94 replies to this topic

[bdutton]

The majority of the Cure tour tickets were sold through a verified fan presale, so by the time the public onsale began, there were very few tickets left. I give the Cure props for keeping prices low and doing what can be done to keep scalpers from buying them, but unfortunately it did make tickets very hard to get unless you were lucky and got selected. That’s demand I guess. Robert Smith has been tweeting about it this week a bit

I know... I signed up and was waitlisted.  But it was a relatively small presale.... something like 500 per venue.

[bdutton]

I know... I signed up and was waitlisted.  But it was a relatively small presale.... something like 500 per venue.

Came back to edit.  The RS tweet I read about 500 tickets was actually 500 tickets held out of the overall sales and not the verified fans pre-sale.  Apparently those 500 could still go on sale at face value but no idea how.

[cavman]

I am going to see Zakir Hussain at Berkeley in May and Les Claypool and Flying Frog Brigade covering Pink Floyd's Animals and a Primus set in July

[deejaydan]

I did pick up Jason Isbell tickets for June 25th.  That's all I've got going so far.

[Gusso]

Tried to get tickets for the Cure June 18 at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield MA but sold out in minutes and now the scalper bots that bought up all the tickets are reselling for over $1000.

Same thing happened to my wife trying to get tickets for the Philadelphia show.

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Got tickets for Delain in September. I’m ambivalent about it since the band as it was in 2020 that I loved doesn’t exist anymore. The only original member is the keyboard guy who “owned” the name/band. He has a hissy fit and fired everyone in 2021, including the vocalist who I am a huge fan of.

The current band is pretty good. But it’s not the old band. It’s not at all the same group, just has the old name.

[Stains_not_here_man]

The problem with scalpers is they artificially inflate "demand" by buying up all the tickets and creating a shortage. They don't care if half the tickets go unsold because they've made plenty of profit on the other half. If you ever go to a "sold out show" and half the seats are empty, this is probably why...

[Genesee Ted]

I’ve never been to a sold out show with half the seats empty.

[Stains_not_here_man]

I’ve never been to a sold out show with half the seats empty.

I've been to several, most of them "big stadium acts". Smaller venues are usually packed.

[Stains_not_here_man]

Think of it this way, let's say I buy 1000 tickets at $50 each for $50k total. I then list these tickets for $1000 each.

People say "well Ticketmaster obviously was charging below market value" but the reality is that $1000 isn't the "market value". You only need to sell 51 tickets at that price until you've made a profit and the rest is gravy. So if you can find 51 rich idiots you don't need to sell the rest of the tickets. Hundreds of them can go unsold and you don't care because you've already made a profit. If you sell only a quarter of them you've made a huge profit and you can dump the rest in the trash. And this is, in fact, exactly what happens with many shows that it's "hard to get tickets for".

[3rd party JKor]

Think of it this way, let's say I buy 1000 tickets at $50 each for $50k total. I then list these tickets for $1000 each.

People say "well Ticketmaster obviously was charging below market value" but the reality is that $1000 isn't the "market value". You only need to sell 51 tickets at that price until you've made a profit and the rest is gravy. So if you can find 51 rich idiots you don't need to sell the rest of the tickets. Hundreds of them can go unsold and you don't care because you've already made a profit. If you sell only a quarter of them you've made a huge profit and you can dump the rest in the trash. And this is, in fact, exactly what happens with many shows that it's "hard to get tickets for".

 

 

The first part makes sense, the second part doesn't.  If that was the business model they would start high and slowly ratchet down the prices so they got the highest price for each ticket.  That's not what happens IME.  Pretty much all of the secondary market tix sell immediately at the higher price.  Of course, they only buy up the premium seats so they don't get stuck with nosebleeds they can't sell for face value.

[Genesee Ted]

That’s such an overly broad, not to mention outdated account of how scalpers work these days
ETA response to stain

[Julius H Gardetto]

On the fence about buying Wilco tickets on resale market for $130 a pop.

[Stains_not_here_man]

The first part makes sense, the second part doesn't. If that was the business model they would start high and slowly ratchet down the prices so they got the highest price for each ticket. That's not what happens IME.

It depends. You can sometimes find extremely cheap deals the day of the show.

[3rd party JKor]

It depends. You can sometimes find extremely cheap deals the day of the show.

I’m sure it depends on the show to a degree but i’ve bought a lot of concert tickets in the last year, or so, and every time i went to buy the tickets the sections closest to the stage, or first handful of rows in a smaller venue, were essentially 100% reseller tickets with very few, if any, outside those sections. The shows i see probably aren’t the prime movers of scalped tickets, though. I wouldn’t be surprised that they’d be buying less desirable seats for really big name shows and then getting stuck with some they can’t move at face value.

[Genesee Ted]

They still try to sell them tho

[Stains_not_here_man]

That’s such an overly broad, not to mention outdated account of how scalpers work these days
ETA response to stain

The last few years things have changed a bit for sure. The resellers are more "legit" now and in some cases working with the primary sellers.

I’m sure it depends on the show to a degree but i’ve bought a lot of concert tickets in the last year, or so, and every time i went to buy the tickets the sections closest to the stage, or first handful of rows in a smaller venue, were essentially 100% reseller tickets with very few, if any, outside those sections. The shows i see probably aren’t the prime movers of scalped tickets, though. I wouldn’t be surprised that they’d be buying less desirable seats for really big name shows and then getting stuck with some they can’t move at face value.

Yeah, what I'm talking about as far as I know is probably more applicable to stuff like Taylor Swift and big name pop stuff.

I'll also admit that some of this could be outdated, my information comes from having worked for a scalper years ago

Edited by Stains_not_here_man, 20 March 2023 - 06:50 AM.

[Genesee Ted]

It’s not more legit. The organized crime has evolved with the technology.

[Stains_not_here_man]

It’s not more legit. The organized crime has evolved with the technology.

It kind of is though. StubHub for example is more legit than the guy who used to just hawk tickets in the parking lot

[Genesee Ted]

It’s not really any different. Just an online platform to scalp on