News Article: Ticketmaster recruits pros for secret scalper program
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Del Preston
Registered User
- Mar 8, 2013
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Ruok
Feeling Hyman.
- Jun 21, 2011
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Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
Ticketmaster ought to have been shut down decades ago. This just being the latest of countless scams they have foisted on the public. Like the others I doubt this really results in very much. People will complain for awhile, there might be another investigation that impacts next to nothing and they will continue to lob buyer beware scams.
Heres an oldschool comment. Prior to ticketmaster there used to simply be Ticket "Box Offices". We used to go to the Bay DT where they had one. Westmount, Jube, other locations had them as well. You would buy your ticket and there would be an admin fee of 25-50cents on the ticket. That was it. That was before everything was computers, online, and easy. It involved actual administration. One of two systems would occur
1) Each vendor would have to call central ticketing to see if the tickets were still available. There would be an actual physical peg board of the facility and all its seats that they would put a slot on when that ticket was sold. You would get a physical ticket only after availability was verified manually.
2) Or each vendor would be released different physical tickets to sell. For instance 1-2K tickets each per vendor meaning that some would sellout but you could go to other vendors and still get seats. But normally you'd have no trouble getting seats. This was before online or ph sales. Show up close to day of sale and you were pretty much guaranteed seats to anything.
So as soon as ticketmaster started charging several dollars for admin fees and then recharging those amounts multiple times on resales people should have been suspicious. Their actual operational costs on those administrations would be minimal considering its all computed. Really the invention of he computer was tied with actually making such administration and accounting easy and affordable. The use of bar code inventory control means that such administration approximates negligible cost. That's the whole point of the system that any store uses for inventory control. Negligible cost. Yet ticktmaster charges such inflated fees for something that costs them next to nothing.
Not only do the agent buyers increase ticket prices and result in pay back for ticketmaster they result in the multiple sales points on the same ticket. They don't print tickets, its now all electronic, you actually have to do everything yourself. Find the tickets, do the online admin, fill everything out, arrange method of payment, and download your tickets into your ticketmaster app. They're charging you copiously for work you actually perform yourself. Nice scam eh? That would be like going to a grocery store with a cart, picking out all your items, going to scan it all through the checkout yourself, bag it yourself, go to the store yourself and they charge you for pick order, admin, and delivery fees. It really is that whacked. I think ticketmaster is now limiting delivery fees because people complained so much about what constitutes delivery.
People should be astounded what they are charged for a ticket sale operation that they perform themselves online. If Amazon foisted this extra fees or surcharge kind of crap on customers they wouldn't be in business.
The other shady aspect is GST charges at every sell point. So that conceivably several GST charges could result from the one identical product. I wonder if any creative accounting or reporting to CRA does not include every GST amount taken.
I've been anti ticketmaster for decades and mostly just go to things where ticketmaster is not involved. I make exceptions but I don't like feeding their pockets.
The NHL should do their fans a favor and opt out of the Ticketmaster arrangement. It'll take big steps like that to really end the monopoly.
Heres an oldschool comment. Prior to ticketmaster there used to simply be Ticket "Box Offices". We used to go to the Bay DT where they had one. Westmount, Jube, other locations had them as well. You would buy your ticket and there would be an admin fee of 25-50cents on the ticket. That was it. That was before everything was computers, online, and easy. It involved actual administration. One of two systems would occur
1) Each vendor would have to call central ticketing to see if the tickets were still available. There would be an actual physical peg board of the facility and all its seats that they would put a slot on when that ticket was sold. You would get a physical ticket only after availability was verified manually.
2) Or each vendor would be released different physical tickets to sell. For instance 1-2K tickets each per vendor meaning that some would sellout but you could go to other vendors and still get seats. But normally you'd have no trouble getting seats. This was before online or ph sales. Show up close to day of sale and you were pretty much guaranteed seats to anything.
So as soon as ticketmaster started charging several dollars for admin fees and then recharging those amounts multiple times on resales people should have been suspicious. Their actual operational costs on those administrations would be minimal considering its all computed. Really the invention of he computer was tied with actually making such administration and accounting easy and affordable. The use of bar code inventory control means that such administration approximates negligible cost. That's the whole point of the system that any store uses for inventory control. Negligible cost. Yet ticktmaster charges such inflated fees for something that costs them next to nothing.
Not only do the agent buyers increase ticket prices and result in pay back for ticketmaster they result in the multiple sales points on the same ticket. They don't print tickets, its now all electronic, you actually have to do everything yourself. Find the tickets, do the online admin, fill everything out, arrange method of payment, and download your tickets into your ticketmaster app. They're charging you copiously for work you actually perform yourself. Nice scam eh? That would be like going to a grocery store with a cart, picking out all your items, going to scan it all through the checkout yourself, bag it yourself, go to the store yourself and they charge you for pick order, admin, and delivery fees. It really is that whacked. I think ticketmaster is now limiting delivery fees because people complained so much about what constitutes delivery.
People should be astounded what they are charged for a ticket sale operation that they perform themselves online. If Amazon foisted this extra fees or surcharge kind of crap on customers they wouldn't be in business.
The other shady aspect is GST charges at every sell point. So that conceivably several GST charges could result from the one identical product. I wonder if any creative accounting or reporting to CRA does not include every GST amount taken.
I've been anti ticketmaster for decades and mostly just go to things where ticketmaster is not involved. I make exceptions but I don't like feeding their pockets.
The NHL should do their fans a favor and opt out of the Ticketmaster arrangement. It'll take big steps like that to really end the monopoly.
Last edited:
Jimmi McJenkins
Sometimes miracles
It's almost like, if you let some company have basically a monopoly over an industry/product, they will think **** the consumer as hard as possible, crazy?
Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
What proportion is the facility surcharge? I wish they would break it down more so that you see all the charges like on a utility bill (sob) I forget how much for instance is the negotiated Rogers Place Ticket Surcharge and afairc it is charged on all events at Rogers place. Was it 7bucks/ticket or 7%?
McShogun99
Registered User
They still use the old fashioned way for soccer games in Brazil. You can’t buy tickets online, instead you have to go to one of the assigned stores for the home team. Stadiums hold 60k+ and it runs smoothly.
s7ark
RIP
- Jul 3, 2003
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While interesting, I'm not sure this needs a thread on HF Oil. Perhaps in the HFOil OT thread
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/the-ot-thread-part-5-new-hf-talk.2392203/
Or the Lounge?
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/forums/the-lounge.67/
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/the-ot-thread-part-5-new-hf-talk.2392203/
Or the Lounge?
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/forums/the-lounge.67/
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