Ticketmaster.su.cks

[Incinerator]

No one is putting a gun to your head to go to the concert man, in all fairness I agree with you all those charges are BS but complaining about them is even funnier because you know it won't get any results. So why get all hopped up about it and be bothered? Just add $20 to whatever tickets you buy and accept it as a necessary evil tax. I don't see you complaining the government taxed you too much, why complain about Ticketmasters' fees? At least with governments peeing away your tax dollars in corruption you can vote them out, there's nothing you can do to put the boot thru Ticketmaster and other evil corporations man, live with it

[troutman]

scalping, gosh darn it, is illegal under the provincial Amusements Act of 1957. The relevant section is Solomonic in its simplicity: "No person shall sell, barter or exchange a ticket of admission to a place of amusement for a price or consideration greater than that paid or given for it to the owner of the place to which it authorizes admission." The sole complication is the definition of "place of amusement," which includes, you will be glad to know, hockey arenas as well as "travelling picture shows," dance halls, circuses and menageries, and any place used to perform "burlesque, pantomime, [or] vaudeville."

http://www.colbycosh.com/old/april04.html#clte

http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/documents/Ac...sbn=0779700368

Resale of admission ticket
25 No person shall sell, barter or exchange a ticket of admission to a place of amusement for a price or consideration greater than that paid or given for it to the owner of the place to which it authorizes admission.
RSA 1980 cA-41 s21

(j) “place of amusement” means a building, hall, pavilion, place, premises, room, tent or structure of any kind or park, field or grounds where an amusement takes place for which an admission price is charged or collected, whether within the premises or elsewhere, in cash or by means of tickets or otherwise, and includes
(i) a theatre, travelling picture show, open air theatre, amusement hall, entertainment hall, music hall or concert hall,
(ii) a hall, pavilion, place, premises, room, tent or structure of any kind kept or used for public concerts, carnival shows, dances or other social gatherings,
(iii) a dance hall, dance pavilion, hotel, restaurant or cafe in which facilities are supplied and used for public dancing,
(iv) a circus, menagerie, midway, grandstand, race track, race course or place where a pari mutuel system of betting is operated,
(v) a hockey rink, skating rink or roller skating rink, or a park, field or grounds used for athletics, baseball, football or other games, and
(vi) a hall or grounds used for a boxing or wrestling contest,
but does not include a school, college, church or hall owned and operated as a place of amusement by a municipal corporation, by a Metis settlement or by the trustees of a school district or division for public concerts, dances and social gatherings, except when the hall is rented or leased to another person;

[Bobblehead]

But not buying tickets implies that you don't lihe the act/artist. If there was another way to get tickets then there would be a way the consumer could "punish" ticketmaster.

I read somewhere that Ticketmaster has a contract with the venues, and they are the only one who can sell tickets on behalf of the venue. That was part of the problem Pearl Jam had - they weren't allowed to play at any venue that had a Ticketmaster contract unless the tickets were sold through Ticketmaster. As a result they had a difficult time finding venues with the capacity to perform. And Venues want to use something that makes it easy for them to sell tickets, which right now is Ticketmaster.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

No one is putting a gun to your head to go to the concert man, in all fairness I agree with you all those charges are BS but complaining about them is even funnier because you know it won't get any results. So why get all hopped up about it and be bothered? Just add $20 to whatever tickets you buy and accept it as a necessary evil tax. I don't see you complaining the government taxed you too much, why complain about Ticketmasters' fees? At least with governments peeing away your tax dollars in corruption you can vote them out, there's nothing you can do to put the boot thru Ticketmaster and other evil corporations man, live with it

I guess we know who you work for.

[gottabekd]

It'd sure be nice to use my dollar votes and buy tickets from another ticket broker...but what is the alternative? Seriously, are there any other global/national ticket chains?

Philosophical question here: Do Antitrust laws really exist if they aren't enforced? (Or scalper laws, for that matter).

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Thanks trout,
A buddy of mine said he looked into it and found out that you can legally sell tickets for twice their value, but I suppose he was wrong.

If this is the case though, how the hell do those guys in front of the dome get away with it every night?

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

If this is the case though, how the hell do those guys in front of the dome get away with it every night?

Maybe because the police need to act upon a complaint? I'm guessing this is the case, because when I asked my ticket rep about them, they said that there was nothing that they could do. I got the impression that the Flames aren't concerned about them.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

See then that ****es me off.
If I were running the Flames, I'd make damn sure that I was complaining about these guys every night. It isn't tough to see where they are, the dude with the greasy mullet and the Broncos jacket is usually right at the bottom of the main stairs.

[troutman]

The penalty for scalping:

General penalty
26 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, a person who contravenes this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $200 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months.
RSA 1980 cA-41 s22

The Crown is probably reluctant to prosecute, because the penalty is so small.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by troutman

The penalty for scalping:

General penalty
26 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, a person who contravenes this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $200 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months.
RSA 1980 cA-41 s22

The Crown is probably reluctant to prosecute, because the penalty is so small.

Is this simply a ticket the police can write? Do they lose the tickets they are trying to sell?

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

See then that ****es me off.
If I were running the Flames, I'd make damn sure that I was complaining about these guys every night. It isn't tough to see where they are, the dude with the greasy mullet and the Broncos jacket is usually right at the bottom of the main stairs.

That tells me that either the Flames don't care, or they actually want the guy out there driving up demand and maybe even promoting the idea of "these tickets are really hard to get". They don't have to call the cops to get a guy out of Stampede Park. The park has it's own security guards. They could dump the guy anytime they want.

[sec304]

Stampede ground doesn't own the train station, which is why they reside there, then it becomes a Transit Cop issue, and they aren't gonna give two #####s about it... if they're on Stampede Grounds then security can kick them out

[ken0042]

A couple of viewpoints given to me by a friend:

- They are providing a service. There is always tickets available for a price. If I have a hot date and she indicates that Flames games make her so hot, then I can get tickets.

- The same guys were also there in the lean times too. Yes, they were buying tickets for 1/2 price and selling them for 3/4 price, but in those years all those corperate tickets got used somehow, and it's the corperate seats @$107 each that keeps the team here; not me and my $36 seats.

- Also because it's always the same guys there I know I can feel safe buying the tickets. The Flames may also have never had a problem with those guys, so they don't want to force them away and send the scalping underground.

I'm not saying I agree, but they are points to consider.

[Clarkey]

At least scalping has some free market aspects to it. The guy who has the highest willingness to pay will get the ticket.

Ticketmaster is price gouging. There's no way that it cost Ticketmaster anywhere near $12 bucks to facilitate rouge's ticket purchase.

Are the barriers to entry really too high that another company with a more efficient method of doing things couldn't sneak in and compete against ticketmaster? I would think another company could avoid all the high costs ticketmaster has from their pickup locations by starting a strictly online ticket purchasing company. I guess obtaining the venues is the major sticking point though.

[FurnaceFace]

I like the raw sincerity of the scalpers. They make no apologies for what they're doing and don't hide. Contrast this to Joe ebay who sells a car flag with "bonus" tickets for $500.

The ticketmaster charge makes me grumpy unless I can print the tickets out myself. If I don't have to wander down to the Epcor Centre and get the ticket printed I'll pay for it. If, like during the speed skating a couple weeks ago, you have no choice but to go to ticketmaster to get your ticket printed then there should be no fee.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

That tells me that either the Flames don't care, or they actually want the guy out there driving up demand and maybe even promoting the idea of "these tickets are really hard to get". They don't have to call the cops to get a guy out of Stampede Park. The park has it's own security guards. They could dump the guy anytime they want.

Exactly. I'm sure they'd be much more concerned if the event wasn't sold out and people were outside the box office selling tickets for LESS than face value.

[troutman]

The Economics of Ticket Scalping

http://www.jimmyatkinson.com/papers/ticketscalping.html

Ticket scalping is the resale of tickets in the secondary market. It exists at many sports and other entertainment events because under-pricing at the box office creates excess demand, thereby not allowing the market to clear. With box offices setting the prices of tickets artificially low, licensed ticket brokers and unlicensed on-site street scalpers emerge as the secondary sellers to clear the market. These ticket resellers purchase a lot of the tickets at the artificially low box office price and then meet the demands of those purchasers willing to pay higher prices for those same tickets.

While some may claim that ticket scalping is unethical and immoral, even illegal in certain states and municipalities, it is simply a free-market transaction. Most economists avidly oppose laws that make ticket scalping illegal. Such regulations do not allow the market forces to reign.

[ken0042]

While some may claim that ticket scalping is unethical and immoral, even illegal in certain states and municipalities, it is simply a free-market transaction. Most economists avidly oppose laws that make ticket scalping illegal. Such regulations do not allow the market forces to reign.

The only problem with this arguement, is in most other examples of a market there is not a finite inventory. More finnished goods can be produced, more food can be farmed or raised, more energy can be produced.

[O_M_A]

While I don't agree ethically with scalping, I can see the need for it as there is always going to be demand for tickets. It comes down to what you want to pay for a product. Im surprised the Flames and those directly affected by it aren't more pro-active about the situation though.

And just on that related note, I'm curious about something. I remember back in the day if you were to go to a hockey game at the 'Dome and you grabbed scalpers tickets about 3 or 4 minutes into the game.. they'd be getting rid of tickets at 50% of their value...... Anyways, I tried this approach in Vancouver recently adn the scalpers wouldn't budge from their 50% of face value approach even though the game was already 3 minutes in.

Granted, I'm not an economics major but i'm pretty sure that it would be unprofitable for these guys to hold on to those tickets, no? Or is this just a weird case in Vancouver and the norm of dumping tickets still stands in Calgary?

The MODS can delete this post if they feel its unnecessary, it just happened recently to me and its been bugging me.

[Resolute 14]

My personal favorite ticketmaster rape charge is the $2.50 fee for buying a ticket outside of the city the event is being held in.

Apparently it costs more money to use the computer in Calgary to print a ticket for an event in Red Deer than it does to use the computer in Red Deer.

The problem with ticketmaster is that in being a monopoly, they can combine ridiculously high fees with ridiculously poor service, and get away with it. Their internet site sucks, and it is a crap shoot whether it will actually work, but calling is no better, as they closed all of their local call centres rerouting you to some of the worlds dumbest human beings at their call centre in Orlando.

The problem will never change until a large number of companies that use ticketmaster abandon them.