ebay ticket scalping (nrr)
DrBorisQ
298 Posts
What is the strut's take on this? People buying up tickets to shows that are going to sell out simply for the purpose of making a profit re-selling them on ebay.The rage against the machine gig went on sale here this morning at 9am. It was sold out by 9.01 and tickets were on ebay for 3x the face value by 9.05am. 
I think it is totally disgraceful, but some might argue that it is just the market at work.nb. has this been covered before?
I think it is totally disgraceful, but some might argue that it is just the market at work.nb. has this been covered before?
Comments
It's a lot worse then what I do. I buy limited gear from LA boutiques and flip it for double and triple price.
http://www.helium.com/tm/603886/thing-consider-discussing-ticket
Online auctions and legal issues: Selling concert tickets on Ebay and other sites
I always thought ticket scalping was illegal. Then I discovered eBay. As it turns out, the laws on re-selling tickets vary from state to state. It is never illegal to sell your tickets at or below face value. eBay regulates all ticket auctions based on the state in which the event is being held. Some states don't allow you to sell the tickets above face value, others limit the resale at 3 times the face value, while still others set no limits.
The only exceptions to this are when you are running the actual event to which the tickets are being sold or you sell the tickets as part of a package or "experience." Craigslist only tries to limit you by requesting that you not sell any tickets above face value, but they don't monitor at all. I guess they figure that they have it covered by making you agree that you are responsible.
On a side note: I have thought about the morality of re-selling tickets often as I buy and sell tickets. I have justified any money that I have made as payment for the time I spend searching for the new concerts, hunting down pre-sale passwords and just trying to get on Ticketmaster to get the good seats. And then there are the times when I buy duds that I can't even pay someone to go to the show.
Nothing wrong with someone hustling to feed their family, everyone's gotta eat.
yeah down here it's not illegal, they sometimes pass special laws that cover a specific event, such as the AFL grand final (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL_Grand_Final) but other than that it is a free for all.
actually one music festival printed on their tickets that any that were re-sold would be voided, but that was challenged and over turned in court.
i just think that taking advantage of fans to make a buck for yourself is
Take out the eBay part and this has been going on for decades.
people who live in a city where they have only ever played one gig... 12 years ago.
I don't remotely understand the logic here. People shouldn't be interested in any show that other people might want to see?
Hahaha that is dead on. The culture of anti.
I bought Daft Punk tickets (have been a massive fan for years, they had a big influence on me) BOOM 50 tickets on ebay within the day. I don't even think they had sold out yet.
Friends of my little sister were talking about going and they don't even know the band, only that its cool to be going. My 55 yr old mum went to the p!nk concert. My sister saw smashing pumpkins just before they broke up in the netherlands or some shit, having never heard a single song.
I find it interesting that in a consumer culture, where people are always looking for added value, that people shell out major dollars for a show.
Between the droves of hipsters trying ridiculously hard to seem effortlessly cool, and the scalpers making it impossible to get tickets to anything (since most half decent bands play festivals here) the future of seeing acts live seems kind of bleak to me. (no emo)
Spot on. It seems like you have to mount some strategically planned ninja mission to get tickets to anything these days.
back in my day... etc etc
the only other way is too get freindly with promotors and staff etc, but either way you still end up in a line of endless hipsters
Yeah that is the problem, i don't think there is any obvious solution. I've seen a few festivals printing the tickets with your name on them and you have to have an ID to match it at the gate.
Meredith festival (http://www.mmf.com.au) had a system where 1/2 the tickets went in a ballot to subscribers, with preference to those who had been to the festival in previous years and the other 1/2 was split between sales in independent record stores and online. Each record store got their own allocation of tickets to sell, i.e. they weren't part of an online system.
I think that is a pretty good, and fair system.
Nothing is perfect though. Your right, most promoters couldn't give a shit as long as they sell all their tickets.
Apparently enough people to sell the concert out in 5 minutes
It's pretty simple. The vast majority of the population listens to garbage, so anything that will sell out in 5 minutes is most likely garbage.
I run a legitimate ticketing business. Any ticket from Ticketmaster etc has terms and conditions saying that the tickets can't be resold. In practice, it's impossible to stop it because you cannot determine the source of every ticket that you see at the door.
The only way to make things harder for the scalpers is to go digital and deliver electronic tickets with unique ID codes. However, this would also eliminate booking fees, which the main ticket agents are never going to do.
Reality is that venues, promoters and ticket agents just care about shifting seats. Once the ticket has been bought they really don't care what happens to it unless it's a big charity thing like Live8 which will make them look bad if it turns out all the tickets have been scooped up by crooked resellers. That's pretty much the only time eBay will remove ticket listings.
Ticketing is a dirty game.
I'm not sure how it is out in Brizvegas, but this just isn't true elsewhere in the world. gigs and concerts are where the money is going in the music industry. Whats more 'added value' than seeing your 'heroes' play their hits in front of you.
the rumours of Madonna leaving Warner to sign a $100 million deal with a tour promoter which will encompass label duties i.e putting out her records.
Universal buying Sanctuary to get its hands on their management and merch arms.
While for the normal gig goer, tickets may become harder and harder to get, gigs and live music are in the best of health.
Not half, how do ticketers justify not refunding the booking fee if a gig is cancelled?
Half the booking fee goes to the ticket agent, half to the promoter. The latter is not recoverable - that's promoters for you.
Wow, this I did not know, thanks. They get paid even when not getting paid.
That's what I was going to say. That's the whole ticket scalp hustle. Buy 'em up and sell high. The only difference here is eBay.
ebay tickets selling