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Article - Star-Ledger - NJPAC 22 Tix available ranging from $279.33 to $599.33
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A pricey trend in show tickets - Available seats, big markups
PEGGY McGLONE
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
11 July 2008
The Star-Ledger
FINAL
1
Want to catch Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder's solo concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center next month? StubHub, the online ticket marketplace, is offering 22 tickets, ranging from $279.33 to $599.33. NJPAC, which owns every ticket in the house, will start selling the same seats today at 1 p.m.
For $65 and $75.
Maybe you'd prefer to see Aretha Franklin at the Community Theatre at the Mayo Center for the Arts this October?
Orchestra and balcony seats - priced between $306 to $560 - are up for grabs at StubHub and Zvents, a website that describes itself as the source for "premium and sold-out seats to concerts, sports, theater and events nationwide!" If you call the Morristown theater's box office when tickets go on sale on July 28, staffers will take orders for the same seats, priced at $75 and $100.
In a major shift, ticket brokers who once trafficked in sold-out shows and big events are now trolling for customers in small theaters and local concerts that often aren't sold out. And they are selling seats - at steep markups - that they don't yet own.
Think of it as concerts on consignment.
The Community Theatre anticipates Franklin's Oct. 11 concert will sell out, but it hasn't yet, so there's no need for a third-party sale, said Ed Kirchdoerffer, the venue's marketing director.
"We have received a couple of calls from people who saw the tickets on the (sites)," Kirchdoerffer said. "People think that it's us doing it."
Kirshdoerffer confirmed that all 33 seats in row EE of the orchestra - the row posted on both StubHub and Zvents - are still in the box office.
"It has been an been an ongoing industry challenge," said NJPAC spokesman Jeffrey Norman about the selling-on-consignment trend. "Our take on it is very simple. We've tried to create an atmosphere where we have a one-on-one relationship with our patrons. For people to get the seats they want, whenever possible, their best process is to call the box office or go online to NJPAC.com."
And, Norman said, before the sale "not one (Vedder) ticket has gone out the door."
So how can people sell tickets they don't own?
StubHub, for one, doesn't check.
"They are allowed to list tickets on the site, regardless if they don't have them on hand," said Vanessa Daniele, spokeswoman for StubHub. "But they have to be able to deliver them."
Daniele said StubHub guarantees all buyers will receive their tickets on time, they will be valid and they will be as good or better than the ones ordered. Sellers must provide a credit card at the time they post inventory, she said. If they can't deliver, StubHub will find a comparable ticket and charge the seller.
"We don't double-check that they have the ticket, but the seller has no incentive to list tickets they can't get," Daniele said.
At the Division of Consumer Affairs, officials are wary of ticket sales on consignment.
"First we would hope that anybody in search of a ticket would start at the box office instead of an online ticket broker," said David Wald, spokesman for the state attorney general, whose office includes the Division of Consumer Affairs. "And secondly we would expect that any online broker would not participate in a sale where they don't have the ticket."
Zvents is offering tickets to 44 Mayo Center concerts - many of which will not sell out - and for 47 events at the State Theatre. Tickets in orchestra row W for John Hiatt, who performs in New Brunswick Aug. 9, are promised by StubHub for $290. On Wednesday, State Theatre officials confirmed that its box office still held every ticket in that row - at $55 each.
StubHub also has tickets to Tony Bennett's Nov. 8 gala concert at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. The concert is sold out, but at least some of the StubHub tickets advertised weren't available because they are held as concert and gala dinner packages, said Numa Saisselin, the Basie CEO.
"This happens to us all the time," Saisselin said. "People think they're getting some super-secret access to something, but in my case anyway, they're not. They're getting ripped off."
A pricey trend in show tickets - Available seats, big markups
PEGGY McGLONE
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
11 July 2008
The Star-Ledger
FINAL
1
Want to catch Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder's solo concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center next month? StubHub, the online ticket marketplace, is offering 22 tickets, ranging from $279.33 to $599.33. NJPAC, which owns every ticket in the house, will start selling the same seats today at 1 p.m.
For $65 and $75.
Maybe you'd prefer to see Aretha Franklin at the Community Theatre at the Mayo Center for the Arts this October?
Orchestra and balcony seats - priced between $306 to $560 - are up for grabs at StubHub and Zvents, a website that describes itself as the source for "premium and sold-out seats to concerts, sports, theater and events nationwide!" If you call the Morristown theater's box office when tickets go on sale on July 28, staffers will take orders for the same seats, priced at $75 and $100.
In a major shift, ticket brokers who once trafficked in sold-out shows and big events are now trolling for customers in small theaters and local concerts that often aren't sold out. And they are selling seats - at steep markups - that they don't yet own.
Think of it as concerts on consignment.
The Community Theatre anticipates Franklin's Oct. 11 concert will sell out, but it hasn't yet, so there's no need for a third-party sale, said Ed Kirchdoerffer, the venue's marketing director.
"We have received a couple of calls from people who saw the tickets on the (sites)," Kirchdoerffer said. "People think that it's us doing it."
Kirshdoerffer confirmed that all 33 seats in row EE of the orchestra - the row posted on both StubHub and Zvents - are still in the box office.
"It has been an been an ongoing industry challenge," said NJPAC spokesman Jeffrey Norman about the selling-on-consignment trend. "Our take on it is very simple. We've tried to create an atmosphere where we have a one-on-one relationship with our patrons. For people to get the seats they want, whenever possible, their best process is to call the box office or go online to NJPAC.com."
And, Norman said, before the sale "not one (Vedder) ticket has gone out the door."
So how can people sell tickets they don't own?
StubHub, for one, doesn't check.
"They are allowed to list tickets on the site, regardless if they don't have them on hand," said Vanessa Daniele, spokeswoman for StubHub. "But they have to be able to deliver them."
Daniele said StubHub guarantees all buyers will receive their tickets on time, they will be valid and they will be as good or better than the ones ordered. Sellers must provide a credit card at the time they post inventory, she said. If they can't deliver, StubHub will find a comparable ticket and charge the seller.
"We don't double-check that they have the ticket, but the seller has no incentive to list tickets they can't get," Daniele said.
At the Division of Consumer Affairs, officials are wary of ticket sales on consignment.
"First we would hope that anybody in search of a ticket would start at the box office instead of an online ticket broker," said David Wald, spokesman for the state attorney general, whose office includes the Division of Consumer Affairs. "And secondly we would expect that any online broker would not participate in a sale where they don't have the ticket."
Zvents is offering tickets to 44 Mayo Center concerts - many of which will not sell out - and for 47 events at the State Theatre. Tickets in orchestra row W for John Hiatt, who performs in New Brunswick Aug. 9, are promised by StubHub for $290. On Wednesday, State Theatre officials confirmed that its box office still held every ticket in that row - at $55 each.
StubHub also has tickets to Tony Bennett's Nov. 8 gala concert at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. The concert is sold out, but at least some of the StubHub tickets advertised weren't available because they are held as concert and gala dinner packages, said Numa Saisselin, the Basie CEO.
"This happens to us all the time," Saisselin said. "People think they're getting some super-secret access to something, but in my case anyway, they're not. They're getting ripped off."
Up here so high I start to shake, Up here so high the sky I scrape, I've no fear but for falling down, So look out below I am falling now, Falling down,...not staying down, Could’ve held me up, rather tear me down, Drown in the river
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