffered damages due to fraudulent booking methods during the pre-sale on August 27, and the reopening is merely a procedure to rectify that damage.
Global Fan Side : Position that fair opportunities should be given to all fans regardless of nationality, and that this measure ultimately has the effect of excluding fans from specific countries.
Raising structural issues The view is that before addressing national conflicts, we must first examine whether the authentication and payment safeguards during the domestic pre-sale phase were sufficient, and review Melon Ticket's sales structure itself.
SM emphasized that this measure is not discrimination based on nationality, but rather aimed at detecting fraudulent bookings and preventing recurrence. While efforts are being made, there are also growing calls to fundamentally re-examine the design of the reservation system.
💡 Frequently Asked Questions (Q&A)
Q. When will EXO concert tickets reopen for sale?
A. SM Entertainment has pre-announced the specific reopening schedule through a Weverse notice, and the process will proceed sequentially following the cancellation and refund procedures for fraudulent bookings.
Q. Can anyone reserve the reopened seats?
A. No, reservations are available only to members who have completed the pre-verification for the existing domestic page fan club pre-sale.
Q. Where and when will the encore concert be held?
A. The 'EXO PLANET #6 - EXhOrizon [dot]' Seoul concert will be held at the KSPO DOME for three days from November 6 to 8.
Q. Why are domestic and global pre-sales conducted separately?
A. This is because Melon Ticket operates separate domestic and global pages (exclusive to cards issued overseas), and this incident has sparked controversy over whether the payment and authentication safeguards for the domestic pre-sale were sufficient.
Q. What is the reason global fans are protesting?
A. It is due to complaints that overseas fans' opportunities to purchase tickets have been relatively reduced as the reopening channel is limited to domestic pre-sales.
Go to Real-time Best Popular Posts 👇
159K people are talking about Entertainment industry issues right now
299K people are talking about actor right now
531K people are talking about Idol right now
Comments4
- yaMeerkat177
- 참외소녀
- grSalamander780