National Day Parade tickets selling on Carousell for up to $400

Spectators at the Padang decked out in the national colours of red and white and waving the national flag during the National Day Parade in 2010. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Highly sought after National Day Parade tickets can be found on mobile marketplace Carousell. But only if you are willing to fork over up to $400.

One user, known as "kox koh", had put up more than 10 posts to sell the tickets, pricing them at between $200 to $400.

The $400 ticket was captioned "actual day, padang" and was listed on Friday (June 26). The latest post, touting "n/.s/.p tick" at $250, was put up on Sunday (June 28).

There were about 100,000 National Day Parade (NDP) tickets available this year, for a Aug 1 preview and the actual show on Aug 9.

This year's Golden Jubilee Parade is expected to have the largest fireworks display, a vintage parade and special aerial displays by the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

The tickets are free but members of the public had to participate in a ballot to get them. The results of the ballot were announced from June 1 to 5, and successful applicants collected their tickets from June 5 to 14. Sale of the tickets is prohibited.

Writing in to Stomp, a reader known as totoman said that he hoped action will be taken against the seller.

He said he was disappointed that he was not successful in the ticket ballot, but seeing the Carousell post made him even more frustrated: "I have no idea how this guy managed to get so many tickets... These tickets should be given to those who genuinely wanted to be there and celebrate and I am one of them.

"That disappointment when I didn't win the ballot to the tickets. Then this! How can I not be frustrated? And furthermore, he is selling it for $350++ for one ticket."

This is not the first time NDP tickets have been put on sale online. Back in 2012 and 2013, some ticket holders attempted to auction them on auction website eBay, as well as on online classifieds service Craigslist, reports said.

To get around the prohibition on the sale of the tickets, sellers offered the tickets "free" with other items, including diamond pendants, Hello Kitty toys, and in one case, a $300 hair clip.

Last month, tickets for sold-out events at the 28th SEA Games were also being re-sold at inflated prices.

The June 5 opening ceremony tickets - which originally cost between $12 and $60 - were going for up to $600 online.

chuimin@sph.com.sg

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.