Stubhub, vividseats, etc - so unfair

It is so frustrating that there are so many tickets out there, purchased by companies that just resell them at higher prices. I'm dying to go to this webster hall show, and after missing the 'just released' batch of tix from WH directly by a few seconds my only option is prayer for someone here to sell them, or pay way out of my price range :-(

grrrrr

They do suck. You shoulda seen what they were doing to Replacement tix this morning. Criminal.

But wait until the day of the show if you can...folks will be trying to dump them. I got Sleater-Kinney for face value the morning of....

I just got 2 literally now at 9:40 so there still maybe some tickets left.  I refreshed a few times and all of a sudden there were tickets available again.

theyre available again

It's awful but at the same time I'm weirdly torn about sites like this. I mean, luckily I've only had to deal with stub hub once for a Gaslight level show but for big acts like Springsteen, Billy Joel, etc. I pretty much rely on it. I almost never buy face value for those because I can only ever get nosebleeds if I do. I actually wonder what the odds of getting good seats at shows like that would be if scalpers didn't exist. It's easy to say they'd be better but I really don't think so. It'd just technically be more fair. Tickets would go so fast regardless.

I'm strangely grateful to generally always have a back up option to pay 3x the price and still go to a show/get a decent seat if I think it's worth it. I know how crazy that sounds and I'm not made of money or anything but there are shows I would likely not have been able to go to otherwise.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

It's awful but at the same time I'm weirdly torn about sites like this. I mean, luckily I've only had to deal with stub hub once for a Gaslight level show but for big acts like Springsteen, Billy Joel, etc. I pretty much rely on it. I almost never buy face value for those because I can only ever get nosebleeds if I do. I actually wonder what the odds of getting good seats at shows like that would be if scalpers didn't exist. It's easy to say they'd be better but I really don't think so. It'd just technically be more fair. Tickets would go so fast regardless.

I'm strangely grateful to generally always have a back up option to pay 3x the price and still go to a show/get a decent seat if I think it's worth it. I know how crazy that sounds and I'm not made of money or anything but there are shows I would likely not have been able to go to otherwise.

I have to agree. As much as I rail against scalpers, I've gotten some amazing seats through them (like 8th row Katy Perry tickets). They're a somewhat necessary evil that I hate to admit I sometimes take advantage of. I wish there was a way to end the madness and make sure every fan ends up happy, but I certainly don't have a solution.

There are definitely two sides to the coin on secondary market tickets. Sometimes (like the Replacements and Father John Misty, for me currently) it sucks because tickets are in high demand and prices are jacked through the roof. On the other side, though, I use it for Washington Nationals games all the time and usually end up paying, at most, half of face value, so I get better seats and still save money. Last year, I sat in the Acela Club at Verizon Center here in DC for $25 to see the Arcade Fire. So, it's really hit or miss.

That's very true…they are an unfortunate necessary means sometimes… I try to keep good ticket karma when I need to unload and I think as a result I've gotten lucky. If I cannot give tix away and I want to post it, I do if for less than face. And cross my fingers that a fan gets it and not some jerk that reposts it for a profit (which is a whole other situation…and unfortunately a routine occurrence…).

The refresh thing is true: I always refresh. if it's not a general admission show, often better/other seats will pop up after the first or second try. When it is general admission (like yesterday for the Replacements) I hit refresh several times 20 minutes after they 'sold out' and tix popped up. When tix time out or CC cards don't go through they get thrown back in the kitt-eh…but regardless, this entire process can really be unnecessarily heart-attack inducing…

It certainly doesn't help things though that Ticketmaster now has their own built-in reselling platform. Like what even is that... (I mean other than a filthy ploy to make more money)

Don't get me started on ticketmaster  

pleasepassthesoup wrote:

There are definitely two sides to the coin on secondary market tickets. Sometimes (like the Replacements and Father John Misty, for me currently) it sucks because tickets are in high demand and prices are jacked through the roof. On the other side, though, I use it for Washington Nationals games all the time and usually end up paying, at most, half of face value, so I get better seats and still save money. Last year, I sat in the Acela Club at Verizon Center here in DC for $25 to see the Arcade Fire. So, it's really hit or miss.

I see what you're saying but honestly I am okay even with paying more if the artist is worth it to me. My only real issue is knowing that that extra money isn't going to the artists it's going to some jerk who's done nothing to deserve that money. And of course I obviously don't want to pay more if I don't have to. I guess I just partly see it as "Springsteen tickets cost 300 bucks. That's a fair price. Those shows are incredible and sometimes they're over 3 hours long." rather than "But Springsteen is only charging 100, why do I have to pay so much more!" I mean, I think with certain artists, it's just a reflection of the fact that the price is just too low for the demand. Not that I want it raised, I just consider it a reasonable thing to have to pay more for a good seat.

Maybe this is a terrible idea but, what if artists scalped some of their own tickets? Sort of like saved a very small portion of good seats, (but not all the good seats) that fans knew would be triple face value and wouldn't go on-sale until after the initial sale. So if you missed out, you could pay extra and snatch one of the last few. Since they'd be pricy, they may not go as fast but someone who could afford it (or was willing to not eat for a month) could have a shot at it and the money would actually go to the artist. It's not prefect but it's better than that money inevitably going to some random person.

I guess that's kind of what a fanclub is. only it's a way cheaper/more for your money, way of doing it. Also who's to say one (or more) of these artists aren't in on some kind of scalper scheme where they split the profits with the scalper.

I've witnessed venues scalping tickets outside to non sold out shows. PNC Bank Arts Center does it. Pretty crazy to think about, but they know there is a small market and take advantage of it.

We always have them selling outside of venues here…door guys try to chase them away, but they're still around. Sold out show or not.... People who don't go to a lot of shows, or just don't want to deal with the hassle will throw money at the problem. But there are certain shows that I HAVE to be at. And I will pay what I need to in order to be in the room and to be in the location I want to be in. Because for some musicians, you cannot put a price tag on that 2 hour + experience. (But I don't have to tell you guys that… )

The single greatest thing that has started happening is the door list. The only person who can pick up your tickets is you. You buy 'em, you show up with your ID and CC, and your +1 (or whatever) and you are the only person who can get in on your tickets. The unfortunate thing with that though, is if you can no longer go, and want to give your seats to someone else. Depending on the show or venue, you cannot. Though I've contacted venues and been able to transfer tickets in those situations with no problem. But it completely takes the scalper out of the equation and it's glorious.

cms35 wrote:

We always have them selling outside of venues here…door guys try to chase them away, but they're still around. Sold out show or not.... People who don't go to a lot of shows, or just don't want to deal with the hassle will throw money at the problem. But there are certain shows that I HAVE to be at. And I will pay what I need to in order to be in the room and to be in the location I want to be in. Because for some musicians, you cannot put a price tag on that 2 hour + experience. (But I don't have to tell you guys that… )

The single greatest thing that has started happening is the door list. The only person who can pick up your tickets is you. You buy 'em, you show up with your ID and CC, and your +1 (or whatever) and you are the only person who can get in on your tickets. The unfortunate thing with that though, is if you can no longer go, and want to give your seats to someone else. Depending on the show or venue, you cannot. Though I've contacted venues and been able to transfer tickets in those situations with no problem. But it completely takes the scalper out of the equation and it's glorious.

I couldn't agree more with your first point or less with your second, haha.

Same here regarding there being certain shows you have to be at and in the location you want to be in and you can't put a price on that.

But here's my issue(s) with door lists. Like you said, if you wanna resell for face because you can't go, or if you want to buy from someone who can't go, you better hope you can change the name, and that it happens successfully. This makes me nervous. And a lot of places won't do it. For example, at Home for the Holidays, the annual shows that the Bouncing Souls do in Asbury Park, if you buy tickets through them, you are locked in. There are no refunds, no name changes, and they are all will call. While I love that this protects the tickets from scalpers, I hate that I have to be 100% sure I can go or I may be wasting money. And luckily, these tickets don't go THAT fast, that I've ever been left wondering how I will get a ticket since they're gone. But at other shows, that's a real concern. And it would suck if lets say like a solid 10-20 tickets go unused because their purchaser couldn't go, and others were left out in the cold.

Second, I'm worried scalpers will take their chances and scalp these tickets anyway, or some fool will even try to resell at face, and an unsuspecting buyer, will purchase the tickets, thinking the name won't be an issue because they have a physical ticket, and then they can't get in. Best case scenario, you call stub hub and get your money back but no show for you. Worst case, the person you got it from has disappeared into the wind and you're out that money and you can't go to the show. While I get that this is meant to prevent scalping, it's more likely that the person who just wanted to go to the show, gets screwed in more ways than one. And a ticket gets wasted which is the most ludicrous thing to me!

And when they require you to have the same credit card you used for your purchase, that one's even worse! How in hell do you give tickets as a gift then? Or maybe you're helping someone out and they're paying you back later? OR the person who purchased is the one member of the group who can't go at the last minute. I'd rather the bad guys get away with some shady business then the good guys get screwed over. But maybe that's just me.

Haha - i think we may agree more than you think we do. . All valid points you make - I agree - provided you can still go to the show as planned, it works out perfectly. But if you can't make it, want to give it as a gift, etc.…it could be an issue. But there are 3 venues I see shows at routinely and they do not issue tickets and it's great. They keep a list at the front, and are extremely accommodating if you need to hand over your tickets to someone else or put them in someone else's name. I just email or call them with my info, and one actually has a process for logging in and changing the ticket holder's name.

I think this 'ticketless' option becomes especially important (at least to me) when you have the 'big band playing in a small venue' situation…i.e…..Lollapalooza after shows. I'm not a Foo Fighters fan, but they played a 1000 capacity club a couple years ago, and I can't imagine what scalpers would have done to fans had the ticketless option not been imposed. I think it would have been horrible.

It will never work in a big arena or even a 2500-5000, probably (Though U2 is doing their upcoming tour - I'm not sure of the details on that - I think it's just for fan club people who had early access to tickets - it's tied to the CC card I think…those folks were not issued tickets). The 100-1500 capacity…that works because it's manageable.….If there is a built in mechanism that allows enough flexibility, but not so much that sucky people are preventing fans from getting in without handing over their mom (who is lovely and they'd adore), a kidney, and their 401k, I think it'd be alright….

No matter what, someone gets rich and someone gets screwed, I guess…

cms35 wrote:

Haha - i think we may agree more than you think we do. . All valid points you make - I agree - provided you can still go to the show as planned, it works out perfectly. But if you can't make it, want to give it as a gift, etc.…it could be an issue. But there are 3 venues I see shows at routinely and they do not issue tickets and it's great. They keep a list at the front, and are extremely accommodating if you need to hand over your tickets to someone else or put them in someone else's name. I just email or call them with my info, and one actually has a process for logging in and changing the ticket holder's name.

I think this 'ticketless' option becomes especially important (at least to me) when you have the 'big band playing in a small venue' situation…i.e…..Lollapalooza after shows. I'm not a Foo Fighters fan, but they played a 1000 capacity club a couple years ago, and I can't imagine what scalpers would have done to fans had the ticketless option not been imposed. I think it would have been horrible.

It will never work in a big arena or even a 2500-5000, probably (Though U2 is doing their upcoming tour - I'm not sure of the details on that - I think it's just for fan club people who had early access to tickets - it's tied to the CC card I think…those folks were not issued tickets). The 100-1500 capacity…that works because it's manageable.….If there is a built in mechanism that allows enough flexibility, but not so much that sucky people are preventing fans from getting in without handing over their mom (who is lovely and they'd adore), a kidney, and their 401k, I think it'd be alright….

No matter what, someone gets rich and someone gets screwed, I guess…

Yes I definitely agree you need this for those shows that are in venues that have capacities well below what a band is capable of selling out. I love that idea of being able to actually go and change the name online. You'd just have to make that a relatively complicated and time consuming process unfortunately because otherwise, what's to stop a scalper from just doing that for the ticket buyer. If it's quite a process that would at least reduce the amount of scalpers who bother with it all. Or at least the amount of tickets they grab. There really is no perfect answer is there? All I care about is that something that's meant to protect the fans and screw the scalpers, doesn't end up screwing both the fans and the scalpers.