Posted: March 21, 2004 5:42 pm
Ok, here's my slant on the ticket situation:
1. The root for all this animosity towards eBay sellers and brokers/scalpers is the fact that there are many people who want to go to the show and only a limited amount of tickets. Laws of supply and demand apply here, if there is a limited supply and a high demand, prices go up - Econ 101.
2. The current system in place is not to the advantage of the phans but to those who want only to make money off tickets, namely the scalpers and brokers.
In order to score tix for Camden, our crew was stationed as follows:
RednekkPH and I each on 3 computers (which I "borrowed" from work) at my place
One guy in another location on 3 computers
Another girl on 1 computer at yet another location
4 people at Ticketmaster outlet staggered in the line
RednekkPH hit for 8, my buddy on the other 3 computers hit for 8, and one of our crew in line at the outlet hit for 8.
We didn't need more than 16 tix so we told the team at the TM outlet to just sell the tix they had to the people in line that didn't score (we only asked for face value + TM charges, we were not out to make any money). Needless to say that make 8 people who waited in line and were going to go home ticketless very happy.
Going back to the current process, this is the lengths we went to for tix, and I still think we were lucky. But, even before we got our tix, many of the choice tickets were gone, given away to radio stations, or in the hands of scalpers and brokers.
I think (and Jimmy, if you're reading this, please make a note) there should be some kind of pre-sale for true phans. Pearl Jam does this, they charge an annual fee for club membership but allow members first dibs on tix.
As for the whole eBay thing, as long as the tickets are sold within legal limits AFTER the sale date, and the tix start out at face value + surcharges, I don't have a problem with it. This is a way for people who for some reason or another couldn't get tix during the sale to be able to go to the show. Granted, you will have to pay extra for them, but this is America, free trade is king.
(stepping off my soapbox)
1. The root for all this animosity towards eBay sellers and brokers/scalpers is the fact that there are many people who want to go to the show and only a limited amount of tickets. Laws of supply and demand apply here, if there is a limited supply and a high demand, prices go up - Econ 101.
2. The current system in place is not to the advantage of the phans but to those who want only to make money off tickets, namely the scalpers and brokers.
In order to score tix for Camden, our crew was stationed as follows:
RednekkPH and I each on 3 computers (which I "borrowed" from work) at my place
One guy in another location on 3 computers
Another girl on 1 computer at yet another location
4 people at Ticketmaster outlet staggered in the line
RednekkPH hit for 8, my buddy on the other 3 computers hit for 8, and one of our crew in line at the outlet hit for 8.
We didn't need more than 16 tix so we told the team at the TM outlet to just sell the tix they had to the people in line that didn't score (we only asked for face value + TM charges, we were not out to make any money). Needless to say that make 8 people who waited in line and were going to go home ticketless very happy.
Going back to the current process, this is the lengths we went to for tix, and I still think we were lucky. But, even before we got our tix, many of the choice tickets were gone, given away to radio stations, or in the hands of scalpers and brokers.
I think (and Jimmy, if you're reading this, please make a note) there should be some kind of pre-sale for true phans. Pearl Jam does this, they charge an annual fee for club membership but allow members first dibs on tix.
As for the whole eBay thing, as long as the tickets are sold within legal limits AFTER the sale date, and the tix start out at face value + surcharges, I don't have a problem with it. This is a way for people who for some reason or another couldn't get tix during the sale to be able to go to the show. Granted, you will have to pay extra for them, but this is America, free trade is king.
(stepping off my soapbox)
