why is ticket scalping illegal in some states?

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Harvey
A better question is, why is ticket scalping not illegal in every state? These parasites take unfair advantage of the majority of people who have real lives and can't get to box offices very early to beat those who grab quantities of tickets for major attractions. Then they sell them at hyper-inflated prices.

None of that bloat goes to the performers, whose shows are the actual item of value, or to the venues, who have to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit to stay in business. All it does is put a huge layer of expense between those who earn the money with the shows and their audiences. If they charge more than one or two percent above the face price of a ticket, the only difference between so-called "legal" scalpers (TicketMaster, etc.) and the phone banks and street hustlers is that the licensed ones are paying graft to officials in the locales they rape.

I think all scalpers should all be jailed and forced to pay a continuing fine of over fifty times the costs of their incarceration to cover the cost of their prosecution and interment. :|

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

Yet whiners treat scalpers/Ticketmaster as if they have bought up all the food or water in a hurricane stricken area, and are gouging victims. This couldn't be farther from the truth. You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

 

[gar598]

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

supply and demand

 

[exp]

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

*Very* well put. Scalpers do not create artificially high prices, they simply correct artificially low prices.

 

[bizmark]

Originally posted by: exp

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

*Very* well put. Scalpers do not create artificially high prices, they simply correct artificially low prices.

AmusedOne, why do you have a problem with TicketMaster if you agree that it's their prerogative to sell tickets for whatever price they can get? If enough people are willing to buy the tickets at TM's inflated prices, then that's a fair price for the tickets, right? How have the people been "had" (your first post) if they're still willing to pay the higher prices that TicketMaster charges?

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: AmusedOne

Originally posted by: Harvey
A better question is, why is ticket scalping not illegal in every state? These parasites take unfair advantage of the majority of people who have real lives and can't get to box offices very early to beat those who grab quantities of tickets for major attractions. Then they sell them at hyper-inflated prices.

None of that bloat goes to the performers, whose shows are the actual item of value, or to the venues, who have to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit to stay in business. All it does is put a huge layer of expense between those who earn the money with the shows and their audiences. If they charge more than one or two percent above the face price of a ticket, the only difference between so-called "legal" scalpers (TicketMaster, etc.) and the phone banks and street hustlers is that the licensed ones are paying graft to officials in the locales they rape.

I think all scalpers should all be jailed and forced to pay a continuing fine of over fifty times the costs of their incarceration to cover the cost of their prosecution and interment. :|

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

Yet whiners treat scalpers/Ticketmaster as if they have bought up all the food or water in a hurricane stricken area, and are gouging victims. This couldn't be farther from the truth. You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

Nice reply, AmusedOne, but probably just more pearls before swine.

Anyway, scalpers are performing a 'service' - if you're too lazy/busy/whatever to camp out at the ticket venue overnight or however long it takes to get tickets, they make them available to you (at increased prices, of course) at a time when the tickets might otherwise be unavailable. Time is money, after all, and some people would rather pay more than waste time in line or on the phone. Besides, to echo AmusedOne, if you don't like their prices, don't pay them!! Punish scalpers by leaving them with lots of unsold inventory.

 

[McPhreak]

Hows this as a solution to scalping?

They should assign seating randomly at the time of the show rather than assign seating on a first come first serve basis weeks/months before the show. Nowadays, most venues electronically scan tickets before you enter, so why not assign a random seat while it's scanning the validity of the ticket?

edit: I guess you would need to tinker with it a little for people who wish to sit together, but I think it can still be done.

 

[MacBaine]

I posted a while back why ticket broking isn't illegal... I was the only one who thought it should be. Whatever you say, ticket broking is NOT fair. The people who buy these tickets have an inhernet advantage over Joe Blow trying to buy tickets. They are even allowed to break rules set by ticketmaster (Limit of 8).

Let's put it this way. What If Intel came out with a new processor.... 10 GHz. They sold them at $50. Yes, fifty dollars. So the demand is incredibly high, the price is incredibly low. By all this logic, If I went to Intel and all the stores, and I bought every single one of them in the world... and I jacked the price up to $5000.... you wouldn't have any problem with this?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: bizmark

Originally posted by: exp

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

*Very* well put. Scalpers do not create artificially high prices, they simply correct artificially low prices.

AmusedOne, why do you have a problem with TicketMaster if you agree that it's their prerogative to sell tickets for whatever price they can get? If enough people are willing to buy the tickets at TM's inflated prices, then that's a fair price for the tickets, right? How have the people been "had" (your first post) if they're still willing to pay the higher prices that TicketMaster charges?

I have no problem with Ticketmaster. I have a problem with the double standard that state Ticketmaster is legal, but individuals selling tickets are not.

And yes, either way they've been had. They've been had because in an attempt to set ticket prices lower by outlawing scalpers, they created giant companies that do the exact same thing. Had they left it alone, it wouldn't be like this.

 

[phatcow]

the general rule is you wanna play, you gotta pay.


if YOU did not choose to camp out, or stand in line for the Janet Jackson concert, and wait until its sold out, its your choice to.
And if you want to watch it, you must pay more because the initial supply is depleted.


Look at the PlayStation2 when it first came out. I Bought it for $299 the day it came out, and sold it back for $840 bucks. Was it wrong? no. Its just that someone valued it at more than what the SRP was, and were willing to pay the amount. Case closed.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: MacBaine
I posted a while back why ticket broking isn't illegal... I was the only one who thought it should be. Whatever you say, ticket broking is NOT fair. The people who buy these tickets have an inhernet advantage over Joe Blow trying to buy tickets. They are even allowed to break rules set by ticketmaster (Limit of 8).

Let's put it this way. What If Intel came out with a new processor.... 10 GHz. They sold them at $50. Yes, fifty dollars. So the demand is incredibly high, the price is incredibly low. By all this logic, If I went to Intel and all the stores, and I bought every single one of them in the world... and I jacked the price up to $5000.... you wouldn't have any problem with this?

Nope, you'd have cornered the market. Good for you. No where in the Constitution are you guaranteed "fair" prices on event tickets, or processors, for that matter. If the person is charging too high of a price, people will stop buying them. Scalpers and resellers are successful because people are stupid enough to pay their prices. Your beef is with the stupid people, not the people making a buck off of them.

 

[phatcow]

people who buy these tickets have an inhernet advantage over Joe Blow trying to buy tickets

why cant jow blow do the same, and stand in line like everyone else when it is being sold, than waiting at the last minute wanting to go.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Originally posted by: AmusedOne

Originally posted by: Harvey
A better question is, why is ticket scalping not illegal in every state? These parasites take unfair advantage of the majority of people who have real lives and can't get to box offices very early to beat those who grab quantities of tickets for major attractions. Then they sell them at hyper-inflated prices.

None of that bloat goes to the performers, whose shows are the actual item of value, or to the venues, who have to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit to stay in business. All it does is put a huge layer of expense between those who earn the money with the shows and their audiences. If they charge more than one or two percent above the face price of a ticket, the only difference between so-called "legal" scalpers (TicketMaster, etc.) and the phone banks and street hustlers is that the licensed ones are paying graft to officials in the locales they rape.

I think all scalpers should all be jailed and forced to pay a continuing fine of over fifty times the costs of their incarceration to cover the cost of their prosecution and interment. :|

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

Yet whiners treat scalpers/Ticketmaster as if they have bought up all the food or water in a hurricane stricken area, and are gouging victims. This couldn't be farther from the truth. You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

Nice reply, AmusedOne, but probably just more pearls before swine.

Anyway, scalpers are performing a 'service' - if you're too lazy/busy/whatever to camp out at the ticket venue overnight or however long it takes to get tickets, they make them available to you (at increased prices, of course) at a time when the tickets might otherwise be unavailable. Time is money, after all, and some people would rather pay more than waste time in line or on the phone. Besides, to echo AmusedOne, if you don't like their prices, don't pay them!! Punish scalpers by leaving them with lots of unsold inventory.

Mursilis - You have it backwards, Scalpers are providing a diservice. It is not necessarily that these people are not out there camping out for tickets, it is the fact that others are camping out for the tickets with no intention of goin. Their sole intention is to deny you the ability to purchase these tickets at the marked value, and create artificially high prices(a micro-monopoly).

exp - I hope you were joking.

AmusedOne - "Fair Price" So-called by you, does not exist, what does exist is the price marked on the tickets, and that is the price that should be available to everyone. You are absolutely correct when you say that people do not *NEED* these tickets, however it does not apply to this discussion. What does apply is the simple fact that some of these venues might not sell out if scalpers did not purchase tickets with the sole intent of reselling at a markup, and hence the people that must purchase the tickets from the scalpers could have gone to the event for the originally marked price otherwise.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: MacBaine
I posted a while back why ticket broking isn't illegal... I was the only one who thought it should be. Whatever you say, ticket broking is NOT fair. The people who buy these tickets have an inhernet advantage over Joe Blow trying to buy tickets. They are even allowed to break rules set by ticketmaster (Limit of 8).

Let's put it this way. What If Intel came out with a new processor.... 10 GHz. They sold them at $50. Yes, fifty dollars. So the demand is incredibly high, the price is incredibly low. By all this logic, If I went to Intel and all the stores, and I bought every single one of them in the world... and I jacked the price up to $5000.... you wouldn't have any problem with this?

Heck no; I've got a Duron. Besides, lots of attempts to corner the market on a good have been spectacular failures; the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market a number of years back, and lost a ton of $$$$. Attempting to manipulate supply and demand is as much a recipe for disaster as it is for success.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Originally posted by: AmusedOne

Originally posted by: Harvey
A better question is, why is ticket scalping not illegal in every state? These parasites take unfair advantage of the majority of people who have real lives and can't get to box offices very early to beat those who grab quantities of tickets for major attractions. Then they sell them at hyper-inflated prices.

None of that bloat goes to the performers, whose shows are the actual item of value, or to the venues, who have to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit to stay in business. All it does is put a huge layer of expense between those who earn the money with the shows and their audiences. If they charge more than one or two percent above the face price of a ticket, the only difference between so-called "legal" scalpers (TicketMaster, etc.) and the phone banks and street hustlers is that the licensed ones are paying graft to officials in the locales they rape.

I think all scalpers should all be jailed and forced to pay a continuing fine of over fifty times the costs of their incarceration to cover the cost of their prosecution and interment. :|

Again, someone has their "blame priority" all wrong. Scalpers and Ticketmaster (one in the same) make money because idiots are willing to pay their prices. You are not entitled to a "fair price" on tickets. No one is. Your power, and the power of the rest of the public is to simply NOT BUY THE TICKETS AT THE INFLATED PRICES.

Yet whiners treat scalpers/Ticketmaster as if they have bought up all the food or water in a hurricane stricken area, and are gouging victims. This couldn't be farther from the truth. You do not NEED an event ticket. And your desire to have one does NOT supersede another's desire to trade them for higher than they bought them for.

The value of an item is whatever enough people are willing to pay for it, not what you consider "fair."

Nice reply, AmusedOne, but probably just more pearls before swine.

Anyway, scalpers are performing a 'service' - if you're too lazy/busy/whatever to camp out at the ticket venue overnight or however long it takes to get tickets, they make them available to you (at increased prices, of course) at a time when the tickets might otherwise be unavailable. Time is money, after all, and some people would rather pay more than waste time in line or on the phone. Besides, to echo AmusedOne, if you don't like their prices, don't pay them!! Punish scalpers by leaving them with lots of unsold inventory.

Mursilis - You have it backwards, Scalpers are providing a diservice. It is not necessarily that these people are not out there camping out for tickets, it is the fact that others are camping out for the tickets with no intention of goin. Their sole intention is to deny you the ability to purchase these tickets at the market value, and create artificially high prices(a micro-monopoly).

exp - I hope you were joking.

AmusedOne - "Fair Price" So-called by you, does not exist, what does exist is the price marked on the tickets, and that is the price that should be available to everyone. You are absolutely correct when you say that people do not *NEED* these tickets, however it does not apply to this discussion. What does apply is the simple fact that some of these venues might not sell out if scalpers did not purchase tickets with the sole intent of reselling at a markup, and hence the people that must purchase the tickets from the scalpers could have gone to the event for the originally marked price otherwise.

Sorry, but your feeling of entitlement ("I deserve to buy these tickets at face value") does not preclude another person's right to sell an item they own at any price they deem fit.

The price marked on the ticket is NOTHING more than the price charged by the box office. It does not legally set the price in stone, nor is it legal tender.

If you want a ticket, get in line. If you want to wait 'till the last moment, expect to pay others to stand in line by paying the increased cost of a second or third hand ticket.

Again, no where in the Constitution are you guaranteed the "right to a fair price" or the "right to set prices on items as you see fit."

BTW, by your logic, that Superman #1 comic book should never be allowed to sell more than the price on the cover.

 

[Jzero]

Sorry, but your feeling of entitlement ("I deserve to buy these tickets at face value") does not preclude another person's right to sell an item they own at any price they deem fit.

This reflects back to a post earlier in which I mentioned that while you may own the physical piece of paper, you still do not own the contract it represents between the ticketholder and the venue (read the fine print on the back of any ticket).
Just because you hold a ticket doesn't mean that you still won't be refused entry for not holding up your end of the contract.

In other words, are truly selling something you "own"?

Again, no where in the Constitution are you guaranteed the "right to a fair price" or the "right to set prices on items as you see fit."

When did this become an issue of constitutionality? We operate under a free market. When someone leverages the system to gain an unfair advantage at the expense of the consumer, they get penalized.
It's ok to have a monopoly, it's not ok to take advantage of that monopoly to screw the consumer, which is exactly what scalpers and ticketbastard do. These companies and people artificially manipulate the supply in order to gouge the consumer. Whether it's a "necessity" or not is really irrelevant. Are you saying that it would not be ok to artificially drive up the price of a staple commodity? If I were to purchase by some miracle all the milk available in the US and sell it for $50/gallon, that would be illegal even though it wouldn't be for concert tickets?
Price fixing is price fixing. It doesn't matter who does it. It's anti-consumer and it's illegal.

BTW, by your logic, that Superman #1 comic book should never be allowed to sell more than the price on the cover.

This is simple supply and demand. No one is manipulating the market.

 

[bonk102]

i don't know, i think if someone wants to spend 10x as much for a ticket as they could have, why not let them?

 

[MacBaine]

Nope, you'd have cornered the market. Good for you. No where in the Constitution are you guaranteed "fair" prices on event tickets, or processors, for that matter. If the person is charging too high of a price, people will stop buying them. Scalpers and resellers are successful because people are stupid enough to pay their prices. Your beef is with the stupid people, not the people making a buck off of them.

I didn't ask whether it's in the constitution or not. I'm asking, if Intel, the main provider of the chip chose to sell it at $50, then I bought all of them and charged $5000, you wouldn't have any problem with this at all? Not one bit?

Let's put it another way. You go to a computer show where they are handing out free copies of the coolest new game or whatever, and it won't ever be released in the stores. Say me and my friends work there, and we talk to some people and we manage to get all of the games to ourselves before they are given out. So then we go out and we are selling them in the parking lot for $100. This wouldn't bother you in the least? You came expecting this free game, and only to find out that we took them all and are selling them for $100. Keep in mind, you REALLY wanted this game. You had been looking foreward to it for years. Even if you thought this game was worth $100, you didn't have $100 to spend on it. Tell me again, this would not bother you one bit? You wouldn't be mad or upset at me for taking them all and selling them?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Nope, you'd have cornered the market. Good for you. No where in the Constitution are you guaranteed "fair" prices on event tickets, or processors, for that matter. If the person is charging too high of a price, people will stop buying them. Scalpers and resellers are successful because people are stupid enough to pay their prices. Your beef is with the stupid people, not the people making a buck off of them.

I didn't ask whether it's in the constitution or not. I'm asking, if Intel, the main provider of the chip chose to sell it at $50, then I bought all of them and charged $5000, you wouldn't have any problem with this at all? Not one bit?

Let's put it another way. You go to a computer show where they are handing out free copies of the coolest new game or whatever, and it won't ever be released in the stores. Say me and my friends work there, and we talk to some people and we manage to get all of the games to ourselves before they are given out. So then we go out and we are selling them in the parking lot for $100. This wouldn't bother you in the least? You came expecting this free game, and only to find out that we took them all and are selling them for $100. Keep in mind, you REALLY wanted this game. You had been looking foreward to it for years. Even if you thought this game was worth $100, you didn't have $100 to spend on it. Tell me again, this would not bother you one bit? You wouldn't be mad or upset at me for taking them all and selling them?

Yep, I'd think you're a prick and I'd not buy the game. However, I wouldn't ever think to use laws to FORCE you to sell what was rightfully yours at a price *I* determine is "fair."

As for the Intel question, I'd just wait for you to go out of business, and buy a chip from the guy who bought your inventory, then priced it at a reasonable level. Intel ALREADY sells their chips at lower prices than you see at retail. It's up to the RETAIL BUSINESS to set the price. Intel can only suggest a retail price. Go to pricewatch.com and see the vast variation in prices on Intel chips.

When will people learn out there that DEMAND sets the price of an item. Not "fairness," not whining, but demand. A person has the right to charge as much as they want for an item. If the demand is there, it will sell, if not, it wont and he'll have to lower his prices. Either way, price controls NEVER work and only create more problems than they tried to address.

 

[ElFenix]

last i checked TM ticket prices were set by the event, and TM charges a few $ service fee.


you limit the amount of tickets purchased at one time to, say, 10. then most regular groups would get them and scalpers couldn't buy them up so fast.

 

[bizmark]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Let's put it another way. You go to a computer show where they are handing out free copies of the coolest new game or whatever, and it won't ever be released in the stores. Say me and my friends work there, and we talk to some people and we manage to get all of the games to ourselves before they are given out. So then we go out and we are selling them in the parking lot for $100. This wouldn't bother you in the least? You came expecting this free game, and only to find out that we took them all and are selling them for $100. Keep in mind, you REALLY wanted this game. You had been looking foreward to it for years. Even if you thought this game was worth $100, you didn't have $100 to spend on it. Tell me again, this would not bother you one bit? You wouldn't be mad or upset at me for taking them all and selling them?

I'd say that the people who buy them all and sell them for $100 are even doing a great service. The idea of 'getting there first' or 'being in the right place at the right time' to get something for free is really quite inefficient. By taking them all and selling them for $100 apiece, those who REALLY want the game will pay the $100 for it, and it won't matter whether they happened to be at the place where they were given away.

It's all a problem of allocating limited resources. The best way to do this (the Pareto efficient way) is to have an open market in which the people willing to pay the most are able to get what they want, and so on down in prices, until the sellers are not willing to sell at a certain price level. Airlines have this down to an art -- no two people on the same airplane will pay the same fare. Price discrimination is the holy grail of allocation. We're too used to everybody paying the same price for every good.

Scalpers enable this to happen. You don't have to show up the first day and stand in line to get tickets -- you just have to be willing to pay more. Those who aren't willing to pay, won't. In the previous example, it would be *stupid* of Intel to sell those processors at $50 apiece if there were very many people who were willing to pay $10,000 for them. Such a situation would never happen.

 

[mastertech01]

I think it simply robs common citizens equal access. Scalpers run the prices out of reach for many, and gobble up what resources there are for unsold tickets. Free enterprize should not deprive everyone a reasonable opportunity to enjoy entertainment. It creates a separatist environment limiting access only to those who can afford unreasonable prices. Do we really want only the elitist to be able to enjoy the good things in life? In my humble opinion this is just another form of oppression, compliments of the greedy.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Nice reply, AmusedOne, but probably just more pearls before swine.

Both posts are more like swill from swine. :|

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Nice reply, AmusedOne, but probably just more pearls before swine.

Both posts are more like swill from swine. :|

Um, yeah, that made sense.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: Mursilis

Nice reply, AmusedOne, but probably just more pearls before swine.

Both posts are more like swill from swine. :|

A cogent argument, Harv - I concede to the greater intellect! [That's sarcasm, in case it confuses you.]

I'm truly sorry you can't get Brittany Spears tickets for $5, but life's just unfair that way. Clearly, the vast majority think ticket scalpers perform a service valuable enough that they keep such business afloat. As it's been said before, you don't HAVE to go to a concert or sporting event, so if you don't like the prices, don't pay 'em!! Works for me.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: bizmark

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Let's put it another way. You go to a computer show where they are handing out free copies of the coolest new game or whatever, and it won't ever be released in the stores. Say me and my friends work there, and we talk to some people and we manage to get all of the games to ourselves before they are given out. So then we go out and we are selling them in the parking lot for $100. This wouldn't bother you in the least? You came expecting this free game, and only to find out that we took them all and are selling them for $100. Keep in mind, you REALLY wanted this game. You had been looking foreward to it for years. Even if you thought this game was worth $100, you didn't have $100 to spend on it. Tell me again, this would not bother you one bit? You wouldn't be mad or upset at me for taking them all and selling them?

I'd say that the people who buy them all and sell them for $100 are even doing a great service. The idea of 'getting there first' or 'being in the right place at the right time' to get something for free is really quite inefficient. By taking them all and selling them for $100 apiece, those who REALLY want the game will pay the $100 for it, and it won't matter whether they happened to be at the place where they were given away.

It's all a problem of allocating limited resources. The best way to do this (the Pareto efficient way) is to have an open market in which the people willing to pay the most are able to get what they want, and so on down in prices, until the sellers are not willing to sell at a certain price level. Airlines have this down to an art -- no two people on the same airplane will pay the same fare. Price discrimination is the holy grail of allocation. We're too used to everybody paying the same price for every good.

Scalpers enable this to happen. You don't have to show up the first day and stand in line to get tickets -- you just have to be willing to pay more. Those who aren't willing to pay, won't. In the previous example, it would be *stupid* of Intel to sell those processors at $50 apiece if there were very many people who were willing to pay $10,000 for them. Such a situation would never happen.

You have Contradicted yourself and rendered your argument useless. First you claim that it is ok for these limited few to posess the entire stock of an item and set any price they wish on them, this is called a monopoly, when all of the resources are controlled by an individual or a group. Next you go on to say that we should have an open market, news flash, a monopoly is the very antithesis of an open market.