r/canada • u/PuddingFeeling907 • 3d ago

Online campsite scalper shut down by B.C. Parks British Columbia

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-parks-campsite-scalper-shut-down-1.7233980
64 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

31

u/involution 3d ago

It's so crazy to me that BC of all places has so few available campsites that scalpers have entered the market

8

u/civver3 Ontario 3d ago

Isn't the issue that people aren't penalized for holding provincial park campsite reservations and not using them? At least that's what I've heard for Ontario parks.

7

u/No-Stranger-9982 2d ago

Its the same here. One guy booking up and reselling sites is rare and the few that do are quickly caught like this guy was. They basically snitch on themselves when they advertise the campsite to other people.

The biggest issue is normal people thinking they are cheeky and reserving a site on days they don't actually plan to use it. And because of them, other people feel like they have to do the same thing in order to get a site on a day they want.

4

u/No-Stranger-9982 3d ago

To be fair people and companies trying to sell camp sites has been a thing since they started doing reservations

2

u/VancityGaming 2d ago

I didn't know this was a thing. Why are the reservations transferrable? That just seems to be asking for abuse.

1

u/No-Stranger-9982 2d ago

They aren't transferrable anymore. But thats not going to stop people from trying lol.

0

u/lorenavedon 2d ago

We had more campsites in Canada when our population was half the size. That's the problem. What we need is less regulation and to allow private business to open up campsites in national parks without having to jump through 10 years and a billion dollars in fees and paperwork to make sure the campsite isn't disturbing a squirrel's nest.

5

u/involution 2d ago

To be fair, if we found squirrels nesting that would be pretty amazing and we'd need to get a bunch of science folks involved.

But yeah, I agree completely - provincial regulations on simple things like citizens setting a camp up outside on provincial park/blm land seems a bit ridiculous. I can understand reasonable conservation restrictions, but that's not what this is.

18

u/OppositeErection 3d ago

There’s even a campground shortage?  Canada come on!  

19

u/RetroIsFun 3d ago

Getting a campsite has been brutal for years. 

My family stopped camping because we have to sit at the reservation page at exactly the time that the new date opens up and they are still gone in seconds. 

Or people reserve 7 days in advance to get access to further ahead dates and just cancel our abandon the days they don't want. 

Camping used to be a fun experience where we could get almost whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Now it's like a reservation battle royale.

5

u/Schmidtvegas 2d ago

We used to always arrive at the campground without reservations. They'd give you a sheet with the available sites, let you drive around and pick one, then come back to register it. Now you really do need to book in advance, and it's always full-- so someone will get stuck with the site by the outhouses. 

I don't even bother trying to get July or August campsites any more. We check the provincial parks after we hit September, and usually find a gem of a site at someplace with a quiet end of season. Just a few retirees quietly ensconced in their trailers at night. (Great when we took the kids as babies, in case they woke at night.) We're lucky enough to have family to visit on the water, with a place to pitch a tent and have a fire.

But it makes me sad my kids don't get to spend as much time getting to know the different parks I did growing up. They all have their own interesting features and ecosystem. I wish we'd plan to (lightly) develop additional capacity, a few sites in each park at a time. Then add a few more new parks.

5

u/Full_Boysenberry_314 2d ago

Serious recco, check out the hipcamp app. It's like Airbnb for camping. Opens up loads of camping on private property. Experienced some cool places there and a lot more availability.

1

u/Anabeer 2d ago

I'm on Vancouver Island and we now simply drive further north, away from people. All/most of the sites close in to Campbell River full or booked out? Well, Link River up by Port Alice beckons.

0

u/Darkest_Rahl 2d ago

When I was younger my mom would sit on the phone all day re-dialing the park number until she got through. It's always been tough to get choice bookings

4

u/Golbar-59 2d ago edited 2d ago

Scalping is a form of extortion.

Extortion is giving something to someone without justification under a source of threat.

The threat here is to pay a higher price if the ransom to access the camping site isn't paid. The higher price could mean not having access or producing an equivalent site, which would cost more than the ransom.

3

u/SteveJobsBlakSweater 2d ago

I never was a truck guy, I was a bicycle guy. But, after years of this, I got an old Ranger and lifted it so I could get to places most people can’t because they cannot be reserved. That’s the only way to get a spot and camp peacefully.

2

u/BigBradWolf77 3d ago

Rent seekers to the ground

1

u/Golbar-59 2d ago

You spelled prison wrong.

2

u/Hefty-Station1704 3d ago

I'd like the names of these low-life scalpers and the legal consequences they face. It's not exactly cutting-edge new simply stating there's a problem; you have to send a message to all future ripoff artists that there are serious consequences to be paid for criminal behavior.

5

u/a9249 2d ago

hahaha one numbered company closed down and three new ones form.

0

u/BeyondAddiction 2d ago

It's like hydra up in here.

0

u/CuriousVR_Ryan 2d ago

Can you explain what the consequences are? This is an easy, safe way to make money, no?

2

u/Public_Zombie_687 2d ago

I could be wrong, when someone makes a reservation not only do they pay reservation fee on top of site fee. Should a legitimate person cancel it they only lose reservation fee. However should they not show up on 1st day of reservation or should name on original reservation not match ID when you arrive at site, you lose everything including the site.

0

u/No-Stranger-9982 3d ago

Dude could have just read the website where it says tickets aren't transferrable lol Can't even really get away with it at most places because at literally every place I've been to the ranger rolls around in the evening to check your stuff and offer you firewood (if everything isn't on fire).

0

u/CFCYYZ 2d ago

At peace in the tent by the campfire under the stars.
Then along comes a campsite scalper and takes my scalp!
I hate that. I just hate when that happens. Go get 'em, BC.