Detroit ticket brokers
Ticket resellers use several different means to secure premium and previously sold-out ticket inventories (often in large quantities) for events such as concerts or sporting events. Established resellers often operate within vast networks of ticket contacts, including season ticket holders, individual ticket resellers and ticket brokers. They make a business out of getting customers hard-to-find and previously sold-out tickets that are no longer available through the official box office.
Ticket scalpers work outside events often showing up with unsold tickets from brokers' offices on a consignment basis or showing up with no tickets at all and buying extra tickets from fans at, or below face value with their own money on a speculative basis hoping to resell them at a profit . There are many full-time scalpers who are regulars at particular venues and even have a following. These full-time scalpers are often sought out by fans hoping for a last minute deal and are comfortable buying from a familiar face knowing they are not likely to be ripped off by a stranger with counterfeit or stolen tickets . However, there are plenty of scam artists that sometimes follow a concert tour from city to city selling fake tickets to unsuspecting buyers for whatever they can get.
Ticket brokers operate out of offices, and use the internet and phone call centers to conduct their business. They are different from scalpers in that they offer a consumer a storefront to return to if there is any problem with their transaction. The majority of transactions that occur are via credit card over the phone/internet. The services that ticket brokers offer often can include hotel and airfare to events.
A notable recent example of re-selling occurred at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival. Tickets, initially offered for sale online, were sold out within the first few hours of availability ; however, afterwards, large numbers of tickets started appearing on eBay and other online marketplaces. Not only professional ticket resellers were involved; many ordinary concert-goers had, apparently, purchased twice the number of tickets they required then sold the unused tickets at double the original price, thus effectively getting their own tickets for free and further clouding the already fine line between ticket reseller and concert-goer.
Although it was a practice in use mostly in the 1980s most often for concerts more than other events, some ticket brokers offer tickets even before the tickets are officially available for sale. In such scenarios, those ticket resellers are actually selling forward contracts of those tickets. One example is a company called TicketReserve, which is making money by selling "options" on future sporting events. This is often possible if the reseller is a season ticket holder. Season ticket holders generally receive the same exact seat locations year after year thus they can enter a contract to deliver on tickets that they own the rights to, even if those tickets have not even been printed or sent to the original ticket holder . This presale practice has fallen out of favor as ticket buyers are now accustomed to viewing online available inventory on broker sites and receiving their purchases the next day via overnight delivery.
It has been argued that individuals who genuinely wish to attend a popular event will find themselves unable to get tickets, as they have already been sold to ticket resellers; this then enables the ticket resellers to sell the tickets at market value, with no effective loss because they had no intention of attending the event in the first place. However, it may also be argued that there is a fine line between the individuals who genuinely wish to attend a popular event and those that will resell their tickets for a hefty profit.
A concern when buying tickets on the street from a ticket scalper or via an online auction, is that the tickets sold by ticket resellers may themselves be stolen or counterfeit. For many major sporting events counterfeit tickets are auctioned off in the months leading up to the event. These criminals and their activities are not to be confused with legitimate ticket brokers and individuals who abide by law to legally resell tickets on the secondary market.
Selling tickets by ballotSome 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 re-selling 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[1] and the 2006 Commonwealth Games[2]
Selling tickets at auctionIn September Ticketmaster announced plans to sell tickets in online auctions, which will 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.As of 2007, Ticketmaster still sells tickets at auction in the United States.[3]
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