eBay Protest | Your efforts are needed... Please read this thread.

[norsehorse23]

I had posted two Philly tickets for about face value plus shipping... I ended up making an additional 80 dollars because someone was willing to pay that. Plus, if I can get a somewhat good deal (I won't pay more than 300 bucks or so for two tickets), I will get them. Then if I can't get rid of the ones I have, I will auction them.

 

[u2wedge]

Here is a link to check out. This a list of venues, including MSG, and look at the tickets and what they're going for. Each one of these sets of tickets represents a true fan who won't likely be able to afford them, or will go into debt trying. The following link makes eBay look like a 5 and dime store.

http://www.eventinventory.com/search/pubsearch.cfm?client=1277&restart=yes&e=892

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i was looking to trade my san diego ticket for over a month on this place... now it's getting too damn close and i didn't wanna be stuck with it, so i threw it on e-bay... didn't wanna do it but i didn't wanne be stuck with it either.

started the bidding at 25 bucks... it's at 100 now. what am i to do

 

[u2wedge]

i was looking to trade my san diego ticket for over a month on this place... now it's getting too damn close and i didn't wanna be stuck with it, so i threw it on e-bay... didn't wanna do it but i didn't wanne be stuck with it either.

started the bidding at 25 bucks... it's at 100 now. what am i to do

Give someone here a shot, what's the auction number?

 

[u2bigfans]

Here is a link to check out. This a list of venues, including MSG, and look at the tickets and what they're going for. Each one of these sets of tickets represents a true fan who won't likely be able to afford them, or will go into debt trying. The following link makes eBay look like a 5 and dime store.

http://www.eventinventory.com/search/pubsearch.cfm?client=1277&restart=yes&e=892

holy sh*t.... they have so many tickets.. no wonder people can't them online.. those guys should be shot.. $2000us a piece for MSG...

to me, Ebay is nothing... it's these guys that are selling like mad.. there are so many of these out there... so stop complaining about ebay..

 

[u2wedge]

holy sh*t.... they have so many tickets.. no wonder people can't them online.. those guys should be shot.. $2000us a piece for MSG...

to me, Ebay is nothing... it's these guys that are selling like mad.. there are so many of these out there... so stop complaining about ebay..

\

Why are you like in love with eBay or something? It's got major issues that affect the concert business and until there's changes, I'll be happy to chime in about it.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Give someone here a shot, what's the auction number?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16122&item=6517587130&rd=1

go nuts... auction ends in 3 hours.


i set the price low... how high it goes, out of my hands.

if someone had offered to take/trade for the ticket durring the month that i had it posted here on interference, then i wouldn't be doing this... only two people asked... one ended up getting a better seat and didn't need mine, and one was just the other day after i had already posted it on ebay. dems the breaks


the good thing about e-bay is that demand sets the price. if no one wanted the tickets they'd go for cheap.

 

[Hewson]

The ebay market has shown a dramatic shift with the added shows.
I've been watching Boston auctions.
Several this week have gone with no bids (I was shocked to see nobody bid on a single in Loge 14 at $189.00, basically $10 over face, but I guess nobody wants singles), and I've seen some stuff go below face (a pair of loge 16 went for $162.00)
The floors are still turning profit, but selling for about 125-150 per ticket rather than the 300-350 a ticket they were getting before the fall leg entered the marketplace.

 

[TiaraGurl]

I really think having a well thought out plan to reignite a fight against ticketmaster is the way to go-several people have said in other threads its like anti-trust personified its the only way you can get tickets. I have always believed they are in with the scalpers blocking off sets of tix-so when you get to the window or online and your first in the best you come up with is 10th row becauae rows 1-9 were never available.

I think cmbs comments are rational-people will pay and as long as they will whether it is U2 or something else theres not much we can do.

I paid $987 to see the smashing pumpkins final show in Dec 2000-was it way over $35 dollar face value-yes. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? No.

I did get 3 tickets for 10/11 MSG so I am not complaining mind you.

 

[beegee]

i have the same problem headcase does. i have an extra GA for san diego. i tried to GIVE IT AWAY to two different interferencers, and they both turned me down.

but his auction has inspired me. EBAY, here i come.

 

[elevashn_hj]

While I agree that Ebay does have some rather gruesome characters on it profiting greatly at the fan's expense, I think it is a necessary evil. Think back to the old days, before the internet. I remember the ZooTV tour, I tried desperatly to get tix for the Hampton VA show and got through to Ticketmaster about a minute after they went on sale, only to be inadvertantly (on ticketmasters end) disconnected. When I finally got back through to them, I was informend that tix were sold out. When I explained that I had connected with them, only to have the operator hit the wrong button leading to my disconnection, they only offered up a damn Ticketmaster Hat as a consolation. Back then, there was not much that could be done. I ended up getting nosebleeds for a ridiculous price through a scalper in the back of a rolling stone or something like that. Move forward to this tour. I was shut out for all first leg shows. I ended up looking on ebay and got First row off the floor ($160 tix) for less than face value a few days after they went on sale. This was due to a fellow fan who got extra's and put a quick auction up in order to get rid of the tickets. I ended up spending less money on the tix than had I gone direct with Ticketmaster. So there is good to be said of Ebay. I think if we pressed the issue too much it may lead to something that would be worse than dealing with the bastards who scalp the shit out of tickets. It could lead to ticketmaster dropping ticket sales all together. I think the best thing to do is just use good judgement. If there is a ticket out there and someone is asking $2000 for it, well you dont HAVE to purchase it. We saw this early on after the first sale. Auctions were posting for huge sums of money, but as time went on, the average price of tickets has gone down. I have seen many auctions posted recently which have tickets priced rather close to face value. If I end up with extra tickets to a show, I may go the route of Ebay to get rid of them only because of the saftey involved with getting paid. However I woudl probably put a buy it now option for how much it cost me. Anyway, enough of my soapbox.

Enjoy people

 

[cmb737]

Why are you like in love with eBay or something? It's got major issues that affect the concert business and until there's changes, I'll be happy to chime in about it.

No one is, like, in love with eBay. But most of us that are responding in a way that is contrary to your idea of boycotting and witchhunting have bought tickets from eBay and without it wouldn't have gotten tickets any other way. It is impossible to prevent some people from getting some tickets with the sole purpose of reselling them. There are not enough resources to fight this, and frankly governments don't care in many cases.

We choose to fight by not buying tickets that aren't good deals. Just like shopping at one store over another. The market responds. We get what we want. No body is hurt. It is a damn concert anyway, not a homeland security threat.

And frankly, there are many that would probably argue that those issues you mentioned actually help the concert business.

 

[cmb737]

I really think having a well thought out plan to reignite a fight against ticketmaster is the way to go-several people have said in other threads its like anti-trust personified its the only way you can get tickets. I have always believed they are in with the scalpers blocking off sets of tix-so when you get to the window or online and your first in the best you come up with is 10th row becauae rows 1-9 were never available.

Ticketmaster has been brought up on anti-trust laws, and been proven not to be one. As far as selling tickets specifically to scalpers, this isn't happening at a corporate level. Perhaps there are people with hole in the wall record stores that happen to have a TM terminal that are doing so, but that is VERY traceable. EVERY single ticket, stub, blank stock, terminal, code is inventoried by an entire department at Ticketmaster. They are audited quarterly...and a publicly held company.

Wrong as it appears, the appearance of tickets in the hands of scalpers does not necessarily equate to fraud on the behalf of Ticketmaster. Very often, even in the case of the Vertigo tour, Ticketmaster often doesn't receive many seats for an onsale. The entire venue never goes on sale at one time. For the U2 Elevation shows on the third leg last tour Ticketmaster was only given 1000 seats for the onsale by the promoter. These of course sold out in seconds, but not because blocks of tickets were given to scalpers.

There are thousands and thousands of scalper networks across the planet that all work in conjunction to score tickets. As well as they buy tickets up out of newspapers, eBay, season ticket holders, venue employees, radio stations, promoters...etc. They simply make their livelyhood by getting the tickets first. And they do.

Mostly legal however.

I think most of us are experiencing a bit more serenity since U2 fixed the presale. That is the key...a good fair presale.

Afterthought:

Creating little ticket sources at every single arena, state, region level is not necessarily a good thing in my opinion. I think that the opportunity for fraud and wrongdoing is much greater. A single VERY reliable source does a lot towards preventing scalpers and counterfeit tickets. Not perfect, but better than a thousand other little sources with no uniform anything.

 

[cmb737]

Re: Re: eBay Protest | Your efforts are needed... Please read this thread.

If I end up with extra tickets to a show, I may go the route of Ebay to get rid of them only because of the saftey involved with getting paid.

Another great point.

 

[u2wedge]

No one is, like, in love with eBay. But most of us that are responding in a way that is contrary to your idea of boycotting and witchhunting have bought tickets from eBay and without it wouldn't have gotten tickets any other way. It is impossible to prevent some people from getting some tickets with the sole purpose of reselling them. There are not enough resources to fight this, and frankly governments don't care in many cases.

We choose to fight by not buying tickets that aren't good deals. Just like shopping at one store over another. The market responds. We get what we want. No body is hurt. It is a damn concert anyway, not a homeland security threat.

And frankly, there are many that would probably argue that those issues you mentioned actually help the concert business.

So why aren't people pissed about spending hundreds of dollars above face value for these tickets? Wouldn't you be pissed if you were in the GA ticketing line and someone cut in front of you and bought the last tickets and then turned around and offered to sell them to you for hundreds of dollars more? That is exactly what is happening in this case and people are actually thankful for it. If it happened in person, people would be in fistfights. And don't tell me that's not true, because people are fairly sensitive around these forums about GA line etiquette.

My whole point on this whole issue is that people are thanking eBay for allowing them to get tickets that they were blatantly screwed out of in the first place. eBay's not doing them any favors, eBay is encouraging and facilitating an unfair practice. Why are tickets unavailable seconds after a show goes on sale, is it because of huge fan demand? Absolutely not, it's because of huge BROKER demand. Ticketmaster cannot process 20,000+credit card transactions in 2 minutes, fyi. I don't have any problem with a fellow fan trying to sell a ticket on eBay, hell, I've sold tickets on eBay myself. The difference is I didn't inflate my price 1000%. Could I have? Sure, but why be an a$$hole and screw someone else, that's just not my style. I just saw an auction for one $50 GA ticket with an asking price of $750 PLUS $10 for shipping! And someone will likely buy that ticket. Does the seller deserve to make that much profit? If you think yes, please explain why. Why is that ethical? Why should the broker make 10 times what the band does for selling the same ticket? What is that broker doing FOR you vs. what is the broker doing TO you?

The problem is brokers having inside information that literally steal thousands of tickets from fans. How many stories have you read on here about people not being able to get tickets for MSG seconds after they go on sale? Do you really think that fans are getting all of those tickets? It's huge brokerage houses that get them at face value and then charge out the nose for them. You may call that capitalism, I call it robbery. Check out the links I provided in another post to a single broker who has hundreds of tickets to every venue on the tour. Hundreds of general admission tickets selling for THOUSANDS of dollars. This is not something to be dismissed as something 'that exists so deal with it'.

I am a purist at heart, you could say. I bet you will see a lot of empty seats at the shows this tour and I know that the concert experience is being tarnished by these grossly unmonitored market conditions.

Anyone who says that we fight market conditions by buying tickets that are not good deals just doesn't get it. There shouldn't have to be any 'good deals' unless they are offered by the band or a fellow fan. General Admission tickets at $49 bucks is a fantastic deal, but not being able to buy them for less than $500 is not something that should be accepted. It shouldn't happen in the first place, and thanking eBay for creating a market for brokers to take advantage of true fans is not only unethical, but generally sickening when you think about the alternative experience without broker involvement.

I was just putting this out on the table for discussion and had great hopes for some participation from those who feel shut out. I can clearly see that I should just be happy with the tickets that I did get and not worry about my fellow fan. It's just that I would rather have them next to me at the show rather than someone who is more into being able to afford an overpriced ticket than what the U2 experience is about.

And while I'm a newly registered member here, don't dismiss me as a 'newbie' U2 fan. The first time I saw U2 was in 1987, and I've been to several shows since then, so I have a lot of history and passion about the subject.

 

[TiaraGurl]

cmb-good points I had not thought of some of the issues you brought up. The incident I have referred to about TM took place in the mid 90s with hootie (ahem) and was traced -but someone at TM corporate at that time did purge a bunch if tickets from the system. Its frustrating I feel like every time stuff goes on sale this debate whether U2 related or nto will take place.

 

[Liesje]

My whole point on this whole issue is that people are thanking eBay for allowing them to get tickets that they were blatantly screwed out of in the first place. eBay's not doing them any favors, eBay is encouraging and facilitating an unfair practice. Why are tickets unavailable seconds after a show goes on sale, is it because of huge fan demand? Absolutely not, it's because of huge BROKER demand. Ticketmaster cannot process 20,000+credit card transactions in 2 minutes, fyi. I don't have any problem with a fellow fan trying to sell a ticket on eBay, hell, I've sold tickets on eBay myself. The difference is I didn't inflate my price 1000%.

Dude, see, now you're changing your arguement. You start a thread titled "eBay Protest" and now you're saying you don't care about eBay and you use eBay to sell your tickets, but it's brokers you hate. I think most of the responses regarding eBay are refering to situations where FANS are selling extra or unwanted tickets, not brokers w/ eBay stores. If it's brokers you hate, we can talk about that, but don't knock eBay in general b/c SOME brokers use it (although many use their own sites). What we're not understanding is why you're getting all worked up about fans using eBay as a more SAFE and SECURE method of selling a ticket. Like, say I sold my extra ticket, Buy It Now only, for exactly face value on eBay b/c I want a third party involved in this transaction, why's that somehow tainted just b/c I used eBay?

 

[u2wedge]

Dude, see, now you're changing your arguement. You start a thread titled "eBay Protest" and now you're saying you don't care about eBay and you use eBay to sell your tickets, but it's brokers you hate. I think most of the responses regarding eBay are refering to situations where FANS are selling extra or unwanted tickets, not brokers w/ eBay stores. If it's brokers you hate, we can talk about that, but don't knock eBay in general b/c SOME brokers use it (although many use their own sites). What we're not understanding is why you're getting all worked up about fans using eBay as a more SAFE and SECURE method of selling a ticket. Like, say I sold my extra ticket, Buy It Now only, for exactly face value on eBay b/c I want a third party involved in this transaction, why's that somehow tainted just b/c I used eBay?

Where did I knock eBay in general, I am specifically referring to their ticketing resale policy...

Read my first post, yes it's posted as 'eBay protest', but what I am asking is that a group of people get together to protest the METHODS and FRAUDS that are allowed ON eBay. I didn't say 'boycott eBay' in general, just form a grass roots policing effort to point out those sellers who are raping your fellow U2 fan. I personally use eBay and have a 100+ positive feedback rating (and I've only sold ONE pair of non-U2 tickets...), that doesn't mean that I have to condone their policy, or lack thereof, on ticket sales. I said 'eBay protest' because that is where the majority of these ticket scalpers are making their money. Most average fans will go to eBay first before going to a private brokerage site. Have you eer used eBay customer service? Guess what? They suck in most cases.

And I'm all for fans being able to sell and trade their tickets, that is how it's supposed to be. It's often a necessity when trying to go to multiple shows. AGAIN, I'm against the career ticket sleezeballs.

Hey, I just wanted to help out our fellow fans that got screwed out of tickets. Don't rag on me because I care. If no one wants to get involved, fine. I was able to get tickets to MSG and Buffalo and I'm a happy camper, but it still makes me sick to see all the high priced tickets on the 'net. You cannot be serious when you say that thousands of dollars is a fair price for a ticket. If you believe that you've been had.

 

[u2wedge]

Re: u2 tickets on e-bay supply and demand

All of the U2 fans could make really low bids on the U2 tickets on e-bay or wait to bid on the tickets until the week or day of the show, but don't go over the original cost of the ticket. This will cause the sellers to panic and lower the cost of the tickets rather than lose money. Some of the U2 ticket sellers on e-bay bought tons of tickets that aren't selling and have no bids thus the sellers are going to lose several hundreds of dollars if the fans don't play the game. These greedy people are going to panic right before the concert and sell them at lower prices and maybe below costs if none of the U2 fans bid on them. Do any of these U2 fans that bought tickets and are now selling them at a profit think of how they are ripping off the members of U2? I'd like to suggest that the fans that are sellling U2 tickets on e-bay for a profit to send the profit that they make to the band. This hurts the band because they end up playing half empty venues due the scalapers not selling their inflated tickets on e-bay. Lets declare war on the scalapers.

See the above quote is what I was trying to get going, some sort of strategized effort to screw the scalpers/brokers that have screwed so many of us. It was supposed to be that simple.

I feel better for trying.

 

[Hewson]

Its a matter of self control, unfortunately you'll never be able to get enough people involved to make a difference.
What has helped has been the added show, increasing the overall ticket supply.
As I've stated before, I've been watching the Boston Ebay auctions, and this week, with 7 shows out there instead of 3, people have been more selective, I've seen tix go for below face, floors are getting half (or less than half) of what they were getting last week. Anything of poor quality is going with no bids, evenb some decent quality stuff is getting passed on if the opening bid is above face ( An auction for a pair in loge 20, side stage, face of $215.00 or so w/TM had an opening bid of $300, and generated a whopping zero bids).

So basically the only ones who can really affect the secondary marketplace (ebay, brokers etc) are U2. By adding multiple fall shows in the high demand cities like Boston, NYC and Chicago, they have helped lower the secondary market value of tix. Its still an imperfect system, but as long as you're smart about it, you can sometimes use it to your advantage (example, I got a pair of Paul McCartney tix in 2002 for half price on ebay cause supply had exceeded demand).

 

[beershack]

My friend bought 3 tickets accidently today for MSG (lowers) instead of 2 and so he put one ticket on eBay. He figures he might as well make a profit on it, and although I can't agree with him, I can't fault him for it. He's not a scalper or anything, so I think its alright.

Hypocrite

 

[sonnyu2]

The problem is brokers having inside information that literally steal thousands of tickets from fans. How many stories have you read on here about people not being able to get tickets for MSG seconds after they go on sale? Do you really think that fans are getting all of those tickets? It's huge brokerage houses that get them at face value and then charge out the nose for them. You may call that capitalism, I call it robbery. Check out the links I provided in another post to a single broker who has hundreds of tickets to every venue on the tour. Hundreds of general admission tickets selling for THOUSANDS of dollars. This is not something to be dismissed as something 'that exists so deal with it'.

As with most things, if you just look at the outside and never really take a good look at something, you come away with a misrepresentation.

Just about EVERY ticketbroker website is linked to eventinventory.com (which is a company that provides a network inventory system for brokers). The broker websites "share" the same inventories (the same exact tickets). It is a large network and there are many contributors of tickets. There are a few exceptions such as stubhub.com and buyselltix.com which allow the public to list tickets for sale. So really, the brokers have a small percentage of the tickets.

Believe it or not, most brokers are selling someone else's tickets, and they get a commmision. Most of the tickets are actually bought in the secondary market, not at face value in the general sales. And the secondary market ticket prices are based on supply and demand, just like every other product price in the world. If demand goes down, ticket prices will drop.

Here is a little advice for future ticket buyers: GO TO THE MAIN BOX OFFICE AND BUY YOUR TICKETS IN PERSON! Most ticket sales went on for over a half hour at the main box offices while most people on the internet were shut out in minutes. This was the case for almost every venue on this tour. This is becuase the box office has direct access to the ticket database.

I am a purist at heart, you could say. I bet you will see a lot of empty seats at the shows this tour and I know that the concert experience is being tarnished by these grossly unmonitored market conditions.

So why weren't thier tons of empty seats for the Elevation tour? The tickets will be sold at one point or another. I am a Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder and when they were in the playoffs, tickets were selling for 6 to 15 times face value and sometimes more - and I don't think there was an empty seat in the stadium.

 

[Daveone]

I bought tickets for a date i know cant attend due to exams so i'll be selling them on ebay. Not everyone who is selling on there are purely scalpers. I plan to start the bidding at the price i paid and let it get sold for whatever the bidding goes up to. Only recently becoming an ebay member means i dont have access to the buy now feature meaning that i have no control over the price people pay. I'm certainly no scalper but in todays age it's much easier to sell things on ebay than anywhere else.

It might be an easy assumption to make that everyone selling on ebay is a scalper but often its not the case.

 

[u2wedge]

I bought tickets for a date i know cant attend due to exams so i'll be selling them on ebay. Not everyone who is selling on there are purely scalpers. I plan to start the bidding at the price i paid and let it get sold for whatever the bidding goes up to. Only recently becoming an ebay member means i dont have access to the buy now feature meaning that i have no control over the price people pay. I'm certainly no scalper but in todays age it's much easier to sell things on ebay than anywhere else.

It might be an easy assumption to make that everyone selling on ebay is a scalper but often its not the case.

No one said that everyone on eBay is a scalper.

 

[cmb737]

As SonnyU2 so aptle put, your views are based on your own personal view of what in reality may or may not be happening.

As I said before, Ticketmaster doesn't process thousands and thousands of transactions at an onsale. You perceive this to mean they are blowing out loads of tickets to scalpers, where in REALITY it means that very few tickets are even being sold at the onsale because the promoter, for whatever reason, didn't release them to Ticketmaster.

Clear Channel has thousands of tickets to opening night in San Diego. My local CC station is giving away 2 tix, airfare, and a hotel package EVERY single day for the two weeks prior to the tour. Thats 28 tickets alone for this smaller station here in Albuquerque.

Not to sell out to devil's advocate, but if a scalper gets in to the network prior to a U2 fan they have just as much right to the ticket under general sales rules as any "true" U2 fan. It's not right, but no one is stealing anything from U2 fans. They just got them first...and legally. *again...I am not condoning this, just stating an opposing view point*

I would say that while you are not necessarily a "newbie" you are rather naive about what it takes to get U2 tickets. Most of us that know how the system works and what the demand is were able to get the tickets we wanted or needed, or make it work for us by some other means without paying astronomical Ebay prices. That is why many of us may have extra tickets at this point.

And as far as empty seats, there may not be one empty seat the entire tour. U2 cannot possibly be a hotter ticket. And no one but U2 controls the secondary market...which they are quite effectively.

 

[matt_tx00]

Just about EVERY ticketbroker website is linked to eventinventory.com (which is a company that provides a network inventory system for brokers). The broker websites "share" the same inventories (the same exact tickets). It is a large network and there are many contributors of tickets. There are a few exceptions such as stubhub.com and buyselltix.com which allow the public to list tickets for sale. So really, the brokers have a small percentage of the tickets.

This I have been able to figure out after a couple of years of looking over dozens of brokers websites. The ticket choices are nearly the same from broker to broker, and nearly all at outrageous prices. However, some brokers will have a set of tickets at the top of the listing(s) highlighted in a different color. These are tickets that that broker was able to locally obtain, and are usually priced much cheaper than that from the regular inventory.

I just bought a pair of tickets for the 4/21 Denver show from a broker here in Houston that I know personally. It was one of the "highlighted" listings, and he had the tickets in his hands just as I expected. He got a small commission from the deal, and we both walked away happy.

But the regular inventory, or in other words, the vast majority of tickets that brokers sell, are being sold at ridiculous prices.

Believe it or not, most brokers are selling someone else's tickets, and they get a commmision. Most of the tickets are actually bought in the secondary market, not at face value in the general sales. And the secondary market ticket prices are based on supply and demand, just like every other product price in the world. If demand goes down, ticket prices will drop.

When I think about the ticket brokers, I always get a little laugh when I think about the Madonna tour last year. I went to a few of the shows and there was not an empty seat in any of them. Yet, the ticket brokers lost major money on this tour. Why? Because Madonna charged $300/each up front for all the best tickets for this tour. From day one of ticket sales, the prices had nowhere to go but down with $300 being the upper limit for 95% or so of the later ticket spenders. So brokers were forced to drop prices over time, and I was able to get closer and closer seats at cheaper prices, while still selling my other tickets. I ended up in the third row floor from the stage below face value at the last concert I went to. Meanwhile, Madonna just grabbed all the money and ran. A bit greedy but what can you say at least the performer made the money.

U2 is all around more popular a much bigger ticket item, but brokers are having more of a profit margin with them with U2 charging only $50/each for the floor seats. However, U2 will affect the prices by diluting the market with more shows.

Something IS definitely amiss about all these auctions/broker listings showing up at the time or even before the Ticketmaster sales! I know deep down there is some kind of "payola" arrangement going on between at least some brokers, Ticketmaster, and Clear Channel, and some "on the fence" dealings going on. Ticketmaster obviously gives away blocks of 100s, maybe 1000s of tickets before 10:00 AM on a Saturday even arrives. Too much experience buying tickets at the on sale time for this not to be true. Someday, this will all be unearthed, and fairness will be brought around.

When you think about it, its pretty crazy we have to pay a $30 "convenience charge" to a company that can't even give us the "convenience" of the best tickets. All Ticketmaster does is print 'em, ship 'em (which they charge us for), maintain a cheap website, and keep a few customer service agents. What profit margins! Something or someone needs to shake up the system.

 

[u2wedge]

As SonnyU2 so aptle put, your views are based on your own personal view of what in reality may or may not be happening.

As I said before, Ticketmaster doesn't process thousands and thousands of transactions at an onsale. You perceive this to mean they are blowing out loads of tickets to scalpers, where in REALITY it means that very few tickets are even being sold at the onsale because the promoter, for whatever reason, didn't release them to Ticketmaster.

Clear Channel has thousands of tickets to opening night in San Diego. My local CC station is giving away 2 tix, airfare, and a hotel package EVERY single day for the two weeks prior to the tour. Thats 28 tickets alone for this smaller station here in Albuquerque.

Not to sell out to devil's advocate, but if a scalper gets in to the network prior to a U2 fan they have just as much right to the ticket under general sales rules as any "true" U2 fan. It's not right, but no one is stealing anything from U2 fans. They just got them first...and legally. *again...I am not condoning this, just stating an opposing view point*

I would say that while you are not necessarily a "newbie" you are rather naive about what it takes to get U2 tickets. Most of us that know how the system works and what the demand is were able to get the tickets we wanted or needed, or make it work for us by some other means without paying astronomical Ebay prices. That is why many of us may have extra tickets at this point.

And as far as empty seats, there may not be one empty seat the entire tour. U2 cannot possibly be a hotter ticket. And no one but U2 controls the secondary market...which they are quite effectively.

If it's not right, what is it then?

Ummmm, yes they do process thousands of sales... and ummm.. were you even awake during the 1st presale? Don't you remember everyone that didn't get tickets because brokers signed up for, in some cases, hundreds of u2.com memberships so they could get their codes to buy tickets from the ONLY place to buy presale tickets, that being TICKETMASTER. Rembember the chaos on the 1st day of presale, do you remember the remedies that had to be taken to minimize and prevent the very thing that this thread was based on? THAT is what I perceived, and it's not that different from reality, actually. Something is wrong, and you cannot sit there and tell me there isn't and sound credible. The band thought something was wrong, didn't they? They made efforts to mitigate the 'broker' factor with some success. I'm just saying that more needs to be done.

And before you go on about 'what it takes to get tickets...' I've gotten tickets to every U2 show I've ever wanted to go to so I'm not naive about how to get tickets or how the system works and the way you seem to patronize is really quite irritating. My reason for starting this thread was to get some people together to help out the fans who got screwed by the ticket promoters, brokers, et al. by making a statement. That's all I wanted to do. Rebutting your semantic aruguments has been an unanticipated distraction. I didn't expect this to turn into some sort of dissection of the ticketing distribution process. You sound like you think you know everything about everything that is ticketmaster and concert promotion and I'm still trying to figure out why you insist on posting in this thread when you're doing nothing but being antagonistic. Please, feel free to post elsewhere. To not even admit that there is a problem and that significant amounts of fans get screwed out of getting fair-priced tickets to see what obviously is the hottest ticket out there is the only naive thing about this thread. You don't seem to realize that from the band's perspective all the tickets are sold, but the reality is only half their fans have them in hand; the other half are in the hands of an industry that doesn't give a rat's ass about U2 or the experience that goes along with it. They're interested in financially raping the fan base and won't even hear one of Edge's chords. Personally, it's my position that anyone who is forced into a position to pay several hundred dollars for a single ticket is being taken advantage of plain and simple. I guess I shouldn't care, but I guess based on the fact that I buy into the themes that the band expresses about integrity and 'doing what you should', that I feel I need to speak out about it. Not to sound corny but, for me, it truly is about the love and not the money.

I'm assuming as a fan, you'd be pissed if someone sold a U2 bootleg for money, right? What would your logic be in that case?

And as I re-read this, I didn't want to jump down your throat, but I am frustrated at the apparent ambivalence from your vantage point and we'll just have to agree to disagree. No offense intended and I do appreciate your input on the issue. No harm, no foul.

and as far as the box office having access to the ticket database, I'd have to question that. Don't the majority of box office utilize Ticketmaster. Any box office that I've used prints Ticketmaster tickets. With the exception of MSG.

 

[walkon11]

Without being too detailed, I understand that the people who are selling tix for insane amounts of money (i.e., $2000 and such) are in essence keeping a "die-hard", "hard-core", "(insert status of fandom here)" fan away from seeing them. That sucks, and I'm in no favor of that.

However, Ebay in general is one of the few resources fans can go to when shut out of the general sale. As others here have stated, regardless of the inflated prices, many are able to go see U2 because of Ebay (myself included). I'm no different from anyone here. I was a Propaganda member, couldn't get a response, shut out of sales...yada yada yada. Those are the breaks. They suck, yes, but it's life. I chose to use Ebay (and had actually planned on them as my backup), so I'm able to go to a show. It was MY decision how much I could pay. I surely wasn't going to spend thousands on one show, but I was able to pool some resources to get a ticket. Either way, Ebay is a valuable tool for some to use in order to get tickets.

To finish, no one puts a gun to anyone's head to use Ebay, Ticketmaster, or any other site/business to get tickets. Each one must make a personal decision as to what he/she can spend, and where to go. Other than that, arguing here is fairly futile.

 

[cmb737]

My reason for starting this thread was to get some people together to help out the fans who got screwed by the ticket promoters, brokers, et al. by making a statement.

Well, in my humble opinion, you actually started this thread as an attempt to pseudo-boycott Ebay and it's users through various means. The focus seems to have shifted.

I don't claim to know everything there is to know about Ticketmaster, but after being a corporate employee there and understanding what really goes into delivering tickets to millions, I have a different perspective. Ticketmaster is in bed with no one, and it is counterproductive and futile to insist that they are. It is like claiming there are wmd's in Iraq after 2 years of no evidence.

In closing, I won't post here again because the point has been made loud and clear that most U2 fans look at Ebay as a necessary and viable resource for obtaining tickets that regardless of the existence of Ebay or not, are still damn hard to get.

To summarize, I think most of us aren't interested in fighting Ebay. Scalping happens, and will continue to happen. It is the bands responsibility to put procedures in place (like they did after the 1st presale debacle which I took part in) like Ticketmaster personally calling me and offering me GA's for opening night. Find another band that does that.

Good day to you sir.

 

[U2Acrobat8]

Without being too detailed, I understand that the people who are selling tix for insane amounts of money (i.e., $2000 and such) are in essence keeping a "die-hard", "hard-core", "(insert status of fandom here)" fan away from seeing them. That sucks, and I'm in no favor of that.

However, Ebay in general is one of the few resources fans can go to when shut out of the general sale. As others here have stated, regardless of the inflated prices, many are able to go see U2 because of Ebay (myself included). I'm no different from anyone here. I was a Propaganda member, couldn't get a response, shut out of sales...yada yada yada. Those are the breaks. They suck, yes, but it's life. I chose to use Ebay (and had actually planned on them as my backup), so I'm able to go to a show. It was MY decision how much I could pay. I surely wasn't going to spend thousands on one show, but I was able to pool some resources to get a ticket. Either way, Ebay is a valuable tool for some to use in order to get tickets.

To finish, no one puts a gun to anyone's head to use Ebay, Ticketmaster, or any other site/business to get tickets. Each one must make a personal decision as to what he/she can spend, and where to go. Other than that, arguing here is fairly futile.

This is exactly the point. Well said. All of us have gotten "screwed" at some point, but U2 made it right...and Ebay will live on with or without you. I like having the option to get a ticket here and there, and most of the time never pay more than I think it's worth.