[Slowhand] Ticketmaster..........

[Jeff Elliott]

Not only that, but there were tickets for the Washington, DC, show on
Stubhub a full day before the public sale started.  And if one is a member
of EC Access (not sure why I am any longer), there was no presale, only a
limited number of "special" tickets available.  I spent the first 15 mins on
Ticketmaster trying to get my "special tickets" only to find that they were
on the floor back in the back of the arena.  Hardly worth the effort.

So, who are these people that get their tickets prior to the public and then
turn them around on these re-sales sites?  It's frustrating because I'm
willing to pay good money for a show I'm going to see but I can't do it the
"legal" way and have to resort to the "scalper" sites.  And doing so only
perpetuates the problem.  It's a dilemma because the only real way to
discourage it is not to buy from these folks.

How exasperating!

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: EddyPauley at aol.com [mailto:EddyPauley at aol.com] 
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 11:04 AM
To: slowhand at planet-torque.com
Subject: [Slowhand] Ticketmaster..........

As you may be aware, tickets went onsale yesterday @ 10 AM on Ticketmaster 
for the EC/Winwood show in Washington, DC.

I checked Ticketmaster last night and the show was not sold out as 400 level

seats were available.  Out of curiosity I decided to check stubhub one of
the 
homes of Internet scalpers.  Stubhub showed a total of 1,786 tickets for
sale 
for that particular event.  I have attended a lot of events at this venue, 
sporting and concerts, and the 1,786 tickets on Stubhub are approximately 11

percent of the total seats that will be sold (depending on whether seats are
sold 
behind the stage).  The number becomes even more alarming when you consider 
that the show was not sold out.  

Not surprisingly none of the tickets were offered for face value all were 
marked up considerably, x3 or x5, or more.  These are not fans buying and
selling 
these tickets -- it is Internet scalpers.  

How is scalping on the Internet different from scalping on a street corner?

Dude on the corner can get arrested depending on the location.  Internet 
scalping goes on unchecked.  

How do we know that Ticketmaster (which has it's own scalping website 
TicketsNow/TicketExchange) is not a willing partner in the scalping?     



**************
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1218822736x1201267884/aol?redir=htt
p:%2F%2Fww
w.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID%3D62%26bcd
%3
DfebemailfooterNO62)