We’ll see what happens as we get closer to the shows but so far it feels like the adoption of using links has made it harder overall to get tix. It benefits the lucky few who are chosen and who are dealing with a seller savvy enough to get the link sent fast enough. For the mass majority though it seems to equal no chance at all at scoring F2F.

SHZA said:

ekwipt said:

We’ll see what happens as we get closer to the shows but so far it feels like the adoption of using links has made it harder overall to get tix. It benefits the lucky few who are chosen and who are dealing with a seller savvy enough to get the link sent fast enough. For the mass majority though it seems to equal no chance at all at scoring F2F.

The difficulty is due to bots rather than links though. People are using links more because otherwise the bots would grab everything. If that wasn't the case it would still be possible to score on random drops. 

Time will tell, & I’m still optimistic things will work out for me in the end. I do see unintended consequences of the links though. Not a fan of the fact that most of them are being shared outside of this forum on not just one but various platforms in private groups that have gatekeepers who decide who can join based on criteria they don’t disclose. 

ekwipt said:

SHZA said:

ekwipt said:

We’ll see what happens as we get closer to the shows but so far it feels like the adoption of using links has made it harder overall to get tix. It benefits the lucky few who are chosen and who are dealing with a seller savvy enough to get the link sent fast enough. For the mass majority though it seems to equal no chance at all at scoring F2F.

The difficulty is due to bots rather than links though. People are using links more because otherwise the bots would grab everything. If that wasn't the case it would still be possible to score on random drops. 

Time will tell, & I’m still optimistic things will work out for me in the end. I do see unintended consequences of the links though. Not a fan of the fact that most of them are being shared outside of this forum on not just one but various platforms in private groups that have gatekeepers who decide who can join based on criteria they don’t disclose. 

That type of sharing is no different from timed drops in the middle of the night coordinated on those platforms. The fact that it's now a link doesn't seem to be the real issue you're getting at. 

given2flym said:

given2flym said:

EH14457 said:

given2flym said:

Had a pair of Pitt 2 lined up with a directly shared link. Got the link immediately and refreshed constantly. Seemed to be taking longer than usual. Never got to the carting/check out phase. Just changed to “these are no longer available”.  My friend and I both were trying and neither saw the buy screen. We’ve had successful links before. So this is new. 

That sucks, sorry. Mind saying what seats they are? Curious to see if they end up for sale somewhere. 

 Sec 101 Row R seats 11-12. Not up anywhere yet so far as I can tell. 

FYI, 

These are on VividSeats and Tickpick now. If anyone needed confirmation of bots. 

That’s terrible.. was the seller a 10c member? If so you might have a case if you want to bring this up to 10club now that we got proof 

given2flym said:

ally12 said:

given2flym said:

given2flym said:

EH14457 said:

given2flym said:

Had a pair of Pitt 2 lined up with a directly shared link. Got the link immediately and refreshed constantly. Seemed to be taking longer than usual. Never got to the carting/check out phase. Just changed to “these are no longer available”.  My friend and I both were trying and neither saw the buy screen. We’ve had successful links before. So this is new. 

That sucks, sorry. Mind saying what seats they are? Curious to see if they end up for sale somewhere. 

 Sec 101 Row R seats 11-12. Not up anywhere yet so far as I can tell. 

FYI, 

These are on VividSeats and Tickpick now. If anyone needed confirmation of bots. 

That’s terrible.. was the seller a 10c member? If so you might have a case if you want to bring this up to 10club now that we got proof 

Yep. Seller was the original fanclub ticket holder and is clearly a LONG time member. And was nice enough to try and coordinate with another long time member. 

We got proof. At this point TM is interfering with our paid benefit. 

I mean we knew it. GA on these sites can ONLY come from fanclub. But you can never really tell after the fact with no seat numbers. Were those the ones I tried for?

 But these. Exact seat number. Etc. Pretty clear what’s going on. 

ekwipt said:

SHZA said:

ekwipt said:

SHZA said:

ekwipt said:

We’ll see what happens as we get closer to the shows but so far it feels like the adoption of using links has made it harder overall to get tix. It benefits the lucky few who are chosen and who are dealing with a seller savvy enough to get the link sent fast enough. For the mass majority though it seems to equal no chance at all at scoring F2F.

The difficulty is due to bots rather than links though. People are using links more because otherwise the bots would grab everything. If that wasn't the case it would still be possible to score on random drops. 

Time will tell, & I’m still optimistic things will work out for me in the end. I do see unintended consequences of the links though. Not a fan of the fact that most of them are being shared outside of this forum on not just one but various platforms in private groups that have gatekeepers who decide who can join based on criteria they don’t disclose. 

That type of sharing is no different from timed drops in the middle of the night coordinated on those platforms. The fact that it's now a link doesn't seem to be the real issue you're getting at. 

The difference is those were still up for competition. If anyone wanted to stay up odd hours and fish for tix they could. The links shut everyone else out of being able to try. 

That's practically no difference. No one ever stayed up sniping timed drops. Which would kind of be a jerk move anyway. And the links apparently don't work all the time either. 

FWIW, I wouldn't consider this proof that TM is interfering with anything. I'm as likely as anyone to take a cynical view of quid pro quo in the ticketing ecosystem, but the only thing that would be a smoking gun wrt TM's involvement in price fixing is if the fabled F2F-tickets-turned-PJ-Premium actually happened. Shy of that, there's simply no way to prove that TM is complicit or even aware of any shenanigans wrt F2F tickets.

In our little bubble, this is a huge deal. But if I put on my corporate hat and look at all the parts of the TM machine that continually need tending to and improvement, I honestly wouldn't be shocked if this isn't even on their radar. Heck, the official company line is still that F2F tickets are non-transferrable even though we know that's not the case. I've started to lean more towards this just being lack of awareness for TM, and a clear lack of ROI/incentive to do anything about it even if they are aware. Compared against all the other things they could be working on, preventing 3rd parties from sniping face value tickets which aren't supposed to be transferrable in the first place just isn't going to rate highly enough. They're not losing money, customers, or any public face over the very small sliver of us who are feverishly refreshing and can't get better tickets (or any tickets, in some cases). As I said earlier, it would most likely take a flood of complaints from fans of all the F2F artists (Pearl Jam, Billie Eilish, Noah Kahan, Oasis, etc...) for this to actually register as meaningful.

Unfortunately this is just the hand we've been dealt.

jsilsby said:

All that proves is botting and smpwallet/bar code spoofing is finding F2F very profitable. If TM isn’t going to figure out how to stop bar code spoofing, then it’s just time to blow up F2F as it currently exists and figure something else out.

Exactly

Chrrie said:

jsilsby said:

All that proves is botting and smpwallet/bar code spoofing is finding F2F very profitable. If TM isn’t going to figure out how to stop bar code spoofing, then it’s just time to blow up F2F as it currently exists and figure something else out.

I agree. To me it’s also a smoking gun that APIs are actually being used to purchase. Pitt being a sold out show that you can’t sit in and refresh between 1/2 tickets, but an API that has a 5 rps rate limit lol would have no problem there.  

Right, it is absolutely this. I’m in no way saying Ticketmaster is buying and reselling tickets themselves. That’s too on the nose, even for them.