Ticket Scalpers - Tools of the trade?

[Fingolfin269]

People often complain that they can't get tickets to a show because all of the scalpers get them. Do any of you know how it's actually done? I don't want to scalp and generally do a great job at getting tickets quickly, but do know it would be nice to have whatever tools they are using at my disposal to at least ensure I'm not going to get left out of a highly desirable show. The upcoming Nashville Tool show is just one example. It sold out very quickly and no one I know managed to get tickets other than me (and that was via a ticket rep since I'm a season ticket holder with the Nashville Preds).

I'd rather venues just move to a credit card entry requirement to circumvent this but that just doesn't happen consistently enough to be reliable. I also know it's not 100% but would at least make it a little more of an annoyance to these guys.

 

[Ns1]

They say "bots" but nobody's willing to own up to any of these bots. I'm led to believe it's more of a problem of pre-sold tickets leading to a very small number of tickets actually available to the public. So that leads me to use the general tools available to everyone - AmEx concierge, fan club presales, radio show presales, phone(s), and computer(s).

I suspect anyone that is serious about this has many phones, with different sims, in order to have different IP addresses to avoid getting blacklisted.

http://www.today.com/news/why-you-cant-get-tickets-hottest-concerts-6C10505415

By the time tickets officially go on sale, most may already be unavailable. "A huge percentage of these tickets will have already been sold before you have a chance to buy the two that you want," he told us.

"Who's getting them?" we asked.

"They're giving them to the high-end credit card holders who get the email three days before you ever knew the concert was going on sale. They're giving them to the fan club. And then many of them go to the artist or to the venue," Potter explained.

And, he said, the numbers for many concerts are staggering. For a One Direction show in New Jersey this month, documents reveal at least 64 percent of tickets were held back or sold to special groups, unavailable to everybody else.

Then there's Maroon 5. At a recent concert, same thing: 64 percent earmarked for VIPs and special groups. And even higher for Pink: For her concert at New Jersey's Izod Center, at least 77 percent of tickets of tickets were reserved for those special groups. The rest of the public had to fight for what was left.

But the most dramatic example is Justin Bieber. At his concert in Fresno, Calif., 92 percent of tickets went to special groups or were held back entirely. That means that of 12,000 seats, only 940 were set aside for the official sale date.

As a fellow Tool fan and a part time scalper, would be happy to continue this conversation via PM. I did end up getting tickets to Night 2 SF btw, which actually took 12 hours to sell out.

The Tool problem was further exacerbated by the fact that they decided to play small arenas - 7-15k capacity. They have NO problem selling out larger venues, at least in my town.

 

[Brian Stirling]

In many places the number of people vying for tickets vastly outnumber the available tickets. Think of NYC with 7M+ people and Madison Square Garden with just over 18,000 seats and a big basketball game.

The problem is made worse by the fact that wealthy buyers will pay thousands for a two hundred dollar seat and scalpers are there to provide them those seats even though the general public is squeezed out of the process.

If this was all above board you wouldn't see nearly as many wealthy folks with floor seats as they'd have to compete with the unwashed masses. The scalper system makes it possible for the wealthy to not have to compete with the average Joe and instead pay a much higher price for the guarantee of a good seat.

Yes, there are a good many top dollar seats owned by season ticket holders but many of the remaining good seats are for all intents and purposes reserved for the wealthy as they have the money.


Brian

 

[NutBucket]

I seem to have the best luck with credit card presales. Amex seems to solve the problem most of the time.

Kids these days. I remember lining up at a ticket window for 2-3 hours in a bad neighborhood in an attempt to increase my chances of getting better seats. Then you'd still end up with obstructed view seats behind the stage.