ticketmaster is an empire of evil

[dune]

more proof:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/02/25 ... cohen.html

[danf]

TicketsNow is the Scalping branch of TicketMaster. You need to be careful that you are not hijacked over to TicketsNow.

And I agree. . .there is very little that is good about TicketMaster and I don't understand why artists and venues continue to use them.

[tashi]

<<<There will be a 2-ticket limit per show, and all tickets will be will call ONLY . It means that the tickets are to be collected at the Box Office, and you have to show both the credit card you purchased with and your ID. This means that the tickets are nontransferable! >>>

Do you think this is going to be done throughout the tour for all venues?

I certainly hope it will be,
but it seems to me that it's going to be very time consuming to check every single ticket name and credit card and ID.
I just checked ebay and there are only a few people selling (at ridiculous prices) tickets for US shows. There are ALOT more for the Canadian shows. Mostly there are just people selling passwords (duh!)
I was tempted to ask one of the US sellers how they were going to manage the sale with the above restrictions.

[dennisdster]

The above restrictions are actually quite easy to circumvent if you're a scalper who wants to see the artist in question. SImply have the friend you are going with also order 2 will call seats. Both of you pick them up at showtime and escort the winner of your eBay auction and his/her guest in, and then swap the extras so you have a matched pair for the buyer, and a matched pair for you and your friend.

This was done extensively when the Rolling Stones played the WIltern Theatre a tour or so ago. The will call were selling for $2500 a pair

[tashi]

but what if you're not someone who wants to see the artist?

The ones on ebay-they're going to sell the tix-the people get them by mail after paying for them and then what? They're going to be SOL.

[blue_94_trooper]

but what if you're not someone who wants to see the artist?

Then you throw the other tickets away.

There will be nothing to "mail" to the people on eBay. The method described above is likely the only way to handle scalping. If said scalper obtains 4 tickets at the going rate of ~$1,100 total and sells a pair of them for $3,000 (current StubHub prices though I'm sure they'll drop), he/she doesn't really care what they do with the other 2. They're up almost $2,000 whether they go to the show or not.

[Dan G]

There is nothing saying that the scalpers (Ticketsnow, ebay, wherever) 1) are actually selling ''will call' tickets or 2) actually have tickets yet. The pre-sales only sell a small number of tickets, so the scalpers are probably auctioning tickets on spec. Note that many say a high row number (W or that range) but that they may be upgraded. So they put up the auction, and on public sale day are pretty much guaranteed to get something as good as they are offering.

Not defending ticketmaster, but just pointing out that there is a very distinct possibility that aren't involved directly in scalping tickets.

[micropup2008]

Have you seen Stub Hub today? They are already selling front row seats.

There is nothing saying that the scalpers (Ticketsnow, ebay, wherever) 1) are actually selling ''will call' tickets or 2) actually have tickets yet. The pre-sales only sell a small number of tickets, so the scalpers are probably auctioning tickets on spec. Note that many say a high row number (W or that range) but that they may be upgraded. So they put up the auction, and on public sale day are pretty much guaranteed to get something as good as they are offering.

Not defending ticketmaster, but just pointing out that there is a very distinct possibility that aren't involved directly in scalping tickets.

[pizmo]

Micropup,

Your comments re scalpers being able to upgrade a ticket on the basis of a better draw during the public sale are true. However, with StubHub, one can request and be guaranteed a ticket fedexed overnight which means that someone has to have tickets in hand today...and that shouldn't be the case. Ticket agents including those owned by Ticketmaster have been finding new ways in which to drive up the price of tickets; this is neither good for the public nor the artist.

Leonard's tickets are not cheap at face value. I do not abide by the rhetoric of zealous fans that a ticket at any price is worth it. So it is in all our best interests to expose these games, or we'll be paying more in the future.