So as many of you have seen, the Mumford & Sons ticket sale turned into a bit of a #### show this morning with tickets selling out in about 10 seconds. Naturally, a lot of anger has been quickly directed to "scalpers" and "stubhub". While I think the issue of scalping is a little overstated, looking at the Garth Brooks debacle from last year, it's hard to deny that scalping is an issue.
How is this still legal in Alberta? Ontario and Saskatchewan have pretty strict anti-scalping policies (I have no idea the effectiveness of these), while Quebec has a bit of legislation to help combat scalping, Alberta has nothing and there are currently no plans to re-visit the issue.
Is there a way to eliminate scalping in this province? Can we go strictly to e-tickets? Go back to lining up for tickets?
Or are we just going to have to shrug our shoulders and consider it a part of life?
In many ways scalping is the purest form of free market economics. Being honest I have definitely paid for scalped tickets and while it does indeed suck having to pay way above face value, I accept that willingly when I bought them. How to stop it? The whole credit card linked thing works good to me (they did it for floor only when I saw Maiden in Edmonton), but I'm guessing it will only be applied arbitrarily, namely when its a massive act. For a 2,000 person show at Mac Hall, not sure you need that system. You also have to consider how this shuts out under 18 buyers from the market (no credit card). So its a decent system but it does have issues.
Also, as someone who really has never heard much Mumford and Sons, I'm somewhat stunned this sold out in less than a minute. Literally had no clue they were this popular.
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The only people who have the ability to eliminate it are the acts themselves through insisting on strict ticket purchase limits and requiring the purchaser name to match the ID of the user (one per group of 4 typically). That's the policy Radiohead followed and it did a great job limiting the secondary market. The problem is that people who really want to go then get shut out if they can't be at a computer the second tickets go on sale, or if they happen to click a fraction of a second too late. There are also issues with the logistics of a policy like that in a large venue, the line for Radiohead at the Prudential Center was ridiculous. Another factor is the willingness of venues to go along with it, that Radiohead show was in the Prudential Center because MSG refused to work with that policy.
I doubt that there were more than a couple thousand tickets available. Between presales and the promotor siphoning off blocks the whole system is a joke.
There was a video posted somewhere where a reporter in the UK caught concert promoter staff on camera talking about selling huge blocks through sites like stubhub. Don't know how true that is but I wouldn't be surprised.
I don't get the outrage at scalpers. To me, it's no different than buying pop at the Superstore liquor store. Others oppose this position, and that's okay with me. They have a right to their opinion.
Here's my post and the debate from the Garth Brooks concert:
I doubt that there were more than a couple thousand tickets available. Between presales and the promotor siphoning off blocks the whole system is a joke.
A couple thousand in an approximately 14,000 seat arena? Yeah no. Promoters aren't siphoning off 5,000 tickets and presales are typically fairly limited (and open to pretty much everyone anyways). This is simply a case of a lot of people wanting tickets.
I'd believe that if there weren't thousands of the best tickets available on stubhub instantly after they go on sale, sometimes before.
Oh so this is the 'promoter holds the tickets then puts them on stubhub' theory. I'm sure that happens sometimes, but there are also people all over the world who pretty much have the act of buying up as many tickets as possible to high demand events and then immediately relisting them down to a science.
I just choose to not go to any shows like that anymore. Tickets are overpriced, sold within seconds, shady transfers to secondary vendors etc. I just don't care anymore.
There must be a ticketmaster webservice that scalpers is use to get these tickets faster than humans can fumble their way past capchas. The ticketmaster system certainly has loopholes that scalpers are obviously taking advantage of.
Why people would support scalpers by buying tickets from them is beyond me.
the wfe and i took in bon jovi earlier this week and when i bought the tickets back in whenver i went thru the amex pre-sale. I selected the best availible tickets and we wound up sitting in row 4 of the 200 level across from where the stage was. during the concert I noted several large blocks of seats where unoccupied, but yet the concert was sold out - so it would be nice to understand what went on there.
secondly, i think it would be nice if they were to start to disclose how many tickets are truly availible to buy.
i also wonder if these days there are a lot of amateur scalpers out there - regular folks who buy tickets with the intention of selling them at a profit (versus folks that are high volume "pro" scalpers - the guys who are also by the c-train platform at the dome).
Lastly, i too am stunned that Mumford and Sons sold out so quickly.
At the end of the day it is likely impossible to satiate the markets desire for certain acts.
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i almost like the "dinasour" way of buying tickets, used to line up outside Sears at Chinnok, sure i waited a few hours but you could actually get decent seats... nowhere near as convienant but i know now that if i want to see someone, there is 0% chance of getting a good ticket unless you go the Stub Hub type of route...
Let's not forget that Ticketmaster themselves are in the scalping business. They have a financial interest in selling them on their "re-sale" site at a markup. Not to mention the absurd convenience fees, venue fees, service fees, etc.
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If you go to the Mumford & Sons Ticketmaster page, it says that the tickets are "electronic tickets" and they require the credit card holder to be present to enter the event.
So, are the people selling the tickets on StubHub ripping people off, or are there some scalpable tickets available?
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StubHub is usually very reputable. If I remember someone got hosed on some Garth Brooks tickets last year and they refunded to full amount and gave a credit for a future purchase on StubHub. I'd guess the ones being sold on their are legit, and that more than likely only a certain section (probably floor) is for electronic only tickets.
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I work with a guy who was all outraged at the Garth Brooks debacle last year, and the evil scalpers, yet he has the most epic collection of pirated music and movies ever. Perhaps the most hypocritical goof ever. At least the artist got re-imbursed on a scalped ticket.
I have no issues gouging Canuck, Oiler and Leaf fans for my tickets. If they are stupid enough to pay 2 X face to their team, I am more than happy to take their money.
And scalping is not illegal in Alberta.
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The easiest way to get rid of scalping is to charge what the market will bear for an event.
If people can buy the tickets from outside the country safe in the knowledge that people will pay them a profit on the resale market it signals that the price point is too low. I don't understand why the band is willing to hand all of that potential revenue over to a secondary group.
That said, I like scalping as it allows you to change your mind and attend an event without much notice. As an example, I will be in Edmonton next weekend and want to introduce a client from the area to a coworker. I bought Oilers/Flames tickets through an online reseller that was far easier and simpler than buying through sold out Ticketmaster. It sucks paying so much, but the alternative is not getting tickets at all.
The easiest way to get rid of scalping is to charge what the market will bear for an event.
Yeah, but if I am holding an event that I want to be able to target a specific demographic for, then it hurts my business if I charge a rate that excludes a segment of that demographic.
With NHL games for example, teams set prices that bring in revenue, but hopefully do not isolate a large portion of their fans or make the product inaccessible. Business isn't always about the immediate bottom line. There is an investment aspect to charging less than the market will bear.
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A couple thousand in an approximately 14,000 seat arena? Yeah no. Promoters aren't siphoning off 5,000 tickets and presales are typically fairly limited (and open to pretty much everyone anyways). This is simply a case of a lot of people wanting tickets.
There are currently 1,500 tickets sitting on Stub Hub. Depending on how many seats are actually available, you are looking at about 5-10% of the tickets being purchased for the purpose of scalping. Not a huge number, but definitely not negligable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
If you go to the Mumford & Sons Ticketmaster page, it says that the tickets are "electronic tickets" and they require the credit card holder to be present to enter the event.
So, are the people selling the tickets on StubHub ripping people off, or are there some scalpable tickets available?
Only the General Admission floor seats are using the e-tickets system. The bowls are all regular tickets.
Let's talk about ticket scalping
