OT: Ticketmaster recruits pros for secret scalper program

[cbcwpg]

Box-office giant Ticketmaster is recruiting professional scalpers who cheat its own system to expand its resale business and squeeze more money out of fans, a CBC News/Toronto Star investigation reveals.


'A public relations nightmare': Ticketmaster recruits pros for secret scalper program | CBC News

We went undercover as ticket scalpers — and Ticketmaster offered to help us do business | The Star

Click to read more...

 

[Fenway]

Box-office giant Ticketmaster is recruiting professional scalpers who cheat its own system to expand its resale business and squeeze more money out of fans, a CBC News/Toronto Star investigation reveals.


'A public relations nightmare': Ticketmaster recruits pros for secret scalper program | CBC News

We went undercover as ticket scalpers — and Ticketmaster offered to help us do business | The Star

Toronto had one of the most extensive networks of scalpers I have ever seen as did Montreal.

 

[Dr Pepper]

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Ticketmaster is gouging the public.

I've been using second-market ticket apps for years (Stub Hub, Seat Geek, Game Time), with zero issues.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I hate Ticketbastard.

 

[SupremeNachos]

I'm glad I live within 20mins of all the stadiums that I go to. For a 60$ upper level ticket at the Xcel TM wants to add on a 15$ charge for convenience. Has anyone ever bought tickets from a street scalper before?

 

[tarheelhockey]

This should be making a lot more noise than it is. To nobody's surprise, Ticketmaster is abusing its monopoly to collect double-fees at the consumer's expense.

 

[SupremeNachos]

This should be making a lot more noise than it is. To nobody's surprise, Ticketmaster is abusing its monopoly to collect double-fees at the consumer's expense.

This screams "Fine print? What's that?". More and more people seem to just click accept or process payment without reading about some of the potential fees sites/businesses are using to screw you over.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Box-office giant Ticketmaster is recruiting professional scalpers who cheat its own system to expand its resale business and squeeze more money out of fans, a CBC News/Toronto Star investigation reveals.


'A public relations nightmare': Ticketmaster recruits pros for secret scalper program | CBC News

We went undercover as ticket scalpers — and Ticketmaster offered to help us do business | The Star

this is not new

they have been doing it in Vancouver for years

 

[Bjorn Le]

This screams "Fine print? What's that?". More and more people seem to just click accept or process payment without reading about some of the potential fees sites/businesses are using to screw you over.

Apparently it's not anywhere (at least that's what I took from related articles on this subject) but I haven't actually read the agreement myself.

Not that this is really an issue whether it's in the agreement or not. Ticketmaster has more or less said that they don't support scalpers but this explicitly means they do. TradeDesk isn't publicly known and goes against what they actually tell people they do.

 

[Fenway]

People on the Boston area are outraged at Ticketmaster over Hamilton prices.

The high cost of ‘Hamilton’ in Boston - The Boston Globe

The numbers can be jaw-dropping. A check of the Ticketmaster website for Friday’s upcoming performance found that the cheapest seat available was $300, and it was in the balcony. Orchestra seats to that performance were listed as high as $1,200.

For Saturday’s matinee, many seats were listed in the $500 to $800 range, and two were over $1,000 apiece. An orchestra seat for that night’s show was asking $1,400. Even at these lofty heights, an orchestra seat at the Oct. 28 matinee stood out, offered for the tidy sum of . . . $15,560.

“Hamilton’’ tickets are also being sold at very high prices on StubHub, where, for instance, a ticket to Thursday night’s performance was listed at $1,875, and Ace Ticket, where a single ticket to Sunday’s matinee ran as high as $2,356.

The phenomenon of high prices on Ticketmaster and elsewhere for resold tickets does not just apply to “Hamilton’’ or to theater, but also to sporting events, concerts, and other live entertainment. If you were in search of tickets to Elton John’s show last weekend at TD Garden and you clicked through to the Ticketmaster site from the Garden’s “buy tickets’’ tab, you would have found “verified resale tickets’’ listed as high as $1,534, $1,688, and $1,710 apiece.

Entering the secondary market is the last resort for “Hamilton” fans, unless — facing steep odds — they participate in the digital lottery, where 40 tickets costing only $10 each are sold to each Boston performance.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

Ticketmaster is garbage.

 

[Llama19]

^^^To Fenway's post^^^
Ticketmaster is essentially a monopoly...the token $10 tickets are just that...a token...

There is no regulation of the industry(ies) anymore...sad to say...regulation went out in the 80s...