What is Ticket Scalping?

The best way to get the best price for your tickets in through ticket derivatives. Ticket derivatives allow you to purchase a sports ticket tied to an individual team at a discount up to 98 percent.

Selling tickets for more than face value is illegal. Unfortunately, like with most things in life, people are selling bootlegged movies at the corner store. Forget you, ticketmaster.

@anon15603: Are you for real? "Don't buy a house unless someone has lived in it for four years"? So I get transferred within a year and I can't sell my house? So I lose my job after buying a house and have to move, or I am going bankrupt? And you propose sitting there for four years before I can sell it?

I'm a recent unwitting victim of ticket scalping and have done some research. The scalpers misrepresented themselves as the venue box office. The ticket reseller, Metro Entertainment, sent me a phony invoice with no price and no seat numbers, probably because they don't even have the tickets to sell. I ordered them in December but they don't promise to send them until three days before the concert in March.

Some simple rules I go by:

1. If one chooses to purchase a ticket for more than face value, please enjoy your event, but don't complain too hard about the fact one paid more than face value! I'm assuming a gun was not held to your head, and it was your decision to choose to pay said amount!

2. People like to brag and celebrate when they get a really great deal for tickets for well below face value. But on the other hand, they will scream and stomp their feet if they have to pay above face value. One simply can't have it both ways. One will win some, but must also be prepared to lose some from time to time.

Personally, I've got a very conservative/moderate opinion on the whole ticket reselling industry. Even though it's completely legal in my parts, my thoughts would be the same even if it weren't.

My view is that they provide a service. If I chose to pay a premium, I will buy. If I feel it's too much, I will not buy. Simple as that!

If I want to go to a concert and sit in the front two rows, (tickets which are often never even released to the public, and only available via the band, concert promoter, building owner etc.), I will pay for it dearly, by my own accord, and be very thankful to the ticket seller for providing me the service of giving me the opportunity to buy those tickets. I may be eating macaroni and cheese for a month afterward, but it was my choice!

I think it would be a good way to get money but it's also dishonest and risky.

You could get a lot of cash, but if the company that your with goes out of business or whatever, you're messed up. I compare it with lying. You're doing fine, until you get caught.

I think you also have to to be really convincing as well. But that's just me.

Blame the bands and sports team owners as well. They don't give a damn about their fans (their lifeblood). If they did then they would sell the tickets directly instead of "scalping" them through Ticketmaster.

How can any of you attempt to vilify a practice that is similar if not exactly the same process of most businesses in America? Name any product on earth that the manufacturer buys the raw materials for, makes the end product and sells it -- not many. To suggest that a middle man or a broker, or salesman, or a retail establishment should be deemed beneath the mainstream morals of society by identifying and capitalizing on an opportunity to profit is absurd. Why doesn’t Ford open a shop to sell cars themselves to save consumers money and remove the middle man (auto dealers), or judges should just give advice in court and bypass attorneys. Farmers should deliver and sell their products without Wal-mart etc.

To identify one product on earth that you cannot and should not buy low and sell high is nothing more than sour grapes. Ticket brokering and scalping is pure economics and a pure case study on how macro and micro economics works on steroids. If it were not true there would not be clients for the brokers and stubhub would not have been purchased by ebay for 10 billion dollars.

The long and short of it is simple. Bands do not want to sell their own tickets for some reason. They delegate to promoters, who delegate to local and nationwide box offices who have made the same mistake for 100 years. They fantasize that front row and 30th row on the floor to a concert have the same value to a customer. It simply does not. They hold “on-sales” at times when earthlings who have jobs and would like to see their shows are working and cannot attend the on-sale or sleep out overnight to bid on the prime seats. Box offices do not offer refunds. They are unsympathetic to any and all situations that may arise after you have made a purchase. Bought three, need four together?. Too bad. You are out of luck. Bought an expensive ticket and now you have lost your job and need the money back? Too bad. Brokers do everything for a customer that the box office refuses to do, which they could do for you and charge for, but are so short-sighted that they have not changed in 100 years.

Box offices have created the void that brokers have filled to the tune of a trillion dollar market that fulfills a need, want, and desire of the citizens for a price. Brokers make money on some sales and shows and lose on others, like any other business that has risk with a perishable item. If they charge too high for too long, they lose and often offer tickets below the face value they paid and the public benefits.

For those of you who have touted Ticketmaster as the people’s advocate is laughable. They are America’s largest scalper and recently were fined by New Jersey for holding back entire price ranges to post on their alternate website at inflated prices simultaneously while holding on- sales for Bruce Springsteen and others. To avoid further sanctions, they purchased the largest promoting company on earth, Live Nation, so they can broker, and scalp and not be fined. I would be cautious of decrying scalping while defending Ticketmaster.

On-sales occur sometimes a year in advance of the show, when most customers do not even know they will be in that city at that time. Then a client or anniversary or birthday request comes in a week before the event. They want the opportunity to purchase front row for a fair price and compensate someone for having the foresight to hold on to that ticket to make them look like a hero. Does a box office do this? No chance. Only a broker can help in this situation and that is why there will always be brokers for tickets, period.

Ticket scalping is unethical, plain and simple.

A scalper's sole purpose is to make a profit by taking advantage of a predisposition fan's willingness to pay X amount of dollars to see their favorite band. The same fan, whom otherwise, could of bought the ticket from the venue's seller had the scalper not bought the ticket in the first place.

The only reason behind scalping is profiteering. The scalper's goal is to control the supply side even though the laws of supply and demand are fully in affect before the scalper enters the picture. Booking agents know before hand how large a venue to book their bands. This is done regardless of scalping. Through marketing research, an ascertainment of the amount of people in any given city willing to pay to see a band is obtained. The demand has been predetermined, and the supply simply relegated to the size of venues available in that city. All of the elements are already in place to complete the goods/sale cycle, so why do we need "ticket brokers"?

About value adding: There is no value added to a scalper's ticket sale other than that which benefits the scalper.

About the logic behind scalping: The logic behind scalping is convoluted at best and can easily be stripped away by simply removing the "scalper", "middleman", or "reseller" from the picture entirely. Thusly: Fans that follow bands closely can deservedly have first crack at ticket sales with an opportunity to select which seats they desire to purchase inclusive of "good", "better" and "best" seats which can be obtained for a reasonable price set by the venue's ticket seller and late buyers can still purchase tickets from the venue's ticket seller with a reasonable expectation that the better seats won't be available yet still able to obtain remaining seats at face value.

These two items alone can be done without the "service" of scalpers. They will not "help" bands and Ticketmaster by buying tickets at the earliest time possible unless it serves their own interest. The sad fact is, that no one "forces" one to be a scalper, it is a choice of career like any other.

About Ticketmaster: Ticketmaster determines the value of tickets. Yes, they could charge more depending on how they construe the amount of demand, but it is in their best interest not to, as anti-trust allegations are continually pending against them and raising prices would only fuel that fire.

No, they cannot stop ticket resellers for legal reasons tied to the non-refundable nature of their product and therefore make no attempt to. In fact, they do accommodate resellers through their subsidiary online company "Tickets Now", which some may interpret as collusion.

In summation: The plain and simple truth is that everyone had an equal chance to purchase tickets prior to these "Brokers" getting involved and scalping is nothing more than opportunism at its base level.

I find it amazing how some of these responders can justify scalping to themselves, let alone the rest of us. The system is not broke. Introducing a third party middle-man to artificially inflate demand for the sole purpose of profiting is.

I personally keep myself informed of the bands I'd like to see in concert. If I find out too late, well I'll more than likely be sure to be on top of it the next time they come back. But it astonished me how fast, I'm talking 2 - 3 minutes within the beginning of a pre-sale, all of the good seats are snapped up only to be found 20 minutes later on link in Craigslist at a far than reasonable price. They talk about only "supplying" what is in "demand" like they are doing us a favor and keeping the wheels of Capitalism greased when it is "they" who drives the demand up by choking the supply to begin with.

But hey, don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself when a big named band like "Arcade Fire" goes on sale in your town. Just try to beat these scalpers to a front row seat at face value from ticketmaster even when you've got a pre-sale code.

TicketMaster is fully aware of scalping, and could eliminate it at any time by making tickets non-transferable and allowing ticket holders to return their tickets for a refund. However, the fact that TicketMaster doesn't charge more isn't because they give a crap about you, the downtrodden common man. It’s also not because they enjoy leaving money on the table. If they believed it would make them more money, they would raise ticket prices in a heartbeat.

Ticket scalpers are part of their business model. The scalpers reduce TicketMaster's risk of unsold tickets by reducing the risk of not selling out their events. This is one way the scalpers add value to the transaction (in an economics sense).

The scalpers also provide enormous value to casual fans of bands/sports teams. 90 percent of the tickets are available to the fanatic fan who reads their favorite band's newsletter and gets in on the ticket sale (or pre-sale) the minute it starts. But what about the average joe who is so busy handling the rest of his life that he doesn't find out about an event until it's sold out and just a few days away?

Some people think that first-come, first-served is a fair way to do ticket sales while others believe in a free market (capitalism) and allowing the highest bidder to have the item. Ticket brokers provide a valuable service to busy people by allowing them to have a shot at the approximately 10 percent of the tickets that the brokers acquire for them.

The markup that is being paid is for is based on a combination of the resources and time the broker has to spend to be available for ticket sales (at whatever time of the morning on whatever date), the fees associated with shipping, listing/selling the ticket, and an amount representative of the risk they undertake (for a successful transaction, but also for the unsuccessful ones). If a broker buys tickets for the wrong event (or the artist adds shows after the fact), guess what? They take a beating and sell for below what they paid. In this way, they provide an additional service to consumers; selling tickets to an unpopular event for a more reasonable price than TicketMaster will (i.e., the actual price that the market will support).

In the end, the brokers help the ticket prices to bridge the gap between TicketMaster's static pricing and the free market (whether it be increasing the prices or decreasing them). They also simultaneously reduce Ticketmaster's risk and increase the accessibility of tickets to casual fans. TicketMaster likes scalpers for the same reason you should: they allow the largest possible number of tickets to be sold. Capitalism (and the efficiency of the free market) is one of the cornerstones our country was built upon and was a primary factor in much of our success.

I was just watching the old episode of Home Improvement, No No Godot, which got me thinking about ticket scalping. In the situation of Tim and Al on the show, I don't think they did anything wrong.

However, like most things, ticket scalping is a grey area. I don't think a company or other organization should be allowed to buy up a whole bunch of tickets and resell at a profit, but I do think if a person wants to sell his own personal pair of tickets because his plans have changed, he should be allowed to do so. If the law prohibits that, then the law should be legally required to reimburse him for the cost of the tickets, should he decide not to go.

But, like most things, it's not as simple as whether it should or shouldn't be allowed. There are plenty of situations where it's socially beneficial, and plenty of situations where it's socially detrimental. No law is going to make this situation better.

Many have claimed that scalping is capitalism and thus must be allowed; supply and demand lead to price.

In a fair market this is true, but when the supply is controlled to manipulate price, the government will step in to protect the people. We've seen this with gasoline.

It is why ticketmaster (or artists) put limits on the number of tickets you can buy, though scalpers just set up numerous accounts. Capitalism should (my rhetoric) be about adding value - which scalpers don't do. Some artists have high value seats only available at will call. These are harder (not impossible) to scalp.

Many airlines have point of use kiosks - swipe your drivers license or credit card, your boarding pass prints. Let's do this for concerts and sporting events, too. Scalpers don't stand out in the rain - they sit at home, order online, and sell via internet sites like EBay and StubHub. Craigslist rules state no scalping, but even that portal is rife with scalpers.

I think ticket scalping is great! It allows someone with money to get a good seat without the hassle of fighting with ticketmaster or standing in line. It's convenient and easy! If you can't afford to pay market price, you should not be at the show. Remember, market price is what people are "willing" to pay for a ticket, not it's actual value. Sometimes it's more. Sometimes it's less.

If a business tries to sell you a ticket at over face-value, you should report them to the better business bureau.

RE: "They're not doing any work..."

LOL. So are you suggesting that the price of your home should stop going up as well? It's just like buying real estate! Supply and demand! You do have a choice! Buy it or don't buy it! It's up to me if I want to pay more for a ticket. Not up to you to dictate to me what I am willing to pay for it.

You are all absolutely correct! This is not fair, but neither is life. Life is not fair and then you die!

Why isn't something done about life? The only two things guaranteed in life are that you must pay taxes and you must die!

Why do baseball players make millions and teachers do not? Which is more valuable to us? Ticket brokers pay full ticket prices. If they were given some sort of break, like any other business buying wholesale then they could also sell at retail. So, I guess you can also blame the teams and producers for inflating their prices. But, this is the real world, so...

The problem with ticket scalping isn't that its capitalism in action; it's a ludicrous exploitation. Capitalism was supposed to be work done adds value to a product. They're not doing any work, hence not adding value to a product. They are just serving to deprive the stock of tickets so they can price set, which is purely exploitation that is why this should be stopped.

Ticket scalping is a civil issue. It's not the government's responsibility to choose how to regulate ticket sales for concerts and the like. Venues that do not want their tickets taken and sold at a higher price should regulate this themselves.

They can provide a hub for people to buy and sell tickets, and then force buyers into a contract making it illegal for them to sell their unwanted tickets in any other way. That way they can control ticket prices for tickets being re-sold, and should hopefully be able to easily file and win civil suits against anybody breaking the contract by selling tickets in some other way.

Most of the angry people on here must have completely skipped economics in High School. Are you guys mad that gold and diamonds are so expensive, as well? because it's the same concept that makes them expensive.

Hannah Montana really brought this to the surface because demand was so high but obviously there is only so many seats to an event.

Imagine a large city with millions of people. Little ol' Hannah Montana only has one show in this city. For argument's sake, let's say that there are 80,000 seats available. But 2 million kids want to go, and even worse, each group of kids needs a guardian to accompany them. You now have millions of people clamoring for those 80,000 tickets. It's not like this is the only thing this happens in. Every price you pay is based on supply and demand. goods are always priced at what the market can bare.

The people wincing and crying about how unfair it is because they cannot get tickets at face value should then also be crying that they can't get a one-carat diamond ring for the same price as one out of little kids vending machine at the grocery store. The more rare something is and the more people want it, the more it will cost.

Even if you take large buyers out of the equation, scalping still happens because when people are willing to pay 1k for a seat at a sold out show. You live paycheck to paycheck, you would sell them too.

Sounds like you're more mad that it's not you making the money in this situation. This is capitalism.

this is not fair. i want to buy tickets for a concert right now, but its all sold out and people are reselling them for at least $100. I'm most likely not going to be able to attend this show.

The problem is, when you get to the 'big name' ticket scalpers, I'm afraid that they do crap like the one I worked for.

They hire people for meager money, then flounce around in their fancy cars and show how much money *they* have when compared to their employees. They develop applications that will hit the ticket selling sites repeatedly to try and purchase tickets before the public can really get to them, and so forth.

It's *this* kind of practice that ticket scalpers are taking? Forget them.

Ticket scalpers are entrepreneurs. It's the American way. They often lose money, are arrested or even beaten up. They're running around in all weather brutal summer 100 degrees and freezing cold winter, plus getting soaked in torrential downpours of rain. They work very hard and the whole thing is a gamble.

Additionally, nobody has to buy a ticket from a "scalper" if they don't want to. Usually they are pleased to be able to see something that really matters to them. And so, why don't you try calling lawyers scalpers, plus stockbrokers, also the health insurance industry, don't forget the pharmaceutical industry, corrupt politicians? I could go on and on.

Don't pick on a little guy who's probably just doing the best he can. How many people have you "scalped" in your lifetime? Think about it!

I'm not a scalper, however, I have no problem with it.

The market is allowing them to profit which is the only reason why they do it.

If people are willing to pay $1000 than there will always be a market for it. Period.

Unless you want to live in a world of government being involved in every little thing we doing telling us if we are right or wrong, then just live with how life is.

Life is not fair. I'm really disappointed that my generation is so full of whiners.

There are more important problems than ticket scalpers.

This whole process is crap. People who want to attend the events cannot afford $1,000 at ticket. I wanted to get tickets for an NFL game which has not gone on sale yet through normal channels.

The season ticket holders are the ones jacking the price. I think it is highway robbery to take advantage of that. If they would cap it at like 10 percent over face value, that would be OK.

This should be illegal. it's not fair.

I am a scalper and I take risks all the time buying tickets, even losing money on occasion.

Primarily, the reason ticket scalping is illegal, is it grants incentive to purchase in bulk at the consumer level with motive to resell. Pretty soon, people and groups big enough to do so, would buy huge numbers of tickets with no intention of attending the event, giving us yet another middle man, spiking the price of admission, and deterring attendance.

It just levels the playing field for all.

Yeah, let's make capitalism illegal!

If selling the second pair pays for both, they've earned that right.

If you knew what retailers paid wholesalers for the products they stocked, would you still buy them? You pay marked up prices all day long on every transaction everywhere.

Making money is the universal goal hidden or otherwise.

Ticket scalpers aren't the scum of the earth. They resell tickets to people who weren't able to get them in the first place. Why do you think events sell out? Because more people want to go to the event than they have seating for. Ticketmaster releases the ticket at below market value. That's why people are willing to spend more than face value. Take for instance a luxury item (like concerts or sports) like cake. A cake manufacturer releases 10 cakes at 10 dollars each. But 10 other people want a cake. These 10 people are willing to pay 20 dollars a cake. Some of the people with cake decide that a cake isn't worth 20 dollars to them and would rather have the money. So they sell off the cake to the highest bidder. Ticket selling is a simple supply/demand game. People pay thousands of dollars to see Hannah Montana because they want to. It's worth it to them. If they didn't want to fork up the thousands of dollars they didn't want to see it as bad as the other thousands of people.

This is a comment in regards to "anon15603" with their disturbing reaction to the life of a real estate house flipper. I just don't get it. When you take a run down house and fix it up you are creating more value for the neighborhood. After fixing up a property you literally just made your neighbors thousands of dollars. You made the neighborhood more desirable, you made the caliber of people able to move into the nicer house, well, of a higher caliber. You took something lacking in beauty and gave it a face-lift. You created a new home for someone who would like one. And most of all, you did something with a property no one wanted. I wonder why they didn't want it, hmm? I believe my comments are logical and just make sense. I was shocked by your statement: "...house flippers long term and short term make it bad for all people involved." I would like to see some credible facts vs. vague opinion. I think you may be the sick one here. It's very scary now knowing there are people with that much hostility out there over the most minute matters. The scalping tickets is another story but house flipping? I would *really* like to discus this matter further to figure out where you are coming from (your background, having been screwed over before or what). Sincerely, Jason

Trust scalpers aren't bad people, they are just trying to make a buck. This does screw everyone else over, but scalpers really don't see it that way. It needs to be illegal, not because these are lazy or bad people, but because it prevents the general public from having access to tickets.

Here's how you solve the problem: Participate in pre-sales and never buy from scalpers. That's it. Also advocate legislation. New York has a policy allowing scalpers to increase face value by no more than by 10 percent. I like that scheme.

Ticket scalping is a parasitic economic activity. Profits do not go to the artist or the concert hall. It is merely a vampiric transfer of wealth.

It is obviously a corrupt transaction, or else why are individuals and small timers not allowed to ticket scalp but big businesses are allowed?

It should be illegal to sell for more than the face value.

As for house flipping, real estate speculation is one of the big reasons our economy tanked. Where do you think all the easy money would ultimately come from? If you're making 100$/hr from your labor and improvements then great -- you are getting paid for tangible work, but if its $100,000 for sitting then it's parasitic. Somebody down the line has to pay (ie: taxpayers, and everyone else in the future). A lot of people who *need* to buy a home to *live* in, rather than make a quick buck, are left to pay the consequences.

Blood sucking economic vampires bring down everyone else.

I bought three tickets from stupid ticketmaster over the phone, told them they were for me and two 11 year-olds and they gave me one seat on row g and two seats on row l and then seats 11 and seats 16 and 17... This is for Birmingham Alabama Taylor swift/kellie pickler. I am very angry.

I called ticketmaster & they will not help me at all.

I have even contacted better business bureau of california which is where headquarters of ticketmaster is. I have contacted every taylor swift and kellie pickler website and will do it more till someone answers me. I just found a website that is selling tickets in our nosebleed section for 100.00 each! I paid 160.00 For three tickets that I could not afford in the first place. They are for my little girls birthday.

If anyone can help let me know.

I think the discussion is a little one sided. This is not criminal exploitation, even if sometimes it can be frustrating to the ordinary punter. It is simple business the same as anywhere else - no-one moans that a big retailer buys a block of eg books, marks them up, and sells them to the public. If no-one paid the higher prices, the business would soon stop. Also, there are no laws preventing joe public from scouring the lists and standing in queues to pick up the original tickets.

At the end of the day, the amount of money to be made is exactly proportional to the amount of work that is put in. In short, for those who are moaning that the mark up is too big to be fair, why not do the same thing and undercut hence raising extra money for future tickets and reducing the mark up?

Buying tickets to sell at a higher price is not hard-earned money. Buy 6 tickets at 50 dollars a piece. Sell them for 200 dollars a piece. That's 1200 dollars of 'hard-earned' cash.

I think it is really, really sad that a regular person can't get a good seat at a show, because these companies buy them up for 90.00 and resell them for 1000.00.I don't think that this is any different than some one selling them at the event. They need to put a stop to it..They say the show is sold out but when you go there is section unfilled..which a normal person could go and see these shows. I feel like going to the state rep or congress to stop this kind of robbery...does anybody else feel like this...

Its not about whether its legal, It just wrong. Ticket scalpers are mean. how can you make your money off of screwing people over

The tickets I've bought that went unsold and I had to eat them for full value I'd be willing to sell now at half price. If someone wants to purchase tickets to a concert or game then go online when they become available instead of doing whatever else you're doing. This is a business, just like any other, you're supposed to get paid like any other job. That's why you work so you can take your daughter to the Hannah Montana concert.

By the way a lot of tickets are now available on TicketsNow before they go onsale. That's because its TicketMaster's resell arm that had the tickets in the first place.

I despise ticket scalpers. Tickets disappear quickly, become available only at inflated prices, and the event typically becomes a sellout with less than capacity attendance. An event goes on sale, sells out in 10 minutes before an average Joe can get any, and we see 500 tickets on Stubhub, ebay, etc. There is an easy solution to this!!!!

The vast majority of sales are internet or phone charge. They require a credit card. Print the name of the cardholder on the tickets, and require that cardholder to be present when the tickets are used.

I will gladly stand in line a little longer to get into the event this way, if it means I can get my tickets at face value and know that the event capacity is met with fans not empty scalper seats.

scalpers are the scum of the earth. i don't care what you call them: scalpers, brokers, they can all burn in hell as far as i am concerned. ticketmaster, ebay and especially those at ticketnetwork with their homeboy al branch are interested in one thing only: how to screw the average guy out of the most money with the least amount of effort.

House flipping is different from ticket scalping because when one flips a house, they have to fix it up in order to demand a higher price than they paid. If one purchases a ticket in the back row, they cannot "fix it up" and turn it into a front row seat for more money. its the same ticket, just tacking on profit.

not sure that i see the similarities between house flipping and ticket scalping. don't get me wrong, i think that ticket scalping has become a total rip off for the average guy who just wants to take his daughter to see Hannah Montana. but house flippers (and i'm not one) purchase homes which are typically in need of rehabilitation for one reason or another, fix them up and sell them for a profit. yes, they take real financial risks and invest real money into them. while there are surely many unscrupulous flippers just as with ticket scalpers, it's nice when a home gets fixed up, raising *everyone's* property values. the ticket scalper on the other hand, provides no other community service than fattening his pockets.

House flippers, and ticket scalpers are of the same Greed based mentality yet, House flippers have pay more, yet get bigger yields. Unless you buy tickets in blocks, Both are scum! Don't ever buy a house if the person or person (they like to call themselves investors, to sugar coat their greed and their greed based goals.) They also seem to believe or more importantly let themselves off the hook by saying they are taking the risk for possible loss. The whole time refuse to take a look at opportunities they destroy for other people who are not greed motivated. Ticket Scalpers/ House flippers rationalize what they do to alleviate personal and business accountability.

One: don't ever buy a ticket if over face value!

Two:Don't ever buy a house unless person has history of times the house has been sold: to ferret out these type of people. House buying is not a split second decision type deal. To prevent these type people to spread. Don't ever buy a house unless it has been owned for Four Years. By one person! Find all the info you can you can and expose these people for who they really are. Ticket scalping and house flippers long term and short term make it bad for all people involved. Don't deal with these people... let them and give them much rope to hang themselves and their partners by letting them hold on to their tickets and houses over a long period of time. So they can't handle the expense. All people should respond, collectively the same without fail. Hold the line and do not waiver. Starve these people out... Don't play their game. be aggressive with sharing this info... with people who could be the next victim $$$ regarding loses. Be a stand up person and share this info... in its short form.

I never got the whole argument against ticket scalping. When someone "flips" a house, everyone want to know how they did it. We even have TV shows about how to do it. Yet when we "flip" a ticket, we are keeping the man-on-the-street away from his "right" to go to an event. House flipping does a lot more to take money put of hard-working people's wallets than ticket flipping. I have been a doing this for years now and have helped many other people get into the ticket broker business.

Ticket scalpers are just like anyone else: trying to make a hard-earned buck

just b/c you go about this a different way does not mean that it is wrong; if you want the tickets online you can buy them at the same time the scalpers do: right when they become available

i agree that these ticket brokers make it very difficult for people to get tickets sometimes. here in kansas city, people had a hard time buying Hannah Montana tickets online when they went onsale because some ticket brokers had some sort of program that bought big bunches of tickets. i don't know exactly how that works, but there were people who could not buy tickets even thought they went online right when they went on sale.

The practice of legal ticket scalping through ticket master and brokers is nothing short of stealing and discrimination. They take a ticket for an event that sells for $25 at the box office and buy up all of the good seats and then resale them for $100. The common person never has the same chance to see an event as a person who has the money to spend on these tickets. Ticket Master and the brokers then through their charitable donations become the beautiful helpful organizations who help America. The individuals who own and run these companies are lauded as great people for what they do for society when all they have done is take an event and overprice it basically making everyone pay more so they can look better. If it is against the law in many states for a person stuck with an extra ticket to sell it for more than face value then why do we allow a double standard? The ruse that these companies are taking a risk by buying these blocks and they could take a loss is obviously a lie because all one has to do is look at how much money they are making as companies.