Of course, for events that only provide General Admission seating, the key is not in how soon you buy your tickets but in how early you arrive at the event. General Admission tickets do not reserve a particular seat, they simply reserve a seat somewhere.
For many people, when it comes to buying tickets, the first place that enters their mind is a ticket agency. Though a little higher-priced than buying a ticket at the venue because of commissions, it saves driving to the venue to get tickets in advance or waiting until the day of the event and hoping there are tickets still remaining. For some people, this is still their choice for the purchase of tickets because even with access to a computer, many people are still fearful of making any purchase over the Internet that requires providing any kind of personal information. The numbers are decreasing as the baby boomers retire and more young people begin buying tickets.
The younger generation has known no other way, and as such, they are not as fearful of using the Internet as are their parents are grandparents. Buying tickets on the Internet is headed toward being the most popular means of purchasing tickets, especially with new technology that allows the purchaser to print the ticket on his home printer either directly from the site or the seller’s use of programs such as TicketFast that sends the tickets to email.
You can also purchase your tickets from ticket brokers as well as ticket scalpers. In either of these cases, you will pay a bit more but you will also get the tickets that are harder to get that you just have to have! Wherever you get them, find them and use them to enjoy yourself.
]]>Technological progress has certainly not inhibited the growth of ticket sales. Looking back over the last few years, one can see how the evolution of ticket sales has kept up with the technological advances. To see this evolution, one has only to look back over about the last fifty or sixty years. The days of having to go to the venue to buy tickets at the door have come and gone, and the purchase of tickets through the ticket agencies are slowing fading into oblivion as well. As more homes invest in computers for family use, the idea of purchasing event tickets on the Internet becomes a routine thing.
Of course, one has to see that even the inception of Internet technology for the purchase of tickets has evolved even over the last five years. At the birth of this technology, one ordered the tickets on the Internet, and they were either mailed to you or picked up at the venue when you arrived. From there companies progressed to the point where a purchaser could print a ticket, or in the case of an airline, a boarding pass, right on their home printer, thereby saving time when arriving at their destination.
In addition to this process, we have programs such as TicketFast that allow the emailing of tickets to the purchaser. It has progressed so far over the years that one wonders what the next step might be – a plastic card with a microchip perhaps that is digitally loaded each time a purchase is made? It’s an interesting thought, but only time will show us what the next advances will be.
]]>There are a great many places on the Internet to secure hard to find and sold out tickets to various events, but these tickets can be costly, especially for the more popular events. For example, tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert in New York are known to go as high as $9,428 a piece with a bottom price of $106 through one ticket broker. It appears that some of these prices border on crazy, but the ticket brokers are legal, licensed entities, and their prices are based on the amount of work that it takes for them to obtain the tickets you want.
Unlike ticket agencies such as TicketMaster, a ticket broker will look for the tickets you want rather than only selling you what they show is available. It translates into paying for what you get. If you’re willing to accept that only certain seats are available and choosing from that, a ticket agency is a more economical choice. If, however, you have a certain ticket you want to secure, and you are willing to pay the price to get it, a ticket broker is likely to be able to do that for you.
A ticket broker is there to provide the level of service that neither a ticket agency nor the venue itself are able or willing to provide, but you must be willing to pay the price for that service. This can be as low as $5 or as high as $20 over what the venue charges, and in some cases a great deal more than that. Yet, the benefit of being able to say you got into that sold out show just may be what makes it all so very worth it!
]]>In addition to scalpers who frequent the events, there are also auction sites such as EBay where sellers post tickets for sale to unsuspecting buyers. Of course, with the auction sites, the buyer chooses to be a part of the scalper’s scam by agreeing to pay that price without knowing if he is purchasing a legitimate ticket. Of course, with EBay, there is also the option of checking a seller’s feedback profile, so if this seller has done business in the past, a buyer can discover if he has the tendency to sell legitimate products. As long as you are able to conduct business with someone you trust, there should be no problem with the scalper. The purpose is not to avoid the scalper, but to avoid those who are not offering something legitimate for sale.
You can also avoid being a victim of scalpers by making certain that you have purchased your tickets in advance. By already having tickets to the event you wish to attend, you eliminate the possibility of being approached by a scalper of whom you have no knowledge. You also need to know how to recognize a counterfeit ticket, and if you are a frequent patron of various events, this will become something that you soon become second nature to you. When you recognize the signs of a counterfeit ticket, you will then know to avoid the ticket scalper who attempted to sell you the fraudulent ticket.
]]>After you have a general knowledge of the ticket broker business, you want to query your state, city, and county governments in order to obtain the rules that you must follow for licensing. Their representatives will be able to provide you with both forms and printed material that will give you the information necessary to become licensed in your state.
Remember, until you have filed the necessary paperwork and obtained your business license and any other types of license that may be required contingent upon the location of your business, you cannot begin selling tickets as a broker. If this is your first business, and you have had to secure a building, there may be other regulations as well regarding occupancy and other state, county, or city codes. Since each city and state is different, a quick search for your location’s laws is essential.
While you are waiting for your licensing to become finalized, you can begin making your contacts and securing pricing on the ticket line that you wish to sell. You can also take this time to do some networking so that when everything is ready to go with your license, you are ready to go with being a ticket broker. Remember, the most important part of building your customer base is going to be in the level of customer service you provide and your integrity, so don’t try to outsell your competitors just to make a little more profit or you will lose your customers to another ticket broker.
Your goal will be to work on developing contacts and clients. If you are sales type of person, then you may just be quite successful at becoming a licensed ticket broker.
]]>The legality of ticket scalping is then in the mind of the scalper as well. After all, this is free enterprise, and many feel that they have the right to choose the price they want to charge for their merchandise, even that which has pre-set prices. However, in these instances, the venues are responsible for the numbers of scalpers that are selling tickets at higher than the face value of the ticket. This is caused by the venues trying to maintain control over the number of tickets that are sold at their prices while preventing the arena or stadium from becoming filled to capacity. The ticket scalper is simply providing a service to those customers who have been unable to obtain tickets to an event through the traditional avenues of purchase.
Are the laws going to stop the ticket scalpers from peddling their wares? Not likely unless the venues change the way they advertise, sell, and provide tickets to the events. As long as those who attend the events are willing to pay whatever price they have to pay in order to attend, ticket scalpers are going to continue to exercise their right to provide a service to the public. In order to stop the business of ticket scalping, the venues and their various agents need to be sure that enough tickets are available to meet the demand for attendance. Since it hasn’t happened anytime in the last twenty or thirty years, it is not likely to happen anytime in the near or distant future. Thus, ticket scalping will remain a profitable business and an alternative means for purchasing event tickets.
]]>Some ticket brokers may choose to use a company such as webtickets.com instead of advertising to the general public for the tickets that they seek. Whether this is a better way to get the information out there depends on the amount of advertising that is done by the company hired by the ticket broker as well as the potential seller’s experience with selling that way. Webtickets says they also sell on consignment, so if you can’t find a broker for your tickets, this may be another way for you to find a potential broker who is interested in what you have to sell.
As a seller, one thing you must keep in mind is that a ticket broker is looking for tickets for a customer. Depending on what his customer is willing to pay, you may or may not be able to sell your tickets at face value. Keep in mind that the broker is going to charge in excess of the face value to his customer, but he already knows what the maximum is that his customer will pay. In other words, if you have concert tickets with a face value of $60, and the broker has a customer who is willing to pay no more than $100 for the tickets, you may have to accept less than face value to sell the tickets.
After all, if the broker has to search for the tickets, he is more than likely going to charge more than just $20 over the face value of the ticket. For a $100 customer maximum, he will probably be looking to spend maybe $50 if that much to secure the ticket. The final decision is yours, but you will have to decide how badly you need to sell the tickets you possess.
You can find brokers to work with on the web. Make sure you do a little investigative work to determine the best value for those tickets and then secure the broker’s interest. Hopefully you will get at least the face value for them.
]]>On the other hand, when you look at some of the other hobbies in which people have become involved, this is quite innocent to say the least. Perhaps it is the possession of tickets or stubs from a certain event, certain era, certain band, or even a certain day that gives the collector the pleasure of owning that ticket or stub. It is perhaps a time in his life that he would like to remember. It may even be an event he attended, and holding on to the ticket stubs allow him to keep that forever close to his heart.
The ticket and stub collector may search many places to feed their hobby, but the most likely places are auctions such as online auctions, card shows and other collectors. He will also retain ticket stubs from events he personally attends and perhaps enlist the help of friends and family as well. The collector will more than likely be quite organized with his collection. This is, after all, an important part of who he is and he wants those who view his collection to become a part of his life for that moment in time. The art of collecting tickets is one that is surely worth doing and quite an investment as well.
]]>Before you attempt to answer the above questions, think about the economics involved in being a ticket scalper. The scalper buys tickets at face value, and for the sake of convenience, we'll say $30 and sells them at $50 — that’s a profit of $20 for every ticket he resells, or a profit of $200 for every ten tickets. Of course, the picture I have painted here is not the real picture as most scalpers charge much more than that — generally about three times the original value of the ticket. If the scalper has a large number of tickets to sell, he has the potential of making a great deal more money than that.
Ticket scalping is nothing more than a secondary market for ticket sales, and as long as people are willing to invest in attending events, scalpers are going to be willing to take part in the economics of it. The real problem lies in the fact that a few of these scalpers sell tickets for events that truly are sold out or seats that have already been sold, and someone is left out in the cold when it’s time for the show or event. These few “bad apples” make it difficult for some of the honest scalpers who are just trying to provide the public with what they want. When there is fraud involved, it leaves the management in the position of trying to determine if the ticket holder has a legitimate ticket or if they must deny entrance even though the patron has paid the price for the ticket. The purchaser must become more observant and know the scalper with whom he chooses to do business.
]]>For the fan that attends many events whether it is sports, concerts, or other events requiring the purchase of a ticket, you know how important early ticket purchase is. It’s important to follow the newspaper, news, or other information regarding the beginning of ticket sales, especially for a concert. With sporting events, how quickly tickets go is going to depend on the popularity of the event, but concerts as a rule tend to sell out very quickly in most cases.
If you’re one of those who tends to purchase tickets online, you may have a better opportunity than those who buy through the ticket agencies since the online sites tend to make a general announcement right on their site when tickets will be available for a given event. In fact, some even offer an option for email notification. This option actually gives the Internet buyer an advantage over the buyer who doesn’t have access to a computer or is not comfortable ordering online. Unfortunately, with the trend of online ordering becoming such a booming business, it stands to reason that the best tickets purchased are going to be by those buyers who are ordering online.
Finally, the key is that no matter how you choose to purchase your tickets, the key is in ordering early. If it’s a popular event and tickets go on sale Sunday, don’t wait until Monday when all of the good seats have already been sold. Watch for what time they go on sale and snag them! Be on top of things so that you know when tickets go on sale so that you can get yours early in order to reserve a good seat for the event.
]]>In addition, one must consider what kind of tickets they are choosing to purchase. Some of the brokers online have no specialty and can secure tickets for you to concerts, sports events, and any other kind of event that requires a ticket to enter. On the other hand, the Internet also includes ticket brokers who specialize in one particular type of ticket such as concerts, sporting events, and other types of events.
One that has been in existence for some time is Tickets.com whose premier window advertises the ability to locate tickets to popular and sold out events. Of course, these can be quite pricey. A search for Bruce Springsteen in Madison Square Gardens showed a price ranging from $106 - $9,428 for a 7:00 p.m. show on June 22nd.
The choice of top five online brokers has to be broken into various categories, rather than trying to choose five general brokers. In fact, it was difficult to break it down into the top five or even begin to sort the various ones by popularity. When the Internet is involved, popularity can change on a daily basis, so one needs to do the research and find the site that is going to be the most helpful in securing tickets to the event you wish you attend. Keep in mind that if you desire special services such as tickets for a sold out event, you can expect to pay much more than just $10-20 over the price charged by other ticket agencies.
Nevertheless, our top five are:
To define a scalper, one can say it is a person who has been able to secure ticket at or slightly above the face value of the ticket and sells it on the secondary market to purchasers who are willing to pay the $20 or more above that price in order to attend the event. Is this practice immoral? I don’t see it being any more immoral than the price we pay for other articles we buy. After all, the very car we drive cost the dealership thousands of dollars less than what we paid for it, but we accept that as a part of economics. The food we put on our table for our families cost the grocery store in the area of 30% less than what they charged us, but we also accept that as a part of the economic structure of free enterprise. How then is the ticket scalper charging more for a ticket than he paid any different? Is it simply because that is not the price set by the venue?
Ticket scalping is a business just like any other except that there is no fancy storefront, and all transactions are in cash instead of credit cards. A ticket scalper is a salesman who is providing a service to those who have been unable to receive the service from other avenues that are known to him such as the venue or authorized ticket agents. As long as the venue controls the number of tickets sold at their prices, the market will be lucrative for the ticket scalper.
]]>Tickets in the past have been purchased either through a ticket agency, door of the venue, or even at the gate or on the bus or train. The passage of time has changed the way tickets are purchased with some ticket agencies even accepting credit card payments over the phone and sending tickets in the mail. Likewise, transportation authorities, especially commuter transportation, have replaced the ticket with a weekly or monthly pass. What used to require a trip to the box office can now be done over the phone, through the mail, or even in some cases over the Internet.
Technology has changed many of the ways we used to purchase tickets. Even boarding passes for the airplane can now be printed on the Internet as can tickets to some concerts and sporting events. Instead of the patron having to stand in line to pick up a ticket, they simply print it out on their own printer and go straight into the line with those who have already purchased a ticket. Printing tickets on your own computer saves time not only at the event or in line at the station or airport, but it guarantees that you have a ticket when you get there. It also allows the purchaser to have a more leisurely ride to where they are going because they can go right into line instead of having to first purchase or pick up a ticket.
]]>Ticket brokers are required to be licensed in the state in which they operate. This provides a bit of protection to those that are purchasing from them. While it may cost you a bit more to work with a broker, you still have the advantage that they are able to provide you with hard to get and very good seating for events that you are interested in.
How many events have you attended that was advertised as a “sell out” only to get there and find the arena only half or three-quarters full? Either that or the ticket agency told you there were no tickets available, but you took a chance at the door, bought the “last” seat in the highest area of the arena and found there was plenty of “select” seating remaining? These are the kind of event attendees that the ticket brokers service many times, namely those who are willing to pay a little more money in order to secure one of the “sold out” seats.
Ticket brokers often hold season tickets to events or have the ability to purchase large amounts of tickets and then sell them to those that would otherwise not been able to get into the event.
Provided you check out the reputation of the ticket broker with whom you decide to do business, you will benefit from the experience by being able to purchase tickets to events that you may otherwise have thought had no remaining seats to be purchased. Use the methods that are available such as the Better Business Bureau and recommendations of friends, and you will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.
]]>Unsuspecting buyers may not even recognize the workings of a ticket scalper — at least not at the beginning. Scalpers count on unsuspecting buyers because they know that a veteran ticket buyer knows the fair market price of a ticket and will not pay pay outrageously high prices for one. On the other hand, the scalpers also count on those who may be so anxious to attend a particular event that they don’t care how much they have to pay for tickets. If you find yourself in that category, you must keep in mind that the high price you are willing to pay may not necessarily gain you entrance to the event.
The decision to buy tickets from a scalper is a personal choice, however, if you choose to pay inflated prices for event tickets, you must be prepared for potential disappointment. Even if you don’t receive duplicate seating, you may face the possibility that the management of the event will be aware that you do not hold a legitimate ticket. There is always a risk when buying a ticket from a scalper, so unless you are willing to take that risk, you will be better off to simply purchase your ticket while the legitimate ticket agencies still have a good supply.
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