The TicketsNow link!! Seriously...WTF??? Is this legal?

kad39 · July 2008

Does anyone else find it asinine that you get locked out of apparently "sold out" shows but can convenietly click on the "Find Tickets" button and get re-directed to Ticketmaster's sister site called TicketNow.com? It just so happens these tickets are sold at up to 8x the cost of regular tickets! Is this even legal? What type of oversight does Ticketmaster have? What keeps them from shifting tickets over to this site and selling them for a premium??

If it's really sold out fine, I wasn't fast enough but holding tickets at another location only to sell them for a crazy price, what the hell?

Seems so shady to me, but I'm not a lawyer so I wrote a letter to my Representative to look into it.

Rijeka · July 2008

It`s a legal robbery

Mamasan23 · July 2008

It's totally shady. Ticketmaster needs to be taken down and LiveNation's trying to do it but it'll be just as bad. These brokers are making so much money off of these tickets and they'll fight as hard as they can to keep this system going. Check out eBay - loaded with overpriced tickets. Many of the people that will be attending this show will be the haves that want to go just to say they did.

It's time for a revolution but talking isn't going to get anything done :(

beachdweller · July 2008

yes it's legal, but that's not the question, who are the idiots paying $744 for 16th row on the floor, not even center, it's the left side. Dam, I got 5th row for Berkeley II for $130.

gozzo5058 · July 2008

kad39 wrote:

Does anyone else find it asinine that you get locked out of apparently "sold out" shows but can convenietly click on the "Find Tickets" button and get re-directed to Ticketmaster's sister site called TicketNow.com? It just so happens these tickets are sold at up to 8x the cost of regular tickets! Is this even legal? What type of oversight does Ticketmaster have? What keeps them from shifting tickets over to this site and selling them for a premium??

If it's really sold out fine, I wasn't fast enough but holding tickets at another location only to sell them for a crazy price, what the hell?

Seems so shady to me, but I'm not a lawyer so I wrote a letter to my Representative to look into it.

Leave it to Ticketbastard to find another creative way to 'do everyone from behind'...

Veddernarian · July 2008

NEWS
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."

heartdesire · July 2008

kad39 wrote:

Does anyone else find it asinine that you get locked out of apparently "sold out" shows but can convenietly click on the "Find Tickets" button and get re-directed to Ticketmaster's sister site called TicketNow.com? It just so happens these tickets are sold at up to 8x the cost of regular tickets! Is this even legal? What type of oversight does Ticketmaster have? What keeps them from shifting tickets over to this site and selling them for a premium??

If it's really sold out fine, I wasn't fast enough but holding tickets at another location only to sell them for a crazy price, what the hell?

Seems so shady to me, but I'm not a lawyer so I wrote a letter to my Representative to look into it.

I agree ... I just wrote about it on another thread.

Thanks for the article Veddernarian.

Ticketmaster/TicketsNow ... ya'll suck in a major way!

beachdweller · July 2008

I say class action suit about the online ticket brokers for false advertising of tickets.

lawguy · July 2008

Two things:

1) I would love to be the lawyer for a class action suit against a major corporation. I am hereby offering my services.

2) All this talk about how much prices are for tickets makes me want to dis-invite my cousin and to sell it on craigslist. Who couldn't use an extra $500-$1,000? Dont worry, I am not selling it.

heartdesire · July 2008

lawguy wrote:

Two things:

1) I would love to be the lawyer for a class action suit against a major corporation. I am hereby offering my services.

2) All this talk about how much prices are for tickets makes me want to dis-invite my cousin and to sell it on craigslist. Who couldn't use an extra $500-$1,000? Dont worry, I am not selling it.

Wow ...

1) Seriously?!?!

2) LOL ... : >

lawguy · July 2008

heart&desire wrote:

Wow ...

1) Seriously?!?!

2) LOL ... : >

1) Sure, if I felt there was good legal standing. I am not sure that there is, despite how pissed some people get.

2) Thanks for laughing at my joke.

heartdesire · July 2008

lawguy wrote:

1) Sure, if I felt there was good legal standing. I am not sure that there is, despite how pissed some people get.

2) Thanks for laughing at my joke.

1) If you find there is good legal standing I volunteer to be your assistant. Sorry ... don't have a law degree.

2) Humor is good ... and a much needed thing! : >

lawguy · July 2008

1) I would be all over it if there was standing. Generally speaking, the lawyers get 1/3, maybe more maybe less, but that is standard. I am sure that would just piss off a whole new group of people upset that the fees are so high.

2) Life without laughter is not worth living.

JasonTeck · July 2008

For Chicago night 2, it states at this moment....269 tickets available from $102 to $695 each.

That's crap!!!!

heartdesire · July 2008

lawguy wrote:

1) I would be all over it if there was standing. Generally speaking, the lawyers get 1/3, maybe more maybe less, but that is standard. I am sure that would just piss off a whole new group of people upset that the fees are so high.

2) Life without laughter is not worth living.

1) LOL ... true ... though the price would be worth it in the long run if things changed for the better in the unviverse of ticket selling!

2) You betcha!

Darius · July 2008

i remember when pearl jam went to the senate for a hearing against ticketbastard and their insane prices. this led to their not using ticketbastards for a number of ticket sales for a couple of years. interesting how times have changed so much

i picked up some tickets on stub hub once. they ended up not being in stock for some reason and i was offered different tickets, at a slightly higher prices, with no option for a refund. whores

regardless of prices though, if i want to see a show, i pay the price. such is life. we deal, we move on...happily

kad39 · July 2008

lawguy wrote:

1) Sure, if I felt there was good legal standing. I am not sure that there is, despite how pissed some people get.

2) Thanks for laughing at my joke.

1. I would sign any petition put in from of me concerning this type of plundering by the corporate machine.

2. If you need a biochemist in any capacity, let me know :>

Darius · July 2008

kad39 wrote:

If you need a biochemist in any capacity, let me know :>

i'm sure we'll have a use for you

KDH12 · July 2008

it is legal, Cubs do the same through stubhub and online ticket exchange through their site where people can sell their season tickets for crazy amounts of money....then you get charge a $20 processsing fee

SkeeterB · July 2008

beachdweller wrote:

yes it's legal, but that's not the question, who are the idiots paying $744 for 16th row on the floor, not even center, it's the left side. Dam, I got 5th row for Berkeley II for $130.

probably corporate type stuff. that being said, when these seats don't sell for that much money, i would assume that there will be a market for tickets outside each venue before the show, since many corporations are cutting back their expenses these days.

The TicketsNow link!! Seriously...WTF??? Is this legal?

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