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Today I received another nasty email from a fan.  He called me all sorts of names and wished some very horrible things would happen to me. 

To be fair - I get more positive emails than negative ones.  But there are definitely lots of people who wish there were no Ticket Brokers.  If you have not had the opportunity to read my rsponse to the negative email - you can read it here.

But back to the topic for today.

10 Ways to put Ticket Brokers out of Business

1.  Pass Federal Laws that prohibit the sale of tickets above face value - even when packaged with other items like airfare or hotels.  Right now the few states that have laws are ineffective because they only apply to residents - not Sellers in other states.

2.  Require that all tickets be purchased in person with photo ID and valid Credit Card.  No cash, No Telephone,  No Internet Sales.

3.  Allow each person to only buy 1 ticket.  If a family is going, or a couple, require each one to come to the ticket outlet to buy tickets.

4.  Allow people to only buy tickets for an event within 100 miles of their address.  The address must match their Credit Card bill AND Driver’s Licence.

5.  Make ticket non transferable.  Oprah does it.  If your name is not on the ticket, you can’t come to the show.  Period.

6.  Require Buyers to answer a Trivia Question.  David Letterman does it.  If you can’t answer something every Letterman fan knows, you don’t need a ticket.

7.  Make all tickets go on sale as part of an auction - so only the people who want to go most will get tickets.  In theory, if all true fans participated in the auction, and bid the absolute most they were willing to pay, Brokers would go out of business.  That’s because any Broker that won tickets in the auction would have paid more than the true fans were willing.

8.  More shows.  More games.  More Venues.  Bottom line - if Hannah Montana had 2 shows in every city, or the Patriots had a stadium that was twice as big - there would be more seats than demand, and tickets would always be face value.

9.  Make it against the law for fans to pay more than face value for tickets.  It’s illegal to sell or buy drugs.  Why not make it illegal to sell or buy tickets?

10.  Only allow each Fan to buy tickets for up to 4 shows / games / events per year.  This would be acceptable to most fans (except sports) but would drastically reduce Ticket Broker opportunities.

I think you will agree that most of these will never be done because some of them will hurt the teams or artists.  Some would be too costly to implement.  Others create undue inconvenience.

And as much as some fans may dislike Ticket Brokers, I believe many fans would dislike the above scenarios more.

I do believe one of the solutions could really work, and would not create too much inconvenience or cost.

Solution 5:  make tickets non-transferable.  It’s the perfect solution for ridding the world of Ticket Brokers.  Most fans would find it perfect.  No residency requirements, no ticket limits, no inconvenience.  Fans would just enter the names of everyone attending, and each ticket would get printed with one name.

Ticketmaster could do it easily.  They do it now with e-tickets for the NFL.

What’s the downside?  Well, if you can’t go, then you can’t resell the ticket.  Or if you break up with your girlfriend, you go alone or reunite for the evening.  If you buy season tickets for business clients or employees - you need to know months in advance who you would like to give them to.  But probably the worst downside is that if an event truly sold out to fans, and you could not get a ticket - there would be no solution for you.  Even if you wanted to pay a Broker - they couldn’t help.

What do you think?

Would my solution work?  Do the positives outweigh the negatives?

I love nostalgia. 

Recently, a friend of mine named Dave shared a story about how he and some friends basically controlled the entire ticket market in their town by camping out in front of the local record store.   They were able to get about 20 friends to line up in front of all the Ticketmaster outlets in town, before most of the outlets even knew the Grateful Dead were coming for a show!

Those were the good old days.  When no one bought tickets over the phone or Internet.  And real fans and entrepreneurs could buy tickets if they were willing to sleep on the sidewalk for a few days.

Nowadays, very few tickets are sold through Ticketmaster Outlets. 

Some buyers have abandoned the outlets because it’s simply inconvenient.  Why drive to an outlet, when you can buy them over the telephone or Internet? 

Others realize that unless you are first in line, your chances are slim of buying tickets.  After all, 1000’s are logging in while the lady at the front of your line is writing a check, or counting pennies, or simply can’t decide what section is best.

There is also a long standing belief that the people working at the Ticketmaster Outlets may be taking bribes from Brokers or friends to influence who gets the bets seats.

For those of you who still purchase at Ticketmaster Outlets - here are a few tips:

1.  You can now use credit cards for purchasing tickets at Ticketmaster Outlets.  For years, cash was the only accepted form of payment.

2.  No more camping out!  Now big events are handled by giving everyone a numbered bracelet, or placard.  They randomly pick one number, and that becomes the first person in line.  For example, eveyone lines up in the order they arrive.   Each person is given a number in sequential order, 1-100.  The Ticketmaster representative pulls a random number.  Let’s say they draw #50.  Then 50 becomes first in line, and so on.

3.  Because there is no camping out  - the best strategy is to have as many people as you know come with you - and space yourself out in line.  One of you should be #1, someone should be #25, #50, and #75.  This means, no matter what number they pick - you will be within 25 of the front of the line.  If the same people lined up #1-#4, and #5 was picked, you could be 95 spaces from the front!  There is no reason to get to the Ticketmaster outlet more than 1 hour before the tickets go on sale.

4.  If you don’t have anyone to bring with you - recruit people there!  Find a few other people like you, agree to split up, and buy tickets together.  You will all increase your chances for better tickets.

5.  Even if you decide to buy tickets in person - try calling Ticketmaster while in line at the retail outlet.  It can’t hurt to multi-task!  Use these tips and techniques to make sure you get through on the phone.

6.  Most cities only have a few Ticketmaster Outlets.  Choose the one that the least people may know about.  For example, there is one where we live that is located in a downtown store where all the surrounding businesses are closed on the weekend.  We also have one in the city’s Visitor’s Center.  You may also be able to find one in a neighboring town, or just over the state line if you live near a border.  Use this tool to find Ticketmaster Retail locations near you.

Thanks for the nostalgic reminder Dave.  Feel free to visit Dave at The Macro Trader and Blog Raters.

This is a very common question.  Buyers and Sellers want to know if it is illegal to sell tickets over face value.

This simple question is really 3 questions:

1.  Is it illegal to sell tickets over face value?

2.  Is it illegal to buy tickets over face value?

3.   What is the likelihood I will be prosecuted?

Answers:  Maybe, Maybe, and Maybe.

The laws on buying and selling tickets vary by state, but most states allow sellers to set their own pricing, and buyers to decide how much they want the tickets.

In fact, several states including Florida, New York, and Connecticut have recently repealed their laws against “scalping.”  Some repealed the laws because it is hypocritical to say citizens can buy a house, car, baseball card, artwork or a mutual fund and sell it for a profit - but tickets cannot be sold for a profit.

Other states repealed the laws because they were ineffective against sales made over state lines.  Even when states laws do apply, it is very expensive and time consuming to try and investigate an Internet sale of tickets over face value.  It’s much more cost effective to arrest a dozen or so sellers at a game than it would be to locate a dozen sellers online.

But the single biggest reason states are making “scalping” legal is that it actually lowers the average cost of the tickets on the secondary market.

What?

I know - this is counter-intuitive, but consider the following:

1.  When it is illegal, only a few individuals will risk buying the tickets for the purpose of resale.  Because only a few have tickets for sale, and plenty of people still want them, prices go soaring.  (Small supply, large demand.)  Think of illegal drugs.  They would be much cheaper if legalized.  Or alcohol.  During prohibition in the United States, when alcohol was illegal, prices soared making criminals very wealthy.

2.  Making it legal means more people will buy tickets for the purpose of resale.  More tickets in the hands of resellers means higher supply and greater competition.  Increased competition always leads to lower prices because no one wants to have tickets left after the show starts.

3.  More sellers in the market inevitably means mistakes will be made.  New sellers might actually buy too many tickets for an event.  As the event nears, they are forced to lower their price below face value.  In this scenario, the fans pays less than if they bought it direct.  A great example is the NFL.  At least 30% of the games each season can be bought at face value or lower. 

Because I am not an attorney, I cannot give you legal advice.  I can direct you to a great link that will tell you the laws as they relate to you as a Buyer or Seller.

eBay is the largest marketplace for reselling tickets, and therefore has a great tool to help Buyers and Sellers (and eBay) stay legal.

You just need to answer if you are the buyer or seller, where the event is located, and if you reside in the same state as the event.  Click a button and you know your legal fate!

Check it out here:  http://pages.ebay.com/buyselltickets/rules.html