How to verify authenticity of tickets

[eternalflames]

So I'm currently looking for Taylor Swift concert tickets, but I've been trying Ticketmaster for the past month and found nothing. I've contemplated buying tickets off Kijiji or Ebay. However, I have contacted a few sellers off Kijiji and for many of them I can't tell whether they are real or not.

I have never bought anything off Kijiji before so I'm afraid of people selling fake tickets. With certain people, it is obvious that they are lying, as I had one seller who wanted me to pay them online first before meeting them to get the tickets. However, if it was still a face to face deal, paying in person and receiving the tickets, I'm not sure how to verify whether the tickets are real or not.

Just a simple question I guess, how can I verify the tickets are real and is it possible to verify they are real before I actually meet the seller?

[Claeren]

I don't think there is a way to know for sure tickets are real.

www.stubhub.com will guarentee they are real though, although you pay a premium for it....



Claeren.

[Devils'Advocate]

I bought tickets off Kijiji to a John Fogerty concert 2 months ago.. my brother picked up the tickets, but before he turned over the cash, he made sure he had the guys real phone number, confirmed that the phone number matched the house where he picked up the tickets and even wrote down the guys license plate number for good measure.

[valo403]

I've been burned by fake tickets before, but that was outside Madison Square Garden where I was apparently an idiot to think that actual tickets would be for sale.

The telling feature of those tickets was the quality of the stock they were printed on. The perforations pretty much fell apart if you folded them and they were all around flimsy. I'm not sure there's much else you'd be able to figure out in terms of the physical appearance.

[ricosuave]

if ticketmaster is where the kijiji guy originally got them, he should have no problem meeting at a ticketmaster to confirm their authenticity with them.

other than that, getting the guys full info, etc is a good plan too.

[Resolute 14]

Part of the problem is that with the ability to send or print tickets as pdfs now, you really have no way of knowing. A scalper could actually sell the same seats to five people, all of whom have a legitimate ticket. The first one in gets the seats, until security comes involved when the later people begin to complain after the ticket takers say their ticket has already been scanned.

When you buy scalped tickets, you run the risk of being ripped off. It's part of the game.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Claeren

www.stubhub.com will guarentee they are real though, although you pay a premium for it....

Yes, and as somebody who has bough and sold on Stubhub, that is the place to look for tickets like these. Part of the guarantee is that as a seller you must provide a CC that is valid past the event date.

But as Claren said they are pretty expensive with all the fees.