I bought tickets for the V Festival a couple of years ago for my ex's birthday. She then received free VIP passes, so I sold the tickets I had bought on eBay. I actually flogged them for just under what they cost me, the day before the festival, to a girl who was desperate to see her favourite band but had been unable to get tickets. So I actually felt quite good about selling them.
Have you ever sold a ticket on ebay?
- Thread starter Hollis
- Start date
Hollis said:
True to an extent. Nearly double is still a stupid amount of money to pay to see Morrissey (or anyone really) though. I think people on ebay are happier to pay big money to a faceless person on the net rather than hand over hard cash to some tout cunt outside the venue.
What a lot people don't realise is that if you go to a gig about an hour late - or around the time the main act is starting - you can usually pick up tickets for less than face value from touts who just want rid of their last few.
Dr. Furface
One small step for me
I've bought and sold gig tix on ebay - although not very often and not for a couple of years now.
The only ones I bought were a couple for the White Stripes at Brixton about 3 years ago, which cost me about £5 more than the face price. That's ok by me, but I wouldn't go spending silly money, like someone did from me once...
I had a couple of tix for Dolly Parton at Hammersmith when she last toured here about 4 years ago. I bought them for myself and was going to take a friend, but a few weeks before the gig I had to pay out a lot of money on various unforeseen things at a time when I was skint, and when I saw how much the Dolly tix were going for on ebay I couldn't resist it - I made £300 profit, which paid for my outgoings. I don't feel bad about it because I didn't buy them to profiteer and I'm sure that the guy who bought them must've been a big Dolly fan in order to pay that kind of money, and how else was he going to get tickets to see her that late in the day?
But I'm not really against people buying tix for shows and sellin them on ebay. Sometimes they may ramp up the price, but then again street touts have always done that, and most of those are lowlife thugs I'd cross the road to avoid. I would much rather get them off ebay than off a tout outside a venue, because at least that way I'll have them in my hand in advance and I wouldn't have to deal face-2-face with some scumbag I know is blatantly ripping me off. At least on ebay the price of the tix is determined largely by supply and demand, rather than what some sleazy git on the street thinks he can get out of me.
The only ones I bought were a couple for the White Stripes at Brixton about 3 years ago, which cost me about £5 more than the face price. That's ok by me, but I wouldn't go spending silly money, like someone did from me once...
I had a couple of tix for Dolly Parton at Hammersmith when she last toured here about 4 years ago. I bought them for myself and was going to take a friend, but a few weeks before the gig I had to pay out a lot of money on various unforeseen things at a time when I was skint, and when I saw how much the Dolly tix were going for on ebay I couldn't resist it - I made £300 profit, which paid for my outgoings. I don't feel bad about it because I didn't buy them to profiteer and I'm sure that the guy who bought them must've been a big Dolly fan in order to pay that kind of money, and how else was he going to get tickets to see her that late in the day?
But I'm not really against people buying tix for shows and sellin them on ebay. Sometimes they may ramp up the price, but then again street touts have always done that, and most of those are lowlife thugs I'd cross the road to avoid. I would much rather get them off ebay than off a tout outside a venue, because at least that way I'll have them in my hand in advance and I wouldn't have to deal face-2-face with some scumbag I know is blatantly ripping me off. At least on ebay the price of the tix is determined largely by supply and demand, rather than what some sleazy git on the street thinks he can get out of me.
Dr. Furface said:
Funny thing about touts, I've seen them at work outside the Astoria a few times, either when I've been going to a gig or just passing by. There are always the same blokes there, and none of them seem to have many tickets on them, if any at all, they just spend all their time running around trying to buy spares off people so they can sell them on. Doesn't seem like a surefire way to make money to me, although I know there are far more professional touts around.
Dr. Furface
One small step for me
Firstly, you don't know that. You certainly don't know that that %-age is correct - because you've just plucked it out the air, and I think it's much lower than that. Also, if you are buying off ebay, obviously you don't know who the hell you're buying from, although I've found that I can get a good idea just by the way that people advertise, the language they use, the starting price, things like that. If someone's asking an exaorbitant starting price, then they probably are 'professional' touts, so you avoid them. It ain't that difficult.Biffo said:
Dr. Furface said:
Have a look at the other items they have sold (throught he feedback facility) and you get the picture. Believe me it is very big business now. Don't be fooled by statements like 'bought in error, will swap for Newcastle tickets'. This translates as 'you will think I'm genuine and buy my tickets for silly money. If someone offers to swap with me then I will sell their tickets for silly money to someone else'.
I totally accept that people buy tickets and then can't go to gigs. I did it myself recently and sold the ticket on ebay (because no-one else I knew wanted it) for just under face value. Just because your Dolly Parton situation was genuine and you made big bucks without intending to, I assure you that you are in a minority.
Put Morrissey into the search for tickets on ebay and you get nearly 700 items. The top one is this -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2x-MORRISSEY-...600849389QQcategoryZ58737QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
2 Morrissey tickets for £130. 20 mins to go. Face value = approx £65 incl booking fee. Doubled his money. The same person sold 2 Arctic Monkeys tickets in December for £80. Face value of those tickets was £30 the two. More than doubled his money. Both gigs are in Leeds. the selelr lives in Leeds. Genuine reason for sales? Maybe?
No. Check the feedback and you will see at the bottom of the page 'other items by this seller'. There's at least three more lots of Morrissey tickets for sale, including a Glasgow gig. They will all go for around twice face value. This person is making money from buying and selling tickets.
This was the first example I looked at. It's rife and it stops genuine fans from buying tickets at source and encourages people with more money (or higher credit/overdraft limits) than sense to pay over the odds to some cunt who is laughing all the way to the bank. I assumed everyone knew this what went on.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2x-MORRISSEY-...600849389QQcategoryZ58737QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
2 Morrissey tickets for £130. 20 mins to go. Face value = approx £65 incl booking fee. Doubled his money. The same person sold 2 Arctic Monkeys tickets in December for £80. Face value of those tickets was £30 the two. More than doubled his money. Both gigs are in Leeds. the selelr lives in Leeds. Genuine reason for sales? Maybe?
No. Check the feedback and you will see at the bottom of the page 'other items by this seller'. There's at least three more lots of Morrissey tickets for sale, including a Glasgow gig. They will all go for around twice face value. This person is making money from buying and selling tickets.
This was the first example I looked at. It's rife and it stops genuine fans from buying tickets at source and encourages people with more money (or higher credit/overdraft limits) than sense to pay over the odds to some cunt who is laughing all the way to the bank. I assumed everyone knew this what went on.
ivebeenhigh
Well-Known Member
is it any different to sell a ticket outside a venue as it is on ebay?
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ivebeenhigh
Well-Known Member
i think what Editors did with the way they announced tickets for the three Brixton shows is quite a clever thing to do.
The first show sold out straight away the second one almost as quick, and the third hasnt, if you look on Ebay now the tickets for the shows are being sold for £8-£10 over face value whereas last week they were selling for something more like £30 over the odds.
The result, lots of touts left with tickets that they will be lucky to get face value for, while all the fans are going to the thrid show.
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The first show sold out straight away the second one almost as quick, and the third hasnt, if you look on Ebay now the tickets for the shows are being sold for £8-£10 over face value whereas last week they were selling for something more like £30 over the odds.
The result, lots of touts left with tickets that they will be lucky to get face value for, while all the fans are going to the thrid show.
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wayward bob
i ate all your bees
i've paid above the odds for tickets on ebay before now. the fact that i got to see bands that i really wanted to when i would have no other chance outweighed any beef i had with people making money out of me. i paid what i thought was a reasonable price for that gig and i've never been disappointed.
the only time i've sold tickets was when i used to work my ticket for glastonbury but never knew whether i'd get on until after all the normal tickets had gone. so i bought 'insurance' tickets, which i sold on to someone local via efestivals at face value.
i got arctic monkeys tickets on ebay for the cardiff gig that was about a week before look good on the dancefloor went in at #1 so they were about double face value but less than i'd paid a couple of weeks before to see the superfurries - still a reasonable price to pay for a (great) gig. edited to add: no way would i pay £50+ to see them now, no matter how good i thought they were.
i've got spare-ish arctics tix now and if the person i bought them for doesn't want them i really don't know what i'll do. if no-one else i know wants them, does the warm glow of karmic satisfaction for selling them at face value really beat the warm glow of an unexpected hundred quid in your pocket?
the only time i've sold tickets was when i used to work my ticket for glastonbury but never knew whether i'd get on until after all the normal tickets had gone. so i bought 'insurance' tickets, which i sold on to someone local via efestivals at face value.
i got arctic monkeys tickets on ebay for the cardiff gig that was about a week before look good on the dancefloor went in at #1 so they were about double face value but less than i'd paid a couple of weeks before to see the superfurries - still a reasonable price to pay for a (great) gig. edited to add: no way would i pay £50+ to see them now, no matter how good i thought they were.
i've got spare-ish arctics tix now and if the person i bought them for doesn't want them i really don't know what i'll do. if no-one else i know wants them, does the warm glow of karmic satisfaction for selling them at face value really beat the warm glow of an unexpected hundred quid in your pocket?
ivebeenhigh
Well-Known Member
isnt what places like stargreen and their ilk the same as touts...
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Hollis said:
I think the supply and demand principles are fairly similar. There is generally a bigger supply on ebay than outside a venue though. Both types of seller know what they can get in terms of profuit. There is a difference in the relationship between the buyer and seller. As I said previously it is probably easier to part with money online than it is to give your money to someone that you can see 'scumbag' written across their forehead.
The bottom line is that both types of seller are charging you above the odds and making money.
i don't think stargreen is, they had arctic monkeys tickets too when tehy went on sale last night, for face value plus the usual "booking fee" - i've got tickets from them beofre when tickets have first gone on sale.
there are loads of other "legit" companies that are nothing more than touts, thoguh. i think sir clifford of richard was having beef with one of them recently for selling tickets for his gigs at rip off prices.
go cliff, go!!!
there are loads of other "legit" companies that are nothing more than touts, thoguh. i think sir clifford of richard was having beef with one of them recently for selling tickets for his gigs at rip off prices.
go cliff, go!!!
corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
Biffo said:
Yeah but it's not just this, is it?
Sometimes buying on ebay's the only way to pay face value for a ticket, what with booking fees and postage and whatnot.
When was the last time you queued up outside a venue for tickets? When was the last time you even saw a box office open at a venue?
I'm not a fan of people who sell tickets on ebay for a living, but fucking the consumer starts with the venues, the promoters and the ticket agencies. Ebay's just an extension of how we must buy tickets now (see Glastonbury threads passim ad infinitum..)
Hollis
bloody furious
Biffo said:
I think the difference is that as a buyer you can see what sought of prices tickets are going for.
Outside a gig, don't the sellers often set up cartels. - I've seen it happen. Given that most buyers generally ain't going to enjoy the haggling bit.. where as the touts do it for a living, I think the touts are generally at an advantage.
On ebay the 'personal' elements taken out of it.
corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
Agreed Biffo. Just can't stand the industry bitching about it as if they had no part to play in creating this situation.
ivebeenhigh
Well-Known Member
I got two tickets as a present for the NME show in Brixton in a couple of weeks.
Current Ebay value £148. Am I going to get £148 of enjoyment out of seeing the Arctic Monkeys/Maximo Park/WAS/Mystery Jets...
linky dinky
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Current Ebay value £148. Am I going to get £148 of enjoyment out of seeing the Arctic Monkeys/Maximo Park/WAS/Mystery Jets...
linky dinky
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corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
The flipside to this, of course, is that you've got to pick & choose your gigs if you're gonna make any money.
Arctic Monkeys are a shoe-in to be popular, but next time they tour that may've changed.
A friend of mine bought 4 tickets for Pixies at AllyPally late last year with the express intention of flogging two of them on ebay. However, he'd kinda missed the comeback boat, and sold them outside the gig for a fiver each.
Arctic Monkeys are a shoe-in to be popular, but next time they tour that may've changed.
A friend of mine bought 4 tickets for Pixies at AllyPally late last year with the express intention of flogging two of them on ebay. However, he'd kinda missed the comeback boat, and sold them outside the gig for a fiver each.
corporate whore said:
The Arctic Monkeys website ran a warning on Wednesday (prior to the general release of their tour tickets on Thursday) about selling gig tickets on ebay . They talked about monitoring sales. It should be fairly easy to liaise with ebay and ticket agencies (confidentiality issues allowing) and identify people selling tickets for profit. They could then cancel the tickets which had been purchased and re-sell them for face value. It would never happen though.
I think the only solution is to ban the pre-sale of tickets for all gigs and sell them on the night. People will queue up to pay to get in. If it's a 3000 capacity venue then the first 3000 people will be in. If you are 3001 or behind in the queue you will be told that the gig is sold and out and you should go to the pub instead. This may involve queueing 24 hours in advance for a gig and large numbers of police, safety stewards and St John's ambulance people to oversee the process but so be it. Only the 'true fans' will get in and their will be no place for Johnny Ticket Tout or Tina Ticket Agency.
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