Could anyone help with the best (cheapest if possible) place to buy tickets? Or are they the same price everywhere? Specifically, has anyone who has bought from outside of the US got any advice?
Sorry for the questions as we are like fish out of water here! Any advice would be appreciated.
They are absolutely not the same price everywhere. Here are sources I've personally used over the past years:
Ticketmaster "blue dots": These are primary sale tickets, "fresh", never been sold by the Bruins to anyone. All the same price at the same time. They sometimes do activate "dynamic pricing", meaning they pump ticket prices up or down as the market dictates, but they tend to do it in large swaths, so that, for example, all the seats in the center balcony rows 10-15 go up/down at the same time. And it doesn't happen on a daily basis, typically. There's basically 0% risk that your ticket is fraudulent - you can go down and get help at the box office with your ticket when you get there if necessary, and they probably can help you out if something goes terribly wrong.
Ticketmaster "red recycles"/TicketsNow: These are resale tickets, often from Season Ticket Holders. STHs may be people, or businesses, but you don't deal with them directly. These are official tickets, so once again, no risk to you. They're usually cheaper than the blue dots in similar sections, because the people selling them price the tickets. Sellers usually aren't dumb - they know shoppers buy cheaper tickets, all other things being equal. They can vary wildly in price, usually getting cheaper in the final week, as the STHs start to worry that their ticket won't sell. Pricing is highly dynamic and volatile - individuals will change their prices. Also, right now, STHs don't have access to their tickets yet, so there shouldn't be too many of them out there yet. Not sure when STHs get that access to sell, but I'd guess starting in 5-6 weeks? If STHs are on a payment plan, they only get their first group of tickets released - if I've made 4 payments, I'd have about 40% of my tickets available to transfer/sell. These tickets are also "official" tickets with your name associated with them, so there's no risk with fake tickets or with sellers reneging.
The two sites TicketMaster and TicketsNow are basically the same for the resale tickets. I think TM rounds prices up for the resale. There may be a few tickets on TicketNow that are posted outside the official STH channel. I think the fees on TicketsNow used to be slightly lower (like by 2-3%), but I think Ticketmaster changed that and are now the same as TicketsNow.
For non-US, non-Canada orders, TM will let you either use mobile ticketing (available on iPhone or Android - you can save your tickets to your Wallet on iPhone so you don't incur roaming charges), or you can pick up tickets at Will Call. Both are free. I don't think they do Will Call for US - you have to get it on your phone or have your hard ticket mailed for a fee. Of note, they got rid of PDF/printable tickets last year for - it's either on hard card stock, or it's on your phone as a QR code.
The third option is a virtual mystery box. Last year, the Bruins, along with Experience, have "flash sales" of tickets on the day before the game. Not great for international travelers who want to plan these sorts of things in advance. Follow their twitter when the season starts, and scroll through to see if you can find a picture of a Bruin starting at his cell phone. That will link you to the site. These tickets can be dirt cheap if they offer them - last year, they had tickets for all October and November games except for Black Friday and the Sunday after Black Friday. The balcony tickets varied from $50 (Western conference weekday) to $90 (Toronto weekend), but you don't pick your ticket - you pay, and then at about 4 or 5 PM, they send you your exact seat location. These tickets disappeared in February and March, to reappear at kinda high prices for the playoffs ($125-$175).
Again, this is fairly official, so you should be able to get in with this method.
The resale markets I've used are StubHub and Ace Ticket. They're different. StubHub is basically eBay for tickets - sellers list them, and you buy from them. Their tickets are often mobile - they get a screen capture of the QR code, and I've never personally had a problem getting into the Garden with one of these tickets. Very rarely a seller will reneg - in that case, StubHub says they'll either get you a comparable seat, or get you your money back. I have no idea if StubHub will sell internationally. There is a slight chance in this instance they'll refuse to fill your order and give you your money back, which, as a visitor, would suck...but that's the exception, not the rule.
Ace Ticket is basically a consignment shop. They have "verified sellers" who sell their tickets at the start of the season to Ace, and then Ace sells them to you. They have a physical location right outside the Garden. Their prices don't shift as often as StubHub, but they do shift occasionally. Their fees are the lowest (15% or $4.99, whichever is higher), so don't immediately balk at a higher price.
With StubHub and TicketsNow, in October and November, you're best to wait the week of the game to buy. If you're looking for a game in Feb or March and you see what you think is a very good price, you might pounce.
