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Dice - ticket seller destroying touts
YoxallManchester
Posts: 109
in Other Music
Just thought I'd let everybody know about a good ticket buying experience I recently had.
I'm based in Northwich, just outside Manchester, England. The Charlatans are a fairly well known band from this town but hadn't played here since 1989, until a week or two ago.
They did a homecoming of sorts, playing four gigs in town, and asking other bands they knew to play at other venues nearby.
Tickets for all shows were sold via the Dice app. It was easy to use and buy tickets, even though they sold out within minutes.
But here's where it gets good. You dont get sent a paper ticket and you don't print at home. The ticket is on your app, and it doesn't show up until two hours before gig time. You just show the barcode on your smartphone at the venue and they scan it, and you're in.
You can send the ticket to a friend but only in a short window before the show. This is useful if you are running late, or can't meet up with your gig buddy before the show.
You can return the ticket (for certain gigs) up to a few hours before the gig. Each gig has a waiting list so Dice can easily sell it on. I guess they don't allow returns if there's nobody on the waiting list.
If you are on the waiting list and a ticket becomes available you have one hour to complete payment before it moves to the next person in the queue.
I went to 3 of the gigs and didn't see a single tout/scalper outside the venue.
In theory a tout could buy a few tickets with different accounts but it would be difficult and impractical for him to "send to friend" multiple times in that short pre gig window.
I know of one person who tried to sell his tickets on Facebook at above face value and the band found out and got Dice to cancel his tickets.
I'm not sure touts will ever be completely eradicated but this was a really cool idea and ensured tickets got into the hands of real fans at fave value.
And no booking fee!
Just thought it worth sharing. Not sure if it's a UK only app or if there's anything similar in other countries but it worked, and hopefully we see more of that. Maybe PJ should look into working with these guys in future.
I'm based in Northwich, just outside Manchester, England. The Charlatans are a fairly well known band from this town but hadn't played here since 1989, until a week or two ago.
They did a homecoming of sorts, playing four gigs in town, and asking other bands they knew to play at other venues nearby.
Tickets for all shows were sold via the Dice app. It was easy to use and buy tickets, even though they sold out within minutes.
But here's where it gets good. You dont get sent a paper ticket and you don't print at home. The ticket is on your app, and it doesn't show up until two hours before gig time. You just show the barcode on your smartphone at the venue and they scan it, and you're in.
You can send the ticket to a friend but only in a short window before the show. This is useful if you are running late, or can't meet up with your gig buddy before the show.
You can return the ticket (for certain gigs) up to a few hours before the gig. Each gig has a waiting list so Dice can easily sell it on. I guess they don't allow returns if there's nobody on the waiting list.
If you are on the waiting list and a ticket becomes available you have one hour to complete payment before it moves to the next person in the queue.
I went to 3 of the gigs and didn't see a single tout/scalper outside the venue.
In theory a tout could buy a few tickets with different accounts but it would be difficult and impractical for him to "send to friend" multiple times in that short pre gig window.
I know of one person who tried to sell his tickets on Facebook at above face value and the band found out and got Dice to cancel his tickets.
I'm not sure touts will ever be completely eradicated but this was a really cool idea and ensured tickets got into the hands of real fans at fave value.
And no booking fee!
Just thought it worth sharing. Not sure if it's a UK only app or if there's anything similar in other countries but it worked, and hopefully we see more of that. Maybe PJ should look into working with these guys in future.
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