I've been trying this! Not working out so well.

OP: When you say tickets are "re-released" to the general public, is there any set time to check back? Is it like a day or an hour before the event starts or just hit and miss?

I can attest that in London there is a huge market for EPL games. I visited probably a dozen times from 06 to 08 and managed to get Arsenal tickets each time i was in town through craigslist or other typical means.

A couple times i had Emirates season ticket holders sell me a pair through their club memberships and give me their plastic season ticket holder card to scan at the gate which i then gave back when we met at the seats.

I noticed that some of the smaller London teams like West Ham have a ticket selling program for younger fans where the tickets are cheaper and the brokers are totally raping that for a profit. I used those tickets and walked right through the gate cringing thinking they might say something to me and my three guests since we were all around 30 and they said nothing even though the tickets are clearly marked as youth program or whatever.

Tickets for the Washington Wizards-Miami Heat game in Washington in December are $70-$80 a seat for the upper level because it is a "premium game." Seems pretty expensive for face value for some of the worst seats in the house to see the Wiz. If I wait to make sure I can/want to see the game do you think tickets will be at that general price range closer to game time, or do I run the risk of a big mark-up cuz people wanna see the Heat?

I'm going to quote myself on a couple of questions from the 1st page that didn't get answered. This is a great thread OP and hope you can answer my questions...

Hey, I'm sorry I missed your question originally, I had taken some time off from the thread...


Your story on the Vikings / Saints NFC championship game was very interesting to me. I'm a huge Vikings fan, and was one of the people who went on 20 minutes after the matchup was set and bought 2 tickets for the wife and I. I think they were $350 each, nosebleed 50-yard line. We went through StubHub, and I had the tickets in hand two days later.

Interestingly, most of the time this is a noob move. As soon as the teams are announced, 90%-95% of the time, this is the exact moment prices will be at their peak. However, the first ever NFC championship game in New Orleans turned out to be a one-in-a-decade type of event, market-wise, which is something I had ignored. I have been to dozens of super-high profile big playoff games and have never seen such a buzz, and a desperation among fans to get tix to that game. It really blew up in my face. You ended up getting a great deal! I would have offered you $500 each 2 hours before kickoff.

I'm curious about your clients though, as it sounds like you are selling tickets you don't actually have yet, then you buy tickets closer to game time, and leave them at will call. Did you fill all your orders? Do you know of other brokers who didn't fill orders? To be honest, I have never in my life skipped out on an advance (shorted) order. All you need is for one of your customers to have a law degree, and sue you for travel expenses, breach of contract, cost of replacement tix, emotional damages, etc. And when you are selling $400+ tickets odds are you have some lawyers as customers I know that to most people the idea of a ticket scalper selling tickets he doesn't have in the first place sounds like 110% fraud, but in the overwhelming instances, if you are buying from a legit company or someone on ebay with 1000+ feedback, who clearly has delivered Super Bowl tickets, All Star tickets, World Series tix, etc....You are in good hands. I personally didn't get involved with the Alabama-Texas game last year, but I personally know of 3 brokers (and I'm not even that well connected) who EACH made over $20,000 shorting that Rose Bowl because tickets were $100 each in the parking lot, and had been selling 3 weeks earlier for $400-500 each. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that if you short about $10,000 worth of tix in one year for each of the following events IN ORDER: The Rose Bowl, NFC/AFC Champ, Super Bowl, NBA All Star, MLB opening days, Sweet 16/Elite 8, Final Four, NBA and NHL conference finals/Finals, All Star Game, NFL Opening Weekend, N/ALDS, N/ALCS, WS, and weaker bowls...if you are well capitalized to absorb a few loses, you will come out ahead overall BIG TIME. Not that I'd do a damn thing about it - but holy $hit would I be pissed if I had invested the $$$ for airfare and hotel (and not to mention, the emotional investment of getting so amped to go to that game), only to have a ticket broker shoot me an email saying "Here's a refund bro, sorry I couldn't get you any tickets".

Also - maybe you can't answer this one, but I'm going to Chicago in November and thought it would be fun to catch the Bulls (I called Kyle Korver's games on the radio in high school - sick brag, ldo). Anyway, I was looking on stub hub for tickets, and clicked on a center court section in the nosebleeds. Most tickets are 70 or 80 a pop - but this one dude has a bunch of tix listed there for $1,028. WTF?!?!? Is that just simply a case of "might as well put them out there, and if some moran pays it, great - if not, I'll lower the price later"? Just seemed really random but didn't know if that was a strategy that pays off. This guy is probably a broker who got a call from a client asking about those seats...broker quotes a price and the customer says, let me think about it I'll get back to you...so broker sets price at $2,000 each so no one else buys them in the meantime...I do this all the time....Either that or the guy is insane (knowing most ticket brokers that's about a 50/50 chance)

Cool Thread. Has an occasion ever occurred where you would bet on a game for hedging purposes?

Yes,
As I told earlier in the thread, in the 2006 NLCS, I decided to place a large hedge on the Cardinals making the WS (I had a ton of Cards tix), so I bet big on the Mets in game 7...Turns out in my excitement I bet on the wrong team and ended up ahead on both ends!

I am actually currently looking to hedge against the Twins losing in the ALDS. I actually posted in the Twins thread in the sports forum, but I might as well post this here too...I am looking to bet about 1,000-1,500 on TAM/NYY over the Twins in each of the ALDS games, and possibly another $3-4k on the series as a whole. Would be willing to escrow with a reputable poster, if someone is interested, PM me.

Great thread, thanks!

Is there an online community or forum of some kind for ticket brokers? Where you guys discuss which events will be hot and which will not etc?

I'm curious about the reissue/rerelease thing too. Is there a way to find out when this is gonna happen?

.

Excellent thread.

I live in Baltimore city not far from Camden Yards. We were drinking at an outdoor table at a bar across the street from the stadium. An unkempt dirty man walks up and has four really good lower level e-tickets he's trying to sell for this Yankees/Os game. He starts at 20 a piece. I politely decline. After another couple declines he's down to 5 a ticket and claims he works at a hotel and got them for free. Some people must really be foolish if he finds it worth his time to try that hustle.

Anyway one question, do you think buying options on tickets will ever become big? I saw a link for it on the Ravens website and checked it out. I don't ever see it doing much volume. I assume it's another TicketMaster brainchild

Really great thread here, loved reading through it.

A fairly specific question for you:
In addition to getting myself 4 tickets for Home Game 2 of the Twins ALDS, I lucked out and also managed to grab 4 standing room only tickets for list + fees, etc, which comes out to about 48/ticket. When do you think the best time to sell these is, and what kind of return can I expect? Standing room would lead me to think small, but it's the first playoff series at Target Field ever, so... I have no clue where to price them.

People on craigslist are trying to sell them for $150/each, do you think anyone will actually pay that?

For Game 2, SRO on Stubhub is at 80/ea. After fees that's 68 each. I would pay 70 each if you are interested in selling now, pm me.

OP was awesome helping me find tickets for an event I'm going to this coming weekend. Even took some of his personal time to scan ebay auctions for me. Thanks!

Lady Gaga has a new tour which has a show here in SD in late March which I heard about today. Tickets go on sale Fri. It's in a large arena as many of her new shows seem to be. At first I thought I may try to buy a bunch assuming they would sell-out and be above face come March. Then I looked at some other stops on her tour in large facilities that have been on sale for a little while, and tickets are still available for those shows.

Does the mass capacity of these venues make it not a good idea to buy a bunch? Should I only go for floor seats or something?

I read your post early in the thread about you making a ton of Gaga but that was in a smaller facility. Still I figured they would sell out and I could turn a profit, but the availability of tickets still in similar venues is giving me doubts.

Additionally, if I should go ahead and try to sell them, what is the best transaction method. I am local so I could deliver them in hand, but what would you recommend?

Thanks for taking the time to answer so many questions. I don't attend too many ticketed events and usually plan ahead, so you and your colleagues don't provide much of a service to a person like me aside from occasionally getting between me and the front door. But I certainly understand that you've got to make a living, too, and that's not really an interesting conversation anyhow....

Some specific questions about a specific set of events. There's been lots of discussion about the secondary market in the Phish community. Since the band started performing again in March 2009, fans who wanted to get in were pushed into creating a secondary resale market of their own, even when they weren't looking to turn a profit. In order to get the tickets you needed, you had to place huge fan club orders and line up friends and family, do the TM thing, do the re-release thing, and then acquire/move the rest through trades and sales. It's a bit of a hassle for someone who's not necessarily looking to get into your line of work. Things have cooled off considerably as the thrill has worn off, and so I wanted to ask you two specific questions:

1. What do brokers think about the Phish market going forward? It looks like a lot of resellers are taking baths in increasing number of cities with this band. Is this perception accurate? Are brokers only really paying attention to "big" shows in strong cities with this band at this point, contributing to a string of very soft sell-outs and non-sell-outs?

2. Very specifically, where would you expect Halloween prices to end up? When do you think the secondary market will hit bottom? And (this came up earlier in a different way), day of show, if you wait out a reseller, maybe even till after the show starts, and then try to get him to choose between selling at the buyer's price and eating the ticket, why would he walk away?

Finally, a non-Phish specific question: what's the relationship between resellers and promoters? It would seem to me that a promoter would love resellers, since they help ensure that the primary onsale goes well. Even though there's been a recent trend of promoters, venues, bands, and ticketing companies looking to raise the base price and pocket more of the cash, it seems that a promoter can't count on every show selling like Gaga and that the secondary market is very important to them in terms of absorbing risk. Does this lead to tacit or explicit agreements (buy this many tickets to Styx and we'll make sure you get Gaga)?

Thanks!

I think Gaga's never ending tour has been "right sized". Viajas arena has 12,845 seats for concerts, which is smaller than many of her shows, but I would expect the real value to be in venues under 6k people (which she isn't playing any more). I'm kinda talking out of my butt here, but the main point is that while there may be some value, it's probably small.

Also, Gaga claims to have finished her 3rd album, but no one has any idea of release date. If it comes out before March 31, 2011, the ticket will be a better value. Otherwise she may be touring on 1.5 year old material.


This is where Gaga played yesterday (Oak Room, NYC). Those tickets probably would have went for quite a bit . (And she rocked the hair dress.)

I didn't do this, but I should have. SRO on StubHub for this game are down to $50 right now... which is literally below cost for anyone without special broker fee reductions. Holding out for a price spike after tomorrow's game so I can still make a little profit, but still, ugh.

please dont talk about the phone method

so this is specific and almost PM'd it but figured it had general knowledge value as well.

raiders@niners in a week and a half...i'm trying to figure out if i should just be waiting til the week before the game to pick up whats left (at a fraction of the cost)...thoughts? obviously that game will be well attended for obvious geographical reasons but i noticed a huge drop in prices for the eagles game from a few weeks ago to today and i'm not sure if it is the standard time is running out so slash prices approach or if the vick/mccoy injuries and the niners being 0-4 might have played a role.

basically, i'm gonna buy tickets for the raider game eventually i just feel like i can find a better deal in a week but don't wanna get screwed either.

OP, if you are still reading, have two tickets in Section VR 314 to Giants-Braves Game 2 NLDS. Problem is I purchased them through MLB's Postseason Reservation System and apparently I HAVE to pick them up at will call on the day of the game, which I cannot do. Seems like this MLB Postseason Reservation System is outside the normal ticket.com system the Giants use so no way to talk to customer service to work it out. Is there anyway to work around this? Tickets are $120+ a piece on Stubhub so its pretty freaking frustrating to see them go to complete waste. Would be willing to pay up to 50% commission just to get some value of of them if you can work some magic in this situation.

1. can you ever go wrong w/ buying post season tickets @ face value? should i be getting in on the lottery for every MLB/NBA/NFL team i can?

2. what would you rank as the best valued teams for season tickets (you point out how many teams are an awful value, and the twins paid off for you this year).

3. do new stadiums always create an opportunity? or have there been teams w/ brand new stadiums you have avoided for w/e reason.

4. do you feel you can broker any team w/ your skill in spotting high and low ticket prices? or do you focus on specific teams that you know well.

5. if i am buying a $20 ticket on the day of an ordinary weekday baseball game (sf giants), would i find better value on stubhub? or from a scalper in the second inning?

6. this might be one of my favorite ask me threads. really cool info. i def hope the big sites don't eat you brokers up.

FYI to others, total noob advice. Texas Rangers ALCS tickets are still available. If they don't make the ALCS obv you get your money back minus some small fees (but the convenience charge, which is the big one, is refunded). If they end up playing the Twins they are going to be weekday games so reselling may be a little dicey, but I imagine you will still get back most, if not all, of your cost. However, if they end up playing the Yankees they are going to be Fri night/Sat. games, and combined with the higher interest in the Yankees and it being the ALCS, imagine this would create a pretty significant premium over face value. Since the Yankees took game 1 against the Twins on the road, they are now like -400 to win the series, so this seems like a fantastic "bet." You are essentially betting on the Yankees/Twins series at fantastic odds, but if the Rangers lose you have no action. Combined with the Rangers winning game 1 and thus reducing the chance you are tying up your money for nothing, looks like a great time to go ahead and buy as many tickets as you can get your hands on. Game 2, which would be on a Saturday, seems like a particular no-brainer to me.

Hopefully i can get some tix for Phish in AC over Halloween