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The obvious fix to bots and scalpers is just to not allow ticket transfers - you give your name when you buy the ticket and show your ID at the door. Why this isn't the current process is left as an exercise to the reader.
"Papers, please." How could it be done without invading privacy?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve been to events that do this and if someone can’t make it tough luck. But it prevents scalping at least. Every system has pros and cons.
Better solution is to just price the tickets higher. Scalpers are only taking advantage of arbitrage. This requires a bit of complex demand estimation up front though.
https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2022/10/25/sports-ticket-... https://hbr.org/2013/05/any-business-trying-to-sell
This seems like a solution where rich people get the good things and poor people don't. I wouldn't call that fair.
In a democracy, everyone has an equal weight, an equal say, in the governance of the country. We often call that fair, or sometimes just.
In capitalism, every dollar has an equal weight, an equal say in what gets produced or built or done.
Too many people would be thrown off by the falling price, and want to wait. Friends who bought earlier than other friends feel like suckers for spending more money on the same thing.
Lastly, what we call scalping _is_ a service to the ticket-buyer. The scalper is providing a market for the ticket at a price which is agreeable to the buyer. Dads love to complain about the “high” price of a ticket while they stand in line for $15 popcorn. Meanwhile, scalpers effectively do the work described in the article by adjusting prices very quickly based on actual demand. As an event gets close to starting, unsold inventory drops precipitously in price until it’s sold.
The reason scalping has a bad reputation is that most entertainment pricing is set well below the actual value of the event.
Pearl Jam tried to beat Ticketmaster. At the risk of sounding like the big fan I am, if Eddie Vedder and co. (at their commercial peak) can’t beat Ticketmaster, I’m not convinced that software can. I’ve been pasting this Rolling Stone link since I was in my teens. I can’t believe how old I am… https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taki...
Why can't they beat them? Advertise your website, people go to your website and click the buy button, a form shows up to fill their card data. What does Ticketmaster do that is better? Don't they have the same workflow?
In what sense is this solution "fair"? What definition of fairness is being used? This seems like a solution where rich people get the good things and poor people don't. I wouldn't call that fair. In a democracy, everyone has an equal weight, an equal say, in the governance of the country. We often call that fair, or sometimes just. In capitalism, every dollar has an equal weight, an equal say in what gets produced o…
This proposed system would be fairer in that it would at least deliver whatever the maximum amount a rich person is prepared to pay to the artist, rather that some scalper intermediary. Those at the lower end of the willingness-to-pay spectrum are no worse off, except to the extent that you think they’re disproportionately lucky, disproportionality motivated (which I accept is possible), or are themselves looking-to/willing-to scalp tickets.
It also seems however that it’d be pretty trivial to just prohibit resale of tickets and require ID at the venue. Artists/promoters might make less money but it’d preserve equality of access and largely eliminate scalping.
I don’t understand at all why prices aren’t raised in these severe demand/supply imbalance situations. Same applies to PS5 etc There wouldn’t be a shortage at all if it were priced appropriately. And scalpers just end up capturing that value anyway
They are. Ticketmaster does dynamic pricing now for big shows. Accurate pricing is basically inaccessible beforehand; there’s no chart like in the past with various sections costing specific $s. For the Taylor Swift show in Seattle they published a range of ticket prices from $49-$199… we paid ~$600 for seats in section 131 that were VIP seats by default (that also added to the price; but the pricing was totally opaq…
So I got tickets to the Sunday 7/23 show in Seattle and the 5/27 show in New Jersey (and would have had seats for the 4/29 in Atlanta but my dad’s phone was on silent and he missed the 2FA code for his capital one card — I’ll have to get those from scalpers) and what’s interesting is that I got floor seats for a VIP package in New Jersey and “regular” non-VIP floor seats for Seattle. It was $190 difference after fees between shows.
For New Jersey, it was $749 list for floor VIP and then $866 per with fees. For Seattle, it was $539 list and $650 with fees. Getting the LED laminate thing and the other collectible stuff isn’t worthless but it’s not a $200 upcharge.
But as you said, the whole thing was so opaque, I just bought what I could buy. I would’ve paid more if I’d needed to. A friend who is going on 7/22 in Seattle (we were on Zoom doing it together) wound up paying $900 after fees for her floor seats that were in a differently named (but identically featured, perk wise) VIP package, meaning some of them went even higher.
So the whole thing was just totally opaque but there wasn’t even choice for people who were indiscriminate on pricing (buying from scalpers aside). It was madness just trying to get tickets at all. I needed six seats for 5/27 and I’m still not sure how I was able to get six floor seats together, VIP or otherwise. After doing the whole thing in three cities across two days, every ticket they had available sold, regardless of price. If they’d raised prices 50%, I don’t think it would have changed anything. Some of it is demand but some of it is absolutely people buying on speculation to try to flip.
Unless an industry connection comes through, I’ll wind up paying well above list for the Atlanta show I want to take my mom to, I know that. My only issue is that StubHub/Vivid/others charge at least 50% on top of the resale price in fees. So even if I was willing to spend $1500 a ticket for 100 section seats (and to take my mom, I would), I’d wind up paying another $600 or $700 per ticket just in fees. And that’s when I get pissed off and start to try to wait out the people who bought tickets just to speculate until they lower their prices to be more aligned with market forces.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember Green Day doing a local show where you had to pay cash at the door. This seems to address botting, though scalping organizations can still pay people to stand in line (and presumably take a cut when they are paid to give up their spots.) Personally I think this approach helps out kids who have time to wait in line but don't necessarily have the money to pay huge markups and fees from the secondary market.
The simple solution to getting fans rather than grifters is to make the tickets cost something other than money. Time is a nice obvious cost element to add. If only we could channel that time more productively (and in a more palatable way) than having people wait in line.