Counterfeit Concert Tickets at Garth Brooks last nite.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The obvious problem with the Dutch Auction model is of course it favors the wealthy, so they'll obviously always get the best tickets which will only serve to piss off the average fan.

Yeah, the Dutch Auction idea works if the goal is to eliminate scalping and ensure that everyone paid the absolute maximum they were willing to pay to get tickets, and maximize the profits for the performer/promoter.

A lot of performers, and Garth has been outspoken about this since he first became a big deal, want to ensure that their tickets are affordable for the average Joe fan. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure that, as he said in his press conference yesterday, is to play as many shows as there is demand. To that end, it's better to play 6 shows at 90% capacity than 5 shows at 100% capacity with people still wanting tickets.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

For some NHL markets, there will always be more fans than seats, and thus the goal is to price to what the market will bear to ensure every single ticket is sold out. Why would Toronto or Montreal charge a penny less for their tickets when they sell out every night. The variable pricing on premium games at the Dome reflects this too - why keep prices the same for premium games when you know you can charge more for them (or gouge fans into buying game packs that include the one game they want to see), and still ensure a sell out.

Similarly for Garth Brooks - I'm pretty sure he's in the category of musicians that will sell out every date they perform, over the remaining span of his career. Why would they price to build new fans? They don't need them in the timeframe remaining on the product.

Even the Leafs and Canadiens have different pricing levels. Even though the market values are larger as a whole, they still use tier pricing to increase accessibility to their product to what their desired level is. They trade off some immediate profit for other benefits. It's not for some scalper to decide to mess with that.

As for Garth Brooks, you have to look at it in the larger context of the entire event and the generic product, which is live music entertainment. There are still promoters and businesses that want (and require) a continuously growing and evolving fanbase. Garth Brooks was the brand being sold, but the actual business consists of a lot more than just that.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Olao32

I was unfortunately one of the dumb asses who was scammed last night. I am a big country music fan, and my wife is a huge Garth Brooks fan. Unfortunately during regular ticket sales we were not successful via Ticketmaster, so yesterday morning I decided screw it, I am going to surprise her with some tickets and purchased them via kijiji. Lots of money yes, but it it’s not like an everyday concert. She was ecstatic.

The tickets were hard copy and looked legit in every way. They even got me through the gates at the park, scanned through no problem...

Then at the door of the dome, nada "please go to the ticket counter and talk to a representative". I knew at that moment I was SOL. And I felt like a major jackass because the surprise just didn’t turn out as planned.

When I went down to the ticket office the lady pointed me to a crowd in the corner with some CPS officers taking statements. Doubt they will find him but you never know...

Apparently, this same guy did this to many different people. Same story, same phone number, add on kijiji etc. One of the people who purchased from him even took a picture (and this genius let her). So, this is one of the pricks behind the scam if you recognize him, please let me know.

I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff on CP, wouldn't surprise me if someone actually recognized him or was able to track this POS down.

Just posted his pic and the story on Facebook... lets see how it takes to track this guy down...

Everybody on here who has a FB account should do likewise.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

People were saying that 5 minutes after the sale, there were tickets for re-sale online at 10 to 20 times the original price.

If you are in the president's club you get a ROFR on all events at the saddledome, so it stands to reason those would be up there. Also, if it sold out in 58 seconds it wouldn't take more than 3 minutes to list them on stub hub. I'm not sure what the problem is here?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

If you are in the president's club you get a ROFR on all events at the saddledome, so it stands to reason those would be up there. Also, if it sold out in 58 seconds it wouldn't take more than 3 minutes to list them on stub hub. I'm not sure what the problem is here?

Is the President's Club the same as the Avison Young club seats, or is it more like people with box tickets?

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Is the President's Club the same as the Avison Young club seats, or is it more like people with box tickets?

Avison Young club.

[meanmachine13]

People have to be aware of purchasing hard copy tickets because the original owner simply has to go to Ticketmaster and say they lost their tickets. Ticketmaster will print them off a new set and cancel the old set. There is no way to tell which ticket has been cancelled until you actually get to the gate.

I used to think hard copy tickets were a lot safer than the ones where you can print them off at home, but even thats changed. So sketchy buying tickets now.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by meanmachine13

People have to be aware of purchasing hard copy tickets because the original owner simply has to go to Ticketmaster and say they lost their tickets. Ticketmaster will print them off a new set and cancel the old set. There is no way to tell which ticket has been cancelled until you actually get to the gate.

I used to think hard copy tickets were a lot safer than the ones where you can print them off at home, but even thats changed. So sketchy buying tickets now.

If the same guy was selling a lot of the counterfeits and they were all hard copy tickets, you'd have to think he somehow got his hands on real Ticketmaster stock and with some creative Photoshopping printed up a bunch of fakes.

I think that faking real-looking Ticketmaster tickets would be very hard to do without having the actual card stock, unless people didn't scrutinize what they were buying very well.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Always ask for hard copy tickets when buying from Kijiji. Hard tickets as least take some effort to forge and those e tickets can be resold many times and only the first one gets in.

Not if they are hockey tickets.

"My Flames account --> email myself tickets --> sell newly voided paper tickets --> profit"

I have no issues with scalping myself, I've bought scalped tickets for the odd event. But the fact is, you are dealing with a bit of a shady industry. I hope they find the people who rip these fans off, but the fan himself takes a big risk when they go through non-reputable sources.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Not if they are hockey tickets.

"My Flames account --> email myself tickets --> sell newly voided paper tickets --> profit"

I assume you're kidding around, but of course, that will work for one game, then the person who bought the ticket from you will report you, and the Flames will revoke your Season Tickets and void all of your tickets (I guess you can then sell all of those tickets too for a profit).


This reminds me of an old story: Many years ago, long before they brought in ticket scanners, the place where my sister worked was broken into and one of the things they stole was the company's Flames season ticket book. Of course, they reported the break in, filed a police report, and their tickets were replaced by the Flames. Because it was before the scanners, the old tickets would still get you into the building.

Rather than doing the smart thing and selling the tickets (or using the tickets to get into the Saddledome, but sitting somewhere else), the idiots who broke in actually used the stolen tickets, went to the next game, and sat in the company's seats. One of the sales guys had the replacement tickets, and when he showed up, the thieves were sitting in the seats, and soon found themselves getting escorted out of the dome by the police.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Not if they are hockey tickets.

"My Flames account --> email myself tickets --> sell newly voided paper tickets --> profit"

I have no issues with scalping myself, I've bought scalped tickets for the odd event. But the fact is, you are dealing with a bit of a shady industry. I hope they find the people who rip these fans off, but the fan himself takes a big risk when they go through non-reputable sources.

You forgot, sell multiple copies of the email tickets -> go to the game early to get yours scanned first --> Lots of profit.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by GGG

You forgot, sell multiple copies of the email tickets -> go to the game early to get yours scanned first --> Lots of profit.

Me - walks up to scalper
Scalper - $300.00
Me - Ok
Scalper - here they are
Me - WTF are those?
Scalper - my trickets via email and printed
Me - Cya

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by T@T

Me - walks up to scalper
Scalper - $300.00
Me - Ok
Scalper - here they are
Me - WTF are those?
Scalper - my trickets via email and printed
Me - Cya

I would guess statistically speaking, hard copy tickets are more likely to be fake or voided. There are so many ways today that voided hard copy tickets could end up in the hands of scalpers. Whereas I would guess scalpers would only buy home printed tickets from known sources.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by T@T

Scalper - my trickets via email and printed

I'm not sure if this was an intentional spelling error or not, but what a very apropos word indeed.

[Dorkmaster]

Originally Posted by ken0042

There's your difference. There is a very finite number of tickets; however there are almost unlimited options for places to buy pop.

Wooosh

[Northendzone]

[QUOTE=FlamesAddiction;When scalpers buy tickets and mark-them up, they are huritng the businesses.[/QUOTE]

I am having trouble understanding this. If Garth chooses to charge $65, how is me paying some guy $650 hurting Garth? Garth has set his market value low, when it is obvious people think he is worTh much more.

I'd like to hear from someone who paid a large sum for tickets to find out if they still think it was worTh it, or if reality has set in......

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Dorkmaster

Wooosh

Would you care to elaborate?

Also- a few people corrected me that scalpers buying tickets does not increase demand. I guess I wasn't making my point clear- may have been typing too quick. What I meant was that if 1/2 the tickets go to scalpers; with supply going down the number of people left wanting tickets goes up. So if there were 40,000 people wanting tickets, now you would have 30,000 people looking for tickets instead of 20,000.

The ironic part in all of this was that Brooks wanted to keep ticket prices low so that anybody could afford to go. But by doing that he just made the scalpers more eager; and more of his fans ended up paying higher prices. He may have been better off selling tickets for $200.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Would you care to elaborate?

Also- a few people corrected me that scalpers buying tickets does not increase demand. I guess I wasn't making my point clear- may have been typing too quick. What I meant was that if 1/2 the tickets go to scalpers; with supply going down the number of people left wanting tickets goes up. So if there were 40,000 people wanting tickets, now you would have 30,000 people looking for tickets instead of 20,000.

The ironic part in all of this was that Brooks wanted to keep ticket prices low so that anybody could afford to go. But by doing that he just made the scalpers more eager; and more of his fans ended up paying higher prices. He may have been better off selling tickets for $200.

I don't think that's necessarily right, regarding the lowering of the demand. The assumption made that one ticket per scalper isn't really true. If each scalper bought up as many as they could, that doesn't really help as many people.

That said, I remember listening to a radio program not too long ago about how price gouging is in some ways beneficial in that when a commodity is scarce and you charge an inflated price, it ensures that only the people who really want it get it. The example they used was bags of ice after the flooding in New Orleans. If you have 5 bags of ice, should you sell it for $1 a bag on a first-come basis, or inflate the price to $10 so that only the people who really need it the most get it. This is where I think the auction method works best.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I don't think that's necessarily right, regarding the lowering of the demand. The assumption made that one ticket per scalper isn't really true. If each scalper bought up as many as they could, that doesn't really help as many people.

That said, I remember listening to a radio program not too long ago about how price gouging is in some ways beneficial in that when a commodity is scarce and you charge an inflated price, it ensures that only the people who really want it get it. The example they used was bags of ice after the flooding in New Orleans. If you have 5 bags of ice, should you sell it for $1 a bag on a first-come basis, or inflate the price to $10 so that only the people who really need it the most get it. This is where I think the auction method works best.

Assuming the people who need/want it the most have the most money. Which of course isn't true.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by Olao32

I didn't know Russel Hantz was in town for Stampede...