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ticketmaster to auction best seats soon. (1 Viewer)

Scott L

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Dang! It brutally does make sense but this means I'll probably never be able to sit in the "best seats in the house" like the rich folk do. At the very least it will be interesting to see how much front row tix for people such as Eric Clapton will go to.
 

Peter Loan

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Don't they kinda do that anyways? I thought they reserved the best seats for the ticket agencies to sell for higher prices. I mean, you can be the first person in line for a popular concert, and you'll still get second tier seats...happens all of the time.
 

Philip_G

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Don't they kinda do that anyways? I thought they reserved the best seats for the ticket agencies to sell for higher prices. I mean, you can be the first person in line for a popular concert, and you'll still get second tier seats...happens all of the time.
HAS to be. For example radiohead played at red rocks here last week. I was online at ticketmaster the SECOND the concert went up for sale and couldn't get reserved seats, in the first 40 or something rows.
 

James Edward

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Here in NY, ticket scalping is illegal, unless you are Ticketmaster. If I stood outside a venue and sold tickets for the same price as them, including 'shipping, handling, and "convenience"' fees, I'd be arrested. :angry:
 

Justin Lane

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Here in NY, ticket scalping is illegal, unless you are Ticketmaster. If I stood outside a venue and sold tickets for the same price as them, including 'shipping, handling, and "convenience"' fees, I'd be arrested.
Ticketmaster has to make money as well. Since scalping is outlawed in many locales, the handling fees and all that other crap they charge you allows them to function. I do think it is a bit out of hand, but until every venue sets up their own website and processes online sales (very unlikely), it is probably the only alternative.

It will interesting to see how exactly Ticketmaster handles these auctions. For areas where venues are located with no scalping laws, will they honor the laws, or will they instead "hold" these auctions in an alternate area without any laws against scalping (probably more likely).

J
 

brentl

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It's about time that another company comes in and offers better value to the consumer.

The extra charges since BASS went under are sad.

From what I remember more than a few groups don't like to use TM. Can't they do something.

Brent
 

Mark Murphy

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Ticketmaster is in bed w/the scalpers. When Tool tickets went on sale after Lateralus came out, I went to the tickmaster booth and had them on the phone (I called 5 min before they would take orders just to be in the call center, no busy signal) and I got open air Lawn seats (general admission crap seats) 90 seconds after they went on sale. When I got to the show, it was pouring rain and I was late for the opening act. A scalper came up to me w/ a stack of tickets four inches thick, no exageration. I managed to weasel 5th row seats for face value because the guy just wanted to get rid of the tickets. How'd he get so many good tickets to a show that sold out in minutes, and that was only one guy. I'm sure there were other scalpers out there too.
 

Francois Caron

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Actually, it's worse than that. The scalpers are in bed with the concert promoters, not necessarily Ticketmaster.

The concert promoter's goal is to sell as many seats as possible in order to maximize profitability. If he can sell off a ton of seats in advance before the actual sale date, that's fewer seats with which he'll take a bath if the concert tanks.

The choice seats are usually sold to underground scalping organizations sometimes at higher than the printed ticket price, putting more money in the promoter's pocket. And since these are untraceable and non-refundable cash sales, the promoter doesn't even report the amount received above the ticket price to the government.

Ticketmaster is essentially a reseller of the tickets the scalpers didn't want to buy from the promoter. That's why they never seem to have any of the choice seats even seconds after a show goes on sale.
 

Mark Murphy

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The tickets I bought said tickemaster right on them, "convenience fees" and all. Its too bad that one can't get tickets without paying 10 times the face value.
 

Sarah S

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Feb 6, 2001
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"Convenience Fees" I can kind of see. But $10 tickets that wind up costing $16.50? That's over 1/2 the price of the ticket in fees alone. Not very convenient, really.
 

Philip_G

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The only concert I ever got decent seats for was tori amos in grand forks ND, probably only because there are no scalpers in ND :angry: (front row, BTW)
 

Steve Y

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You can be first in line, or first online, and it doesn't matter - the hotter acts will generally only have second-tier and above seating available. For nice seats at these shows (radiohead is a good example) you have to know someone in the ticket biz or buy from a scalper. It's not really fair to those without lots of money or connections, but as long as the money flows to the right hands, complaints will not be heeded.

If you go to a place like e-bay, you'll find all the first-tier tickets appear just minutes after the 'ticket gates' open. (fascinating...!) Some people nowadays are willing to pay over $1000.- for a pair of first-tier seats. The prices dip dramatically as more tickets trickle to the auction sites, but I'm still not paying over a hundred and fifty dollars for a good seat, thanks very much. It's hard enough paying fifty for nosebleed seats. (though generally I do prefer lawn seating to second-tier)

This is merely putting a legitimate face on an already common practice.

~steve
 

Ron Etaylor

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Feb 18, 2002
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The concert business must be one of the most user unfriendly businesses on the planet. Let's see: You are willing to pay a premium price for a product. You must be available at a pre-determined time either on-line, or even worse, in person suffering the elements and conditions you wouldn't put up with in a restaurant where you'd be spending 1/10 the money. Then you deal with the traffic and parking hassles only to be herded into an arena where inadequate restroom and overpriced concession facilities await you. Then you find you are seated among a group of people who will obstruct your view by standing in front of you for several hours, or spoil the presentation by talking
on their cell phone for the duration of the show. I think I'll wait for the DVD.
 

Eric_L

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this means I'll probably never be able to sit in the "best seats in the house" like the rich folk do
Sure you can, just be one of 'em!

I think charging more for better seats is a no-brainer. The convience of TM is also worthwhile. (if you think 50% is a high mark-up then you don't know retail very well)

My grip would only be that premium seating is not available to everyone willing to pay for it. It is not fair if you need 'connections' on top of cash. Maybe bidding will relieve this.
 

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