Ticketmaster's newest scam: Instant scalping

This thread just about perfectly sums up why I refuse to go to concerts.

 

I actually don't have a problem with ticket brokers. At least they're honest about it. I'd rather pay a 20 percent markup and have a choice of where I sit than have somebody just say here is your seat, do you want to buy or not? And don't forget the $15 service charge.

 

If the tickets actually had a 20 percent markup with a choice of where to sit, that would be great.

But they start at a 100 percent markup, and go from there.

 

I went out of my way yesterday to go to the theater box office to buy tickets to a play. I still got charged a "convenience fee," but it was less than half of what I would have paid if I bought online and I got to choose the seats I wanted. F Ticketmaster.

 

Burns: [chuckles] And to think, Smithers: you laughed when I bought TicketMaster. "Nobody's going to pay a 100% service charge."

Smithers: Well, it's a policy that ensures a healthy mix of the rich and the ignorant, sir.

 

Take your game to Craig's List about a week before the show in your city. It's gold, pony boy, absolute gold.

 

TM is among the worst scum on this Earth. And while I'm not a massive Pearl Jam fan, I admired them instantly for being willing to fight the scam, the greed, the scum that is TM before I ever linked a note of anything they played with them.

 

I couldn't agree more. I learned long ago that buying tickets well in advance of the event/concert/game either leads to shitty seats via the actual seller (i.e. Ticketmaster) or paying way too much on Stub Hub or other brokers.

I wait until two days before the event and check Craigslist and offer to make a cash transaction, or I buy outside the venue about one minute before the show/game starts.

 

I'm the same way.

Gotta have tickets in hand before getting to the venue. Guaranteed seats are good seats.

 

I've actually lucked out this way before. There's always something that comes up: a couple breaks up, or a babysitter can't be found, or some guy's brother's friend's cousin flakes on coming up with the cash or whatever.

I once sat fourth row at Tori Amos because a guy found out two days before that his girlfriend, who he was going to surprise with tickets, was cheating on him. All he wanted was face value for the tickets to be rid of them.

 

What kills me is Major League Baseball has an open agreement with scum like this. Try to go online and get tickets to any game. First, they make you go through TM and pay a free rather than the club having an agent, then try to get anything other than the upper deck, and it's sold out. But, go to any online scalping broker, and they've got hundreds in any section you want for double the price.

At least some NASCAR tracks are trying to combat it. We've got a state law that you can't scalp within so many feet of a venue. The track near me sends out tickets with the buyers' name on them. They send out people to see what the scalpers have and also search ebay. If someone is caught scalping, then their name is taken off the purchase list for the next year.