Ticket resale
Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting when done for profit) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of the tickets. Tickets sold through secondary sources may be sold for less or more than their face value depending on demand, which tends to vary as the event date approaches. When the supply of tickets for a given event available through authorized ticket sellers is depleted, the event is considered "sold out", generally increasing the market value for any tickets on offer through secondary sellers. Ticket resale is common in both sporting and musical events.
"Scalper" redirects here. For cutting of the human scalp, see scalping.
Ticket resale is a form of arbitrage that arises when the number demanded at the sale price exceeds the number supplied (that is, when event organizers charge less than the equilibrium prices for the tickets).
During the 19th century, the term scalper was applied to railroad ticket brokers who sold tickets for lower rates.[1]
Selling tickets by ballot[edit]
Some promoters have ceased selling tickets in the traditional first-come-first-served manner, and require prospective ticket holders to enter a "ballot" – a competition with random winners – with the prize being the opportunity to purchase a small number of tickets. The ballots are intended to discourage reselling by making it harder to purchase large numbers of tickets because being at the front of the queue does not guarantee the holder a ticket.
Events that have sold tickets by ballot include the Big Day Out in 2007,[45] the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert – Led Zeppelin reunion concert at The O2 Arena in 2007, and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[46]
A similar practice used among ticket resellers is to list an item as an online auction (such as eBay) – most commonly an innocuous item such as a collector's card – and give the tickets as a bonus to the winning bidder; thereby not actually selling tickets in order to circumvent ticket laws. This does not actually get around eBay's selling rules, as they effectively state that the goods that the buyer receives are what the seller is selling, including any free bonuses.
Selling tickets at auction[edit]
Ticketmaster sells tickets in online auctions, which may bring the sale price of tickets closer to market prices. The New York Times reported that this could help the agency determine demand for a given event and more effectively compete with ticket resellers.[47]
Online auction sites like eBay only enforce state ticketing laws if either the buyer and/or seller resides in the state where the event is taking place. Otherwise, there is no resale limit for tickets.
Personalized tickets and other responses[edit]
Glastonbury Festival, which sold out 137,500 tickets within less than two hours in 2007,[48] introduced a system in the same year whereby tickets included photographic ID of the original buyer, to enforce non-exchangeability.[49]
For taping of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, tickets were free. However, identification of ticket holders is checked when entering and while standing in line, and most notably when progressing from the entrance queue into the studio space. These measures serve effectively as a means of preventing those reserving these sought-after tickets from selling them for a cash value upon reservation.
Some ticket sellers allow buyers to provide personal information in exchange for being allowed to buy tickets earlier.[50]
Other uses[edit]
Though scalping is most commonly associated with ticket sales, the process of buying desirable commodities and selling them off for a higher rate has proven lucrative with other items, particularly electronic devices such as mobile phones, video game consoles, and computer hardware. In some cases, internet resellers have developed automated bots to purchase bulk quantities of newly-released items on e-commerce websites as soon as they become available. Customers have argued that this generates an unfair advantage for the scalpers, adding to an already controversial practice, and many sites have begun implementing anti-bot measures to combat such tactics.[51]