Scalpers- Page 2
Scalpers
superyan
Understudy Joined: 12/5/16
#25Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 1:12pm
LxGstv said: "superyan said: "LxGstv said: "As much as I hate scalpers it's a fairly simple problem to be solved. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is doing an excellent job at that, unlike Hamilton whose decision to deal with scalpers was "make tickets more expensive". Yeah, that solved the issue. Eye roll.
"
What is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child doing?
"
If I'm not mistaken they were matching up the tickets to ID and anyone who didn't match got turned away... It sucks for whoever paid more and wasn't able to enjoy it but with that policy in place and people being aware of it actually stops the issue. It's simple.
It may take it longer to get people in the theater but I see it as a better alternative than raising prices, which is absolutely fine, they are allowed to charge as much as they want, the demand is there, but don't claim it to be to stop scalpers because it didn't actually stop them, just made it pricier for everyone else.
For me, upping the price to stop scalping just feels like punishing the audience that had nothing to do with it...
"
As the other posters said, doing that creates more problems than it solves. It's also against the law in NY.
If you think the production was crying because the show was less affordable, I've got a bridge to sell you.
In my case, I buy tickets for my parents. They aren't big on using the internet. This kind of policy would just complicate my life. I know that my parents can give me their password, but this is a can of worms that doesn't need to be opened.
LxGstv
Broadway Star Joined: 11/22/16
#26Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 1:30pm
I just looked it up and for Harry Potter they were asking for a print of the order confirmation to make sure that it came from an official seller, that's not the same as paperless and can easily be provided if you are buying them for family members. Or if something happens and you are unable to attend. Ticket + confirmation.
And also a good point brought up by superyan, when scalpers have a hard time selling and end up pricing below the original price. We just saw Sweet Charity not long ago and a friend decided to join on the last minute, he paid $77 for a ticket that was $175 originally.
superyan
Understudy Joined: 12/5/16
#27Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 1:34pm
LxGstv said: "I just looked it up and for Harry Potter they were asking for a print of the order confirmation to make sure that it came from an official seller, that's not the same as paperless and can easily be provided if you are buying them for family members. Or if something happens and you are unable to attend. Ticket + confirmation.
And also a good point brought up by superyan, when scalpers have a hard time selling and end up pricing below the original price. We just saw Sweet Charity not long ago and a friend decided to join on the last minute, he paid $77 for a ticket that was $175 originally.
"
If that is the case, the scalper can just provide that with the ticket. It's just an extra step they have to take. At the end of the day, this will inconvenience more people than scalpers.
I share hockey tickets with people and due to restrictions, I can't provide the seats to people until 3 days before the game. They do this because they want it to be a pain to sell on StubHub and the team gets a share of tickets sold on TicketMaster.
When in doubt, follow the money. There are no good guys. Just people that are less bad.
Rainah
Broadway Star Joined: 11/24/16
#28Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 1:40pm
Wick3 said: "Rainah said: "
What's more, it worked. If you look at the number of secondary market tickets on sale compared to this time last year, there's a huge difference. Those tickets are now in the hands of fans.
"
The original cast was still present a year ago. Yes I know it's still selling out but the resale market has gone down ever since LMM left the show."
You are correct and I should have been more specific. I was idly watching ticket prices since october 2015, and I noticed a definite drop in the time between the RR cracking down on scalpers and when the OBC started to leave and prices got silly.
#29Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 1:43pm
LxGstv said: "I just looked it up and for Harry Potter they were asking for a print of the order confirmation to make sure that it came from an official seller, that's not the same as paperless and can easily be provided if you are buying them for family members. Or if something happens and you are unable to attend. Ticket + confirmation."
Do you really think it would put StubHub out of business to make people upload the PDFs of the ticket AND a PDF of the order confirmation?!
Louis CK had a better approach. He paid scalpers to find other scalpers online and then gave them the option of box office pick-up with photo ID, or canceling the tickets. Most canceled. But even then, people who bought on StubHub could still buy a PDF of a seat that had been canceled and resold to someone else. And, in that case, it wouldn't be a race to see whose bar code gets scanned first (which is the case when someone sells a Hamilton seat on Craigslist six times), but the original bar code is no longer valid.
superyan
Understudy Joined: 12/5/16
#30Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 2:05pm
haterobics said: "LxGstv said: "I just looked it up and for Harry Potter they were asking for a print of the order confirmation to make sure that it came from an official seller, that's not the same as paperless and can easily be provided if you are buying them for family members. Or if something happens and you are unable to attend. Ticket + confirmation."
Do you really think it would put StubHub out of business to make people upload the PDFs of the ticket AND a PDF of the order confirmation?!
Louis CK had a better approach. He paid scalpers to find other scalpers online and then gave them the option of box office pick-up with photo ID, or canceling the tickets. Most canceled. But even then, people who bought on StubHub could still buy a PDF of a seat that had been canceled and resold to someone else. And, in that case, it wouldn't be a race to see whose bar code gets scanned first (which is the case when someone sells a Hamilton seat on Craigslist six times), but the original bar code is no longer valid.
"
Here's an interesting article about Louis CK:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/why-louis-ck-is-wrong-to-police-ticket-sales-diversity-in-the-judiciary-and-domestic-violence-against-men-1.3775006/why-louis-ck-is-to-blame-for-ticket-scalpers-1.3775110
In a lot of ways he's right. As Springsteen added shows, resale values plummeted. Fans were able to buy floor seat at well below face. As performers add a second show they essentially cut the demand in half.
Do you have a link to Louis CK doing that? I never heard of him doing it.
The other thing with resales and that with most of the market being consolidated to 3-4 web sites, you really don't know who you are buying from. It could be a corporation that buys and resells tickets, or if could be someone that decided not to go.
If a reseller stays within the posted ticket limits and didn't use a bot, simply invalidating the bar codes can't be legal. I usually see him when he's at MSG, and am on his mailing list and have heard his feelings against resellers....but I've never heard a single story of a ticket in NYC getting cancelled.
#31Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 3:48pm
"What boonanas is describing is what scalpers used to do in the old days, before the internet and bots were a thing. I feel that we will begin to see a return of this method."
Ha! Back in the old days we knew the scalpers personally and saw them all over town at various events. When someone new showed up, we made it a point to find out where they came from.
#32Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 8:22pm
superyan said: "Do you have a link to Louis CK doing that? I never heard of him doing it."
He was more vigilent about it on a previous tour, where he only played at non-Ticketmaster venues that would let him sell tickets directly through his website to fans. He also never announces in advance that his tickets go on sale. When the e-mail arrives, they are already on sale, etc.
As for a link, though, I think he mentioned that in either a mailing list mail, or in an interview, but I don't know the source at this point. Once he got to arenas, he still did cancel tickets that were resold, though. I know when he did a series of MSG shows, there were people complaining on Twitter who were turned away after buying them on StubHub... so he still does it, but I think he realized that at the arena level, it's way harder to police and control than when he plays theaters.
As for adding more shows instead, he did that, too. I think he did 6 MSG shows after each one sold out...
https://louisck.net/news/im-going-on-the-road
#33Scalpers
Posted: 12/21/16 at 11:08pm
unlike Hamilton whose decision to deal with scalpers was "make tickets more expensive". Yeah, that solved the issue. Eye roll.
If you really want to point fingers and roll your eyes, you need to go back to The Producers who wanted to compete with scalpers by creating the Premium Seat pricing strategy.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#34Scalpers
Posted: 12/22/16 at 12:50am
Premium pricing wasn't an attempt to "deal with scalpers." It was saying, if people want to pay that much for tickets, why aren't we the ones charging that instead? So, it wasn't as much of putting them out of business as much as them getting in on the business...
superyan
Understudy Joined: 12/5/16
#35Scalpers
Posted: 12/23/16 at 4:04pm
Mister Matt said: "unlike Hamilton whose decision to deal with scalpers was "make tickets more expensive". Yeah, that solved the issue. Eye roll.
If you really want to point fingers and roll your eyes, you need to go back to The Producers who wanted to compete with scalpers by creating the Premium Seat pricing strategy.
"
100% true.
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