But It Was Always Skewed In Favor Of The Ticket Seller

Business.

How the online event ticket market helps you - it may be the second oldest profession in the world. The resale of live entertainment or sports tickets has been around as long as live shows has existed. I have this vision of guys in tunics standing outside the Coliseum in ancient Rome reselling tickets to that day' s sold out chariot races or lion fights saying things like, "Need a ticket? " or" Got two, front row! " I envision the same scenes playing out near the bull fighting stadiums of ancient Spain, the Shakespearean amphitheatres in old England or the opera houses in France.

But it was always skewed in favor of the ticket seller. - these scalpers would frequently charge an excessive amount, offer little choice in seats and they' d only take cash. In the modern era, it wasn' t so long ago that if you wanted to get tickets to a sold out concert, Broadway musical or game, you either couldn' t go, had to wait forever in lines or on the phone, or you had to go to the venue and try your luck with an unscrupulous scalper in the shadows. What' s worse, you' d even risk buying tickets that were fakes! The tide has turned in favor of the fans. But no more. Today, the ticket buyer is empowered and enjoying the benefits of a new model fueled by the Internet.

There' s a whole new class of online companies that facilitate the buying and reselling of sports, concerts and theater tickets. - just like the processes of buying books and searching for real estate have been dramatically improved by the internet, so has buying tickets to events. They operate in what' s called the secondary ticket market and fans are enjoying the benefits, even if they don' t realize it. Scalping has come a long way indeed. Companies like BestShowTicketsLasVegas and ClickitTicket sell tickets online and over the phoneand offer the consumer large selections, guarantees, choice seating, market - regulated prices( although often at prices higher than the face value) , and accept credit cards and phone calls where there' s no waiting on hold or redialing. The consumer has definitely made out with this new model.

The secondary ticket market has become so popular that even Ticketmaster has gotten into the game with a new service called TicketExchange. - and if the ticket website doesn' t have the seats or prices the consumer is looking for, another website is just a mere click away. And eBay recently purchased StubHub, both legitimizing the fledgling industry even further. Or buyers can buy small blocks of tickets from the concert venue or sports teams, and re - sell them to brokers. It works like this: season ticket holders can sell their unwanted tickets directly to secondary ticket market websites, or to brokers who move their ticket inventory through other event ticket websites. Since there' s such fierce competition among the online ticket websites and the secondary ticket market has blossomed, prices are kept in check, customer service and trust are at a premium and the consumer has a larger overall selection of seats, dates and venues to choose from. In particular, every state in the U.

The secondary ticket market does get its share of criticism. - s. has different regulations on how much re - sold tickets can go for, and there has been some public outcry from the fans in cities who feel that the tickets are being sold to retailers at the expense of fans who' ve put in the time and commitment to make franchises great. Most venues or teams make it a point not to re - sell tickets until after the bloc of stubs that' s allocated to direct sales has sold out. But in response to this criticism, the resale points have developed a number of strategies, and the market forces help keep the playing field fair. Many of them use a Dutch Auction style system where fans or buyers of blocs of seats can name their own price and get the tickets they want at the price they want, if they missed the opening sales of the event they want to attend. Otherwise, fans would have to wait in long lines at the venues, spend an eternity on the phone redialing, or be forced to deal with the oftentimes crooked and often dishonorable scalpers lurking in the shadows outside the venues on the night of the events.

Since there has always been, and always will be event ticket reselling, allowing the secondary ticket market to thrive is definitely the best strategy for consumers. - faced with these dismal choices, a lot of people would just not try. The prices may sometimes be high, but they' re getting to attend sold out events for little effort. The online secondary ticket market makes it easy to buy tickets, and that' s what the consumer is paying for. There' s no waiting in long lines, there' s no trying to find someone with a ticket to sell on the street, and there is no hitting redial thousands of times only to get busy signals. This is another benefit for consumers.

In some cases, these ticket sites cooperate with the professional sports teams and franchises, coordinating their sales with the sales the franchise makes to handle premium seat assignments on a per game basis. - it lets an out - of - town sports or music fan get a premium seat in advance when they' re in on a business trip that they might not have been able to get otherwise. All in all, these sites are empowering consumers The secondary ticket market websites are forced to be trustworthy and price conscious, and need to offer great customer service, ease of use and large selections or are in jeopardy of getting eaten up by the ferocious competition. If a family that plans on visiting New York City wants to attend a sold out Broadway play, they' re now able to buy them online in advance. The fans are the beneficiaries of this. All they have to do now is click the mouse a few times, and wait for the tickets to be mailed to their door.

The fans are paying for the ultimate in convenience as well. - and the fans are finally able to avoid being at the mercy of scalpers. I imagine even the fans of chariot racing or bull fighting of ancient times would have preferred such a great service.