How does the ticket brokerage business work? (1 Viewer)

Obviously - buy low, sell high. I get it.

Here's what's making me ask....

I attended a concert Tuesday night. On the way down (2 hr drive), I check Craigslist to see if there were some really good seats cheap. We already had tickets and were thinking that people looking to unload tickets were up against it time-wise and would take what they could get. I came across some brokerage sites and one in particular had excellent seats for sale but still $272 per ticket. No thanks. Looked at it again later. Same tickets now on sale for $232. Still not a chance they were worth that. So I called and asked if they couldn't sell them would they be interested in $50 per ticket since them not selling them at all means they never have a chance to make money on that event. He says to me, nope. We'll sell them somehow for more than that.

My questions are - how? How will they sell them? The concert had actually even started. Opening act started at 6pm and it was a little after that. But also, where do they get such good tickets from in the first place? And so many? In my mind, I theorized that the brokerage community and the venue were in it together. The venue lets brokers buy a certain amount of tickets in exchange for a commitment to buy a certain number of tix to events held there. Or possibly the venue simply gives the brokers tickets to sell and splits the proceeds somehow.

I've wondered this for a while and figured someone out there would know.

TIA

ETA... I should mention that this was not the sort of venue  where you see a bunch of people near it selling tickets. It's a self-contained area where there is very little foot traffic.

I woulda figured with the brain power in here that someone with knowledge of the industry would have jumped in already and now it's almost off page 2 with no reply. So this is my way of bumping it 'cause I really am curious. 

They have scalpers at the event.

Hatem'

T J said:

Obviously - buy low, sell high. 

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/thread. 

Also, they hire temps thur Manpower to call to get tickets when they go on sale.  I know this for a fact but that was over 10 years ago.   They might be doing it a different way now.

They would not have had scalpers at the event. There aren't any venue I'm referencing. And no - the buy low/sell high is not the end of the thread. There's obviously more to it than that - like how do they get the tix in the first place? I guess I'm looking for detailed answers on how it works instead of one-liners. But I genuinely appreciate you folks taking the time to chime in.

IC FBGCav said:

Also, they hire temps thur Manpower to call to get tickets when they go on sale.  I know this for a fact but that was over 10 years ago.   They might be doing it a different way now.

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This is the kind of info I was looking for

T J said:

They would not have had scalpers at the event. There aren't any venue I'm referencing. And no - the buy low/sell high is not the end of the thread. There's obviously more to it than that - like how do they get the tix in the first place? I guess I'm looking for detailed answers on how it works instead of one-liners. But I genuinely appreciate you folks taking the time to chime in.

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There are scalpers at any event.

T J said:

They would not have had scalpers at the event. There aren't any venue I'm referencing. And no - the buy low/sell high is not the end of the thread. There's obviously more to it than that - like how do they get the tix in the first place? I guess I'm looking for detailed answers on how it works instead of one-liners. But I genuinely appreciate you folks taking the time to chime in.

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I don't think you are actually clear on what you are asking.  There are scalpers at every event.  Why wouldn't you think they would try to sell tickets there?  Also, with all of the online avenues (stubhub, etc.) they can sell tickets at anytime.  I used to have a relationship with a broker.  He would txt me last second events (i used to live 2 blocks from MCI center in DC) and i would just walk down and meet him or one of the people he had around the venue.  

IC FBGCav said:

There are scalpers at any event.

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I hear you, but man, it would be tough at this venue to move tickets through a scalper. Just not at all set up like that.  

IC FBGCav said:

Also, they hire temps thur Manpower to call to get tickets when they go on sale.  I know this for a fact but that was over 10 years ago.   They might be doing it a different way now.

Click to expand...

Is it possible the venue allows them early access in exchange for their commitment to buy a certain quantity or to buy tix to a certain number of events or both?

T J said:

They would not have had scalpers at the event.

Click to expand...

T J said:

Is it possible the venue allows them early access in exchange for their commitment to buy a certain quantity or to buy tix to a certain number of events or both?

Click to expand...

No but I am sure they all have American Express cards that allow early purchases to events to their customers. 

http://www.ticketmaster.com/americanexpress/93

I sort of worked for a event center and did some scalp work to make extra money.  It was nice.  Things were way different before the internet so YMMV.

Most scalping now is an inside job with the event center, they will do some hold backs and VIP type stuff where they convert people from SRO to seats after the event starts, on an as needed basis for a fixed rate, usually half face, or less.  So the scalpers nearly certainly will have a higher floor than you think they would.

That method was the way we would unload stuff after post time in the past, so I assume it's even easier now with internet, you don't even need to have the physical ticket to transfer it back to the house.

No, I don't have any Blue Oyster Cult. I ate 34 pairs last time. Where were you? I was that close to working at 7-Eleven, you know.

culdeus said:

........Most scalping now is an inside job with the event center......

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Thanks for this info. I didn't know the exact mechanics of  it but I suspected there was a partnership of sorts.

https://ticketmanager.com/7-ways-ticket-brokers-get-tickets-and-why-you-have-no-chance

IC FBGCav said:

https://ticketmanager.com/7-ways-ticket-brokers-get-tickets-and-why-you-have-no-chance

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Very interesting. So the average joe is much pretty much hosed.

And thank you for finding and posting that.

its all done w computer geeks knowing how to Corner the market and some shiftiness on the part of ticket ******* !!the average Joe has no chance... I'll never forget back in 1990 I did the overnight wait in line at the local Ticketmaster and got third row Paul McCartney for face value !!still one of the greatest events I've ever gone to and I was able to take my uncle and my dad who just thought I was the king for the longest time ....great night now if I were to try to get those tickets for four of us I'd be looking at 6 grand if not more it's crazy but the average Schmo has no chance to get a good ticket unless you know somebody ....I do know that joining their fanclub sometimes can be worth it no matter who it is although when I joined the Bob Seger fan club months before his tickets went on sale I still could never get through through his website it's a crapshoot and it sucks the only way to get them now is when they get a little bit longer in the tooth and they're playing like the casinos and stuff if you know a gambler that has one of the players cards they get first dibs on some of them that's about all I know about it... having been to over 40 Grateful Dead concerts in my life they used to have the where you had to send a money order to San Rafael California and I'll never forget one time at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland I was able to score second row seats it was awesome also and in most of the time I was in the middle of the bowl which it wasn't bad the dead show there are many reasons you go and it's not always for great seats the experience all I can say is you got to go before you understand it

flyy1313 said:

its all done w computer geeks knowing how to Corner the market and some shiftiness on the part of ticket ******* !!the average Joe has no chance... I'll never forget back in 1990 I did the overnight wait in line at the local Ticketmaster and got third row Paul McCartney for face value !!still one of the greatest events I've ever gone to and I was able to take my uncle and my dad who just thought I was the king for the longest time ....great night now if I were to try to get those tickets for four of us I'd be looking at 6 grand if not more it's crazy but the average Schmo has no chance to get a good ticket unless you know somebody ....I do know that joining their fanclub sometimes can be worth it no matter who it is although when I joined the Bob Seger fan club months before his tickets went on sale I still could never get through through his website it's a crapshoot and it sucks the only way to get them now is when they get a little bit longer in the tooth and they're playing like the casinos and stuff if you know a gambler that has one of the players cards they get first dibs on some of them that's about all I know about it... having been to over 40 Grateful Dead concerts in my life they used to have the where you had to send a money order to San Rafael California and I'll never forget one time at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland I was able to score second row seats it was awesome also and in most of the time I was in the middle of the bowl which it wasn't bad the dead show there are many reasons you go and it's not always for great seats the experience all I can say is you got to go before you understand it

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Brohan

there has to be some pool that these companies pull from. A while ago I was looking for some tickets well after they went on sale (didn't know about the show at first) and I hit a bunch of smaller "reseller" sites. As it turns out, after you put your search criteria in, the results were all pretty much the same on multiple sites. I noticed the same exact seats for sale on different sites. 

What pisses me off are the guys on StubHub posting tickets days before they officially go on sale. This is the BS part of the industry. I wish it would go back to standing on line, at least you had a chance if you wanted to put the work in.