Zomato’s ‘Book Now Sell Anytime’ feature: Food aggregator Zomato has ventured into the entertainment and ticketing business and is now offering customers a new “stress-free” feature to book tickets, called ‘Book Now, Sell Anytime’.
Zomato announced the new feature in a blog post promising “seamless, secure and stress-free ticket booking experience”.
So, what does this entail? How does it work? What are the measures in place, and what do you need to know? We explain.
‘Lot of Unknowns? No Worry’
In its post, the company said that its new feature was designed to address customer worries about changed plans and “unknowns” when booking a ticket in advance.
So, what happens if you book a ticket—for example, to the Dua Lipa concert on November 30—and are unable to attend due to an unexpected wedding invite? The concert is three months away, and the ‘Book Now, Sell Anytime’ feature allows you to book the ticket and “re-sell” it on the Zomato site itself in case of any last-minute reasons.
Zomato claims this is the first of its kind initiative by an Indian ticketing platform.
How does it work?
- Customers can buy tickets to an event listed on the Zomato app as it goes live for sale.
- If your plans change, you can list their ticket on the Zomato app at your chosen price (capped at the organiser’s discretion).
- Once another customer purchases this listed ticket, the seller’s (your) ticket is cancelled, and a new ticket is issued to the customer purchasing this ticket — issued and authenticated by Zomato.
- The seller (you) will get the full value of the listed price transferred to your preferred payment method (subject to applicable taxes).
“Our hope is that this feature is utilised for the right reasons by genuine customers. We also want to ensure this does not promote ill practices in the events industry, such as black market touting or unfair pricing,” Zomato said in its statement.
Checks and Balances in Place
- A customer can buy up to 10 tickets per category, which can be listed for sale.
- Zomato will constantly monitor the platform so that customers do not take advantage of the feature.
- Each event will be capped at a certain value.
“We hope this new feature empowers customers and removes second-guessing about being able to book tickets in advance. The feature will go live on the Zomato app for the Zomato Feeding India Concert a couple of weeks before the event,” it added.
Dua Lipa’s performance is part of the Zomato Feeding India Concert.
Zomato further said that it will “grow and evolve” the feature and it may look different in the future.