On Ticket Scalping
Filed in archive Buying Stuff on October 4, 2007
Flexo has a good post on ticket scalping, a subject I have thought about a lot but never blogged. To follow up on his thoughts, here are mine.
It sucks to want to see a show or sports event and be shut out. It sucks even more if you then see that there are loads of tickets being sold for three, four, five, fifteen times their face value by a ticket broker. It sucks, but is it wrong? Are you getting the shaft, or are you just a poor loser who wasn't willing to do what it takes to get a ticket?
The question comes down to how tickets end up in the hands of ticket brokers. Are venues somehow giving them first dibs, or are brokers using underhanded techniques to be first in line or get more tickets than their share? In most cases, I think the answer is no. They may be using more sophisticated techniques, like multiple buyers in physical lines and multiple purchasers working the computers and phones, but that's not underhanded.
You have to think about a ticket brokerage as a business. The scalper is taking a chance on buying tickets, calculating whether the tickets can be re-sold at a higher price, and how many tickets to go after. If they misjudge the market, they can end up with tickets they sell at below face value or simply never get paid for. So, while there is an incentive for them to buy up tickets to hot concerts/sporting events, they're taking a risk, and thus they can't and won't usually buy up every seat available. On the other hand, for a sure thing, they'll happily get as many people as they can in line to snap up tickets, and others will be shut out.
Bottom line: tickets are a supply and demand item. Sometimes the demand is high, and you as a ticket buyer have to decide how bad you want it. In my book, the venues would be smart to auction off the best seats to a concert and keep the money for themselves instead of seeing it go to a broker, but either way you as a consumer will pay more for those seats. Fact is, you're lucky you even get a shot at front row seats at a reasonable price. They could be jacked up from the get-go if promoters wanted to go this route.
In short, paying through the nose for tickets to someone or something you really want to see, sucks. But that's life, kid. It sucks to have to pay a zillion dollars to live on the beach or to go for a ride to the space station or to buy an iPhone before the price cut. It's your money and you have to decide every day what something is worth to you and whether you're willing to pay the price. If you're not willing, you can be disappointed, but don't try to blame someone else.

Permalink: On Ticket Scalping
Tags: scalping ticket 2007 money tickets ticket+scalping home+based buyers+angry
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Response from:
Trent
(10/05/07 8:33am)
You hit the nail on the head with this post! People always focus on the money made selling tickets for over face value, but forget that we often lose money when shows don't generate the demand we speculated they would - Case in point, the Genesis tour. Brokers were selling these tickets at 75% BELOW face value, and fans ended up getting a great deal as a result.
Response from:
Arthur Trueger
(10/05/07 6:30pm)
I think this is a minority case in which the public gets the better hand. The profits earned on sold out shows and tickets sold way above face value probably more than cover any losses incurred on low-demand shows for scalpers.
Response from:
Justin McHenry
(10/08/07 2:07pm)
Arthur,
You are right -- ticket scalpers make more than they lose, otherwise they wouldn't do it in the first place. But when I see news articles saying "something's gotta be done!" because 10-year-old girls are missing out on the Hannah Montana show, I question the wisdom. I realize Hannah Montana is a once in a lifetime show for these girls, but of course their lives are only 10 years long so far.
Do we really need a law about ticket scalping to prevent parents from paying $250 a ticket to take their kids to a concert featuring a fake entertainer?
You are right -- ticket scalpers make more than they lose, otherwise they wouldn't do it in the first place. But when I see news articles saying "something's gotta be done!" because 10-year-old girls are missing out on the Hannah Montana show, I question the wisdom. I realize Hannah Montana is a once in a lifetime show for these girls, but of course their lives are only 10 years long so far.
Do we really need a law about ticket scalping to prevent parents from paying $250 a ticket to take their kids to a concert featuring a fake entertainer?
Response from:
Biff Rimshott
(10/30/07 4:39am)
Yes, Ticket Scalpers Still Suck, but there is a way to beat them at their own game. So many scalpers are buying tickets for shows like Springsteen, and there aren't enough buyers to make the scalpers rich. So I went with a friend to the concert minutes before it was going to start, and got two scalpers t low bid each other to sell us tickets! We got two $65 seats for $60 flat! No ticketmaster charges, no waiting in line! Ain't America Great! Now go take your kid to Hannah Montana and get 2 desperate scalpers to low bid each other!
Response from:
J
(03/04/10 12:44pm)
"You have to think about a ticket brokerage as a business."
No- you don't.
You have to think about having morals and not having an ulterior motive when you stand in line or wait in line for your ticket order.
Do you buy a car - not to drive it?
Do you buy food- not to eat it?
Whats next- reselling cans of soup for at $10 a shot in a food shortage?
Scapling is evil, satanic, and heartless. And morally- wrong.
"Bottom line: tickets are a supply and demand item."
So is our economy- people who live on $20 or less per hour- which is about 80% of America, and probably 3/4 of Canada too... I'd like to note there were riots in Vancouver by people who could not afford to go to the olympic games two weeks ago. We saw some of it on our local news.
I'm not the only one who feels scalping is out of hand now.
What about the ticket brokers that are selling $60 tickets for $400 a pop- that go- unpurchased?
I think the Fed or state government have to come in and make strict laws.
Ticket brokers are nothing more- than scalpers. Some states- its illegal to sell tickets for more than 15% of face value- smack it across the board.
I would gather that 80% of the scalpers (brokers) are GOP people as it were. People who believe in Democracy- wouldn't do suck things.
You can't take all that money to the grave when you die- what do you need it for?
Burn in hell- scalper brokers!
No- you don't.
You have to think about having morals and not having an ulterior motive when you stand in line or wait in line for your ticket order.
Do you buy a car - not to drive it?
Do you buy food- not to eat it?
Whats next- reselling cans of soup for at $10 a shot in a food shortage?
Scapling is evil, satanic, and heartless. And morally- wrong.
"Bottom line: tickets are a supply and demand item."
So is our economy- people who live on $20 or less per hour- which is about 80% of America, and probably 3/4 of Canada too... I'd like to note there were riots in Vancouver by people who could not afford to go to the olympic games two weeks ago. We saw some of it on our local news.
I'm not the only one who feels scalping is out of hand now.
What about the ticket brokers that are selling $60 tickets for $400 a pop- that go- unpurchased?
I think the Fed or state government have to come in and make strict laws.
Ticket brokers are nothing more- than scalpers. Some states- its illegal to sell tickets for more than 15% of face value- smack it across the board.
I would gather that 80% of the scalpers (brokers) are GOP people as it were. People who believe in Democracy- wouldn't do suck things.
You can't take all that money to the grave when you die- what do you need it for?
Burn in hell- scalper brokers!
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