Don't be too hard on ticket brokers/scalpers

[PopDreamBeliever]

ok, i know ur gonna flame me for this but i think we should lay off the people selling tickets at outrageous prices. the demand for the tickets is there and people ARE paying large amounts of money. sure, it sucks paying a couple hundred dollars and alot of people can't afford it but the demand is there and no one is making you buy them. in fact, if it wasn't for ticket brokers i wouldn't be going to the Las Vegas show. you only live once and you have the rest of ur life to save ur money.

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"Emancipate urself from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds" -Bob Marley "Redemption Song"

 

[Diemen]

If it wasn't for ticket brokers, it would be a helluva lot easier to get tickets at normal prices through ticketmaster.

if it wasn't for ticket brokers i wouldn't be going to the Las Vegas show.

Or to put it another way, if it wasn't for ticket brokers, you could've paid a lot less and gotten the tickets through ticketmaster. But ticketbrokers buy up tons of ticketmaster's tickets, so you had to resort to brokers.

It's like this. There's a hot new toy for kids that everybody wants. Unfortunately the stores can only supply so much. So some money-hungry bastard manages to buy enough to secure himself a large stock of the toy. Now, he can promise you one without having to wait in line, except you end up paying 4x as much as it would cost to get in the store. For the last minute shoppers, he's a godsend. To others who are on a tight budget and expect them out of a store, not only did he rob them of their product, he put it out of their price range.

[This message has been edited by Diemen (edited 09-27-2001).]

 

[christiana]

Originally posted by Diemen:
If it wasn't for ticket brokers, it would be a helluva lot easier to get tickets at normal prices through ticketmaster.

Yeah, I agree with that. They buy a high proportion of the tickets and selling them in extremely high prices.

 

[melon]

Your command at economics is laughable at best.

These ticket brokers, licensed ticket scalping businesses legalized by that bastard ex-President Reagan, create artificial demand by buying up all the tickets. Hence, a "sold out" concert to Ticketmaster, which justifies SFX to raise base prices for future concerts, as the demand is "high."

However, get this. As a $45 ticket goes for, let's say, $300 at a ticket broker, they don't even need to sell even a third of them to break even!

For statistics sake, let's say a broker bought 100 GA tickets at $45 a piece.

$45 x 100 = $4,500

Now, if they sold all of them for $300 a piece...

$300 x 100 = $30,000

That would be a $25,500 profit. But a ticket broker knows that they will not reasonably sell all those high-priced tickets...and they don't need to either....

$300 x 15 = $4,500

So, if a ticket broker sells 15 high priced U2 tickets, they can break even and it will be economically feasible to throw away 85 tickets. That's 85 less tickets for U2 fans and higher base ticket prices for U2 fans in future tours, justified by such "high demand."

And it's topics like this that make my post on the decline of American education in "Free Your Mind" all the more true.

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

[This message has been edited by melon (edited 09-27-2001).]

 

[Bloodied]

If you are really really desperate, you can wait until after the show begins to buy scalped tickets. They will be cheaper, because scalpers will want to recover their investment. Of course, this method requires missing the beginning of the concert, so you must be really, really, really desparate

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"...and a thousand slimy things did crawl upon the slimy sea..."

 

[diamondbruno9]

Originally posted by Bloodied:
If you are really really desperate, you can wait until after the show begins to buy scalped tickets. They will be cheaper, because scalpers will want to recover their investment. Of course, this method requires missing the beginning of the concert, so you must be really, really, really desparate

And that is the funniest part. Right before a show when the whores have left over tix and you go up and bluff them. You say-you got tix man? and they'll say yeah-"how many you need"?And you respond-"What is face value"? And the respond -Blah blah. And then you say like how bout about 50% under face. They begrudginly fall for your bluff,and then you say 'what is the location of these seats,again?' They respond blah blah. And then you respond-"looks like youre goin have to eat those shitty ass seats you pathectic oppurtunist. Late!" Giggling as youre entering the arena.

D
B
9

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"..it's about breaking barriers, transcending boundries and conquering great divides"-Bono 1987

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An open letter to Bono from myself www.arizonaautoweb.com/bono/

 

[U2Bama]

I agree with DiamondBruno8

 

[Bloodied]

Yes.
Of course, that will only be if I actually get tickets through Propaganda

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"...and a thousand slimy things did crawl upon the slimy sea..."

 

[SkeeK]

Originally posted by Bloodied:
Yes.
Of course, that will only be if I actually get tickets through Propaganda

Even if you do, you will hopefully be tucked safely inside the heart once the concert is starting

 

[diamondbruno9]

Bama It's me DB7.5- are you going to Vegas#2?

D
B
9

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"..it's about breaking barriers, transcending boundries and conquering great divides"-Bono 1987

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An open letter to Bono from myself www.arizonaautoweb.com/bono/

 

[IvanClaytonJnr]

The thing , i really hate , is Random Distribution Number : cause in 99% it helps scalpers to take a huge amount of money from die-hard U2 fans , there is no cause to do this thing , because , some how Scalpers always have these tix you want

 

[diamondbruno9]

Ivan,Something tells me there will always be room for you in the Heart brother.

Late-
D
B
9
PS see you at Prov?

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"..it's about breaking barriers, transcending boundries and conquering great divides"-Bono 1987

---------
An open letter to Bono from myself www.arizonaautoweb.com/bono/

 

[IvanClaytonJnr]

Maybe , i don't have a credit card for next 5 months , it is a big problem , right now

, fucking cash is useless

Gonna try luck in box-offices and outlets
Crossed fingers for me .

 

[diamondbruno9]

Got It Brother..
#9

 

[U2Bama]

No, all of the venues on the unfortunately-named "Third Leg" are too far away from mem especially during football season.

 

[Whortense]

*bump*

this topic has relevance suddenly.

moo

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~whortense wiffin
walla walla, washington

 

[STING]

I agree that Ticket brokers should be prevented from buying tickets before the onsale date. If the broker wants tickets, they should go through the war of getting tickets like the fan does and be limited to the ticket limits like fans are.
I don't think that ticket brokers are the reason why tickets are high priced nor is there artificial demand. U2 could sell all these shows out just as fast even if Ticket brokers were not buying tickets.

 

[MacPhisto066]

brokers and scalpers, are free loaders, a damn bunch of parasites...even yesterday,in Montreal, there was this charity concert for the families of the NYC victims at the Molson Centre, called Quebec-New York. all tickets were as low as 20 bucks to see the very best local artists including (though I hate her with a passion) Celine Dion. well, the brokers still tried to take advantage of a charity event and sell tickets 50 bucks a piece or more.

that's plain low, coming from pieces of f***in' garbage. I apologize for the use of such foul terms, but they don't deserve better.

 

[MysteryGirl]

Originally posted by PopDreamBeliever:
ok, i know ur gonna flame me for this but i think we should lay off the people selling tickets at outrageous prices

YEAH! That's the ticket. LAY OFF the scalpers...or better yet, FIRE THEM!!! HAHAHA!

(Puns intended.)

 

[Achtung_Bebe]

I guess there are two sides to this: You can either see ticket brokers as something great because they secure tickets for the fans, and up the price to numbers which only the die hard fan would pay... or you could see it as the ticket brokers robbing the fans of a lower priced ticket in the first place. (atleast these are the attitudes I picked up on while reading)

I don't like the business they run personally--it's taking advantage of the fan. Everyone wants to make a buck, but don't do it by taking someone's love for music and making them pay more than they need to spend. True, you may not be able to get a ticket through TicketMaster even if there weren't brokers, because demand is so high for these things, but then there's always Propaganda. I'm sure the number of tickets that have seen a waste basket in the end are quite high, and it's a shame to have them go to waste just because the scalper broke even, or came out with an obscene profit.

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"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up." -- Jesse Jackson