eBay allowing the "sale" of pre-sale "passwords"

cltaylor12

Kat/Sea:

I know this isn't a board specific technical question, but I wasn't sure where else to pose this observation and question.

On eBay right now, there are a multitude of "auctions" going on where eBay Sellers are charging money to give out Concert Ticket Pre-Sale "passwords", most of which are all (typically) available for FREE when a person signs up for a given message board or periodic newsletters.

The most recent example is the Foo Fighters / Weezer concerts. The Foo pre-sale bulletin went out earlier this week. There are probably a dozen or more of these "auctions" listed on eBay. I emailed eBay through their "safe harbor" thing, and got the standard "automated reply". I don't expect they are going to do much of anything.

So my question is: What, if anything, can PEARL JAM or the 10c do to prevent or block eBay from allowing similar "auctions" (listings) for any Pearl Jam specific pre-sales, either the Philly or other 1-off shows, or the actual (eventual, next) tour?

Isn't it safe to believe that the pre-sale and/or the password(s) associated with any Pearl Jam ticket sales are the property of either the Band, the administrators of the fan club (who if I recall, reserve the right to cancel memberships for inappropriate sharing of member numbers or pre-sale passwords), or at the very least, the property of the ticket seller (ticketmaster.com or whoever)?

Can you, in perhaps this thread, or in some future Rumor Pit, elaborate for the 10c members, exactly what the band's management can and can't do relative to eBay and "auctions" for either pre-sale passwords, or for actual concert tickets?

I know the actual ticket situation and the auctions for 3x or more face value is probably a sore subject, but I think alot of people are still trying to figure out how many of the "best" venue seats for Pearl Jam or other bands shows end up on eBay 60 seconds after the actual sale of the tickets (to the public) even starts? It's very discouraging.

Any education on this subject to we 10c members is greatly appreciated in advance.

Christine

ref example:
http://bbs.foofighters.com/showthread.php?p=190887#post190887
http://bbs.foofighters.com/showthread.php?t=9872

Atomic Punk

Luckily, for 10club members, the fan club sale is very rarely done through ticketmaster, so there are no passwords to be had.

aNiMaL

The passwords are free if you sign up for a radio stations spam list....why do you care if people are dumb enough to pay for them? The passwords are also usually posted all over message boards....so even less of a reason to have to buy one on eBay...but again if the person is dumb enough too....why do you care?

cltaylor12

I don't care if someone isn't smart enough or is too lazy to go find a free password.

I care about what I believe is a dishonest business practise, that being eBay (/PayPal) taking a monetary cut of each of these sales, when the item is something that isn't the Sellers to "sell", rather than recognizing that and simply not allowing such sales.

My greater concern is that 10c does actually have pre-sale passwords; they are the unique password assigned to each of us as 10c members, and the "advent" of someone getting ahold of those numbers and either selling them on eBay or using them to obtain tickets (thereby locking each of us out of a presale if they get into the system before us).

There are literally 7 pages of Pearl Jam concert tickets on sale on eBay right now:

http://search.ebay.com/pearl-jam-tickets_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

I continue to not understand why this is "okay".

I understand that the only way to stop such auctions is to eliminate damand by NOT purchasing these items (either passwords, or the tickets themselves); but it's unrealistic to believe that people will stop bidding on these. It seems that either eBay or Ticketmaster would attempt to "police" this sort of thing - eBay gets $ for the auction listing as well as a cut of the final sale price, plus an additional transaction fee when PayPal is used, and Ticketmaster already got their service charge dollars, so it seems neither of them have any incentive to stop this activity.

I care because I don't like to see fellow fans who do their best to participate in the band designated pre-sale system only to be stepped around by those looking to turn a profit.

I know the band and sea/kat (10c) appreciate us; what I would like to see is that appreciation extended to putting eBay/PayPal in "check" and stop the scamming of fans, be it in the way of passwords or tickets or anything else.

I suppose that is unrealistic, but no one has really explained why. I'm just looking to understand.

cltaylor12

Actually, I'm not going to look to understand.

I'm going to decide to actively not care.

If the 10c and the band have no concerns, then I won't bother to wish to know.

So.... nevermind.

Later,

c-