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Don’t be surprised if you are unable to buy tickets for an upcoming concert because you don’t live close enough to the venue.  The Hannah Montana craze of 2007 has prompted Ticketmaster, as well as other ticket distributors to change some of the requirements for buying event tickets.

In an effort to stop Ticket Brokers from buying tickets, some events will now require the buyer to live within a certain geographic region to buy tickets.  At first, this sounds like a great plan.  If only people who live within 100 miles of Philadelphia can buy tickets for a show in Philadelphia - most Brokers around the country would be exempt and more tickets would go to fans.  Sounds great!

Unfortunately, these rules will have little to no impact on Brokers and will actually hurt many fans!

Here are three simple examples of how fans will be punished with these new rules:

1. You live 120 miles from Philadelphia.  There is no venue closer to your home.  You don’t mind a 2 hour drive to see your favorite artist.  You might even get a room and make it a weekend.  You would not be allowed to buy tickets.
2. You live in Miami and want to attend a football game while in San Francisco on vacation later this year.  You would not be allowed to buy tickets. 
3. Your grandson lives in Detroit and you live in Atlanta.  As a gift, you want to buy your grandson tickets for an event.  You would not be allowed to buy tickets.

These three situations are very common, and the new rules for many events are preventing these fans from buying tickets.

The reason these new rules have little impact on Brokers is because they already know what I am about to teach you.  These residency requirements are based on your credit card billing address.

 If you are interested in buying tickets for an event that has residency requirements, consider the following:

• Locate any major business in the area where the event will take place.  Change your billing address on your credit card to that new address a few days before the tickets go on sale.  Select e-tickets (Ticketfast Tickets) so that your tickets will be emailed to you.  Usually the tickets are emailed within a few hours.  Call your credit card issuer once you have the tickets, and change your address back.  This is by far the easiest way to complete the transaction.  Just make sure that e-tickets available for your event, and that your credit card billing cycle does not end while you have the address incorrect in the system.  You don’t want you bill being mailed to Wal-Mart 2000 miles away!
• Other easy ways include changing your billing information to that of a friend or family member who lives in the correct geographic region or opening a post office box in the specific region of the event.

I know it seems like a lot of work - but isn’t it easier and cheaper than paying a Broker 5x face value for the same tickets?

One other tip - Ticketmaster may let your order go even though your zip code is not within the correct region.  Beware - your order will likely be cancelled prior to sending your tickets to you.  Once you have received your tickets (via email or snail mail) you are safe.  Ticketmaster won’t go back and re-verify your address once tickets are sent.

 Good Luck!

Many of my recent visitors have started asking me to write about selling tickets in addition to buying tickets. I will do my best to balance the posts each week to cover both perspectives: buying and selling.

13 Reasons to become a Ticket Broker

1. All you need is access to an Internet connection, access to a mailbox, and a credit card with $200 available. Obviously the more you have to start with, the more profit you will make – but $200 is more than enough to get started.
2. No website, telephone, or storefront needed. You can sell your product on eBay, Stubhub, and Craigslist.
3. No marketing expense – these sites have millions of visitors who are looking for your product.
4. No need to talk to customers unless you want to. You can easily sell over $200,000 worth of tickets a year, and speak with no customers.   By the way - I have 100% positive feedback on eBay and do about 2000 sales per year.  You can deliver world class service via email.
5. You can run your business from any time zone, and work any hours that are good for you. If you are a night owl, list your tickets at night, and answer questions at night. Soccer Moms can do it after they drop the kids off in the morning. If you have a few spare minutes at work every day – stop playing fantasy football and process a few sales.
6. You can easily put your business on hold when on vacation or traveling (by not listing or buying tickets when on vacation.) Or, bring the tickets with you and ship them from the road if someone makes a purchase.
7. No real knowledge needed. Everything you need to know about what is going on sale and when it is going on sale is free on the web. Or subscribe to ticket broker information sites for up to date information on what is going on sale and predictions on the profit potential for each event.
8. While strangers may like you a little less, everyone who matters in your life will like you more. Friends, children, parents, siblings, co-workers, neighbors, your mechanic, your barber, your babysitter, your cleaning lady, on and on.
9. Contrary to popular belief, it is legal in almost every state. Most states have repealed laws against selling tickets for profit because those laws were, well, un-American. In the states that have laws against selling tickets for profit, there are numerous ways to remain legal.
10. You can attend any event, and sit wherever you please.
11. You never have to buy from a Broker again.
12. You are helping people.  I know, many people would argue that buying tickets for the purpose of reselling them can’t possibly be helping them.  That’s simply untrue.  If only fans bought tickets.  And an event sold out before a fan got a seat.  Where would they go for tickets?  Ticket Brokers ensure there is liquidity in the market - allowing people to buy and sell at any point, and at market price.  I have 1000’s of positive feedback ratings on eBay, and tons of repeat customers. 
13. One good sale can make your mortgage payment.

Why would I go out there and recruit more Brokers?  I guess its the same reason I have my blog.  I want to help people save money when they buy tickets.  But I also want to help people make some extra cash.  So many businesses are hard to start up or are just plain scams. 

The absolute truth is that there are more tickets for sale for any event than I can personally buy - so sharing this won’t hurt my business at all.  And helping people learn how to buy tickets at the best possible price doesn’t hurt my business either.  The 11 people who read my blog are probably not going to put me out of business!

Please subscribe to my RSS feed or email newsletter - it make me warm inside!

Most sports teams offer group tickets as a way for companies, large families, charities, and other organized fans to buy tickets.  Almost every NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB team offers group tickets.  Each team has their own policy on how they sell group tickets, but as a general rule, teams define groups as 20 or more fans attending the same game and sitting in the same general section.

There are a ton of advantages to buying Group Tickets - even if you are a family of 2!

1. Group tickets are often slightly cheaper than normal tickets.  It’s usually between $2-$10 a ticket in savings.
2. Many teams offer Group Leader incentives depending on how large a group you organize.  They include things such as free tickets, free food, hats, t-shirts, autographs, or even a meal with a player. 
3. Group tickets are sold AFTER the team has determined how many Season Ticket Holders have renewed for the next season, but BEFORE the tickets go on sale for the general public.  That means you can get your tickets months before they are offered for sale to the general public.
4. Once you have bought Season Tickets for a team and get to know your Account Representative, it is easy to get tickets every year.

I know what you are thinking!  These are great advantages for a truly large group - but how does it apply to the single fan, couples, or small families?

1. For those of you interested in going to the game free, you can purchase Group Tickets and resell them for a small profit. This profit will easily cover the cost for you and your family to attend the game.  For example, you buy 20 tickets for $25 each.  A total of $500.  Since you are a family of 4, you only need 4 of the 20 tickets.  You list them on eBay or Stubhub and sell the other 16 for $40 each ($640 total.)  You end up with 4 tickets for free, plus $140 for food and souvenirs.  And the people who bought from you get access to a game that was sold out, and only paid a few dollars more per ticket.  Special note for those of you feeling guilty about selling tickets for a profit, consider the following:  You sold the pair for $80 ($40 per ticket.)  The team would sell them for $50 ($25 per ticket) through Ticketmaster.  But Ticketmaster would tack on so called convenience charges, handling fees, and other surcharges.  So in the end, the fan buying from you truly paid just a few dollars more. 
2. For those of you who don’t want to sell the tickets for profit, you can simply organize a group of fans to buy them at face value.  Family, friends, neighbors.  Even complete strangers.  The list goes on and on.  If it’s a sold out game, there will be no shortage of fans wanting to buy your tickets at face value.  Everyone loves you for being the hero, and you are happy because you were able to get tickets at face value long before the general public.  Not to mention the free swag directly from the team.

To inquire about your favorite team’s Group Ticket policy, visit the team’s website or call their Ticket Office directly.

Hope that helps and thanks for the question!