Seems to me that your best option would be to hope that you get in on one of those $11 tickets that the Twins release before OP does and makes you pay $60 for the same thing.

You're providing a service by buying as many $11 tickets as you can to sell to people willing to pay $50-$60? Maybe to the people who are willing to pay $50-$60, but let's not act like you're helping tickets reach "fair market value". You benefit because you stand to make 400% on your original investment, simply because you're willing to sit in front of a computer and buy as many tickets as you can afford, with 12 other people helping you. Of course, the people who could only afford the $11 ticket get screwed, and the people who are willing to pay $50-$60 have to pay more than they would if they got them directly from the source.

So instead of you justifying by saying that those people who buy for $11 are "spending" $50 by not selling their tickets, you're really keeping $11 customers from going to the game and taking advantage of others who may have more means, but probably would have rather spent $11 on the ticket. In other words, everybody loses but you.

So congratulations on figuring out a profitable way to work the system. I do mean that sincerely, because it clearly takes a lot of time and whatnot to do what you do, but let's not act like this is some noble service. You simply use technology to make money by taking advantage of limited supply and potentially high demand.

edge,

he totally provides a service

like you said, it clearly takes a lot of time and whatnot to do what he does, and people are more than willing to pay him for his services

there are thousands of people out there that would (and do) happily pay a broker >>>>>> face to go to a game rather than mark their calender and take a day off work just so they can have the privilege of paying ticketmaster a $20 service charge to buy 'directly' from the team/venue

Do you have any strategies for selling particularly good, expensive seats? I'm a Redskins season ticket holder and I have some of the best seats in the stadium (50 yard line aisle seats in the field level VIP section). I sell at least a few games every year and every other year it seems I'm deployed so I end up selling the entire season. Are there any marketplaces that cater to the "I have too much money and I'm willing to pay any price for the absolute best" crowd? I feel like Craigslist is the exact opposite demographic I'm looking for so I never bother with that. StubHub has been the best to me so far, but their commissions literally make me nauseous. Are there better options?

I did say that I'm aware that people are willing to pay some extra markup to get into a game. However, just the same way he mentioned that those people who would buy a ticket for $11 are "spending" $50 by not selling, you would also have to admit that he's doing a good job screwing those $11 people out of tickets (since all he's doing is beating them to ticketmaster with his team of buyers) and artificially raising prices. You could call it "fair market value", or you could call it price gouging, depending on your particular bent towards his profession.

I hate Ticketmaster as much as the next guy, and there is absolutely no justification on their part for the ridiculous fees they charge, but when my choice is to go through them or to go through this guy for even MORE money, I know which one I'd rather do.

I mean, it's cool to cater to the lazy, stupid, desperate and well-to-do, but to act like it's some noble service is just self-serving.

I remember the day Mark McGwire hit his 500th homerun. August 5, 1999.

I was a 17 year old kid and I went down to the Busch Stadium scalper corner with no tickets.

3 hours later I made 250 dollars and 4 gold chains. Just buying low and selling high. I felt like a champion. I didn't go to the game.

It's only price gouging if he somehow had enough market power to charge a higher price than everybody else. Obviously in this case he doesn't. By the way how is he artificially raising the prices? If he can't sell the tickets at market price then the tickets are worthless! And he's right, he provide a service by taking risks (buying the season ticket package and the tickets in advance) and doing all the hard work for you.
This is a perfect case of supply and demand. For one thing you shouldn't be mad about the people in this market rather you should be mad about the market conditions that allows these things to happen in the first place.

1. if someone was to dedicate themselves to becoming an individual ticket broker online from scratch and work at it how much do you think they would make year 1/year 2/year 3 (taking in to account the industry decline)?

(note: purely hypothetical btw, i have no interest in doing anything like this)

2. you mentioned the high ppc for tix keywords like 'lady gaga tix'. roughly how much do you think it would be worth to be the #1 google result for something like the above key phrase assuming your website was optimised to sell tickets to each upcoming concert?

are there any legal issues with doing the above?

edge,

look up "opportunity cost" if you don't understand what he means by spending $50 by using their $11 ticket.

brokers/scalpers provide a service to the ticket market because there is a price set on the tickets that is below what the market price would be based on supply and demand.

OP,

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.

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? 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.

I understand exactly what it means. I also realize that the marginal utility one gains from going to the game for $11 must outweigh the potential for $50 extra in their pocket by noy going.

I was just trying to point out that while he provides a service for the lazy and well to do, his profession naturally screws over those who cannot afford his price markup. Like I said before, I understand exactly what he does and why it works, I just think justifying it as some noble venture is self-serving. almost like poker pros who claim they provide a service of entertainment by taking weaker players' money. For the sake of this thread, I'll stop my sidetrack, because OP is at least doing a fine job answering questions.

^^^

I'm not going to re-read the whole thread, but pretty sure he never justified it as a noble venture. He said that he provides a service - and he does. You're correct that his service is aimed at the well-to-do, but I don't think it has anything to do with lazy. Just because I don't want to bang away at a computer when tickets go on sale doesn't make me lazy - I've got better things to do. I'm willing to pay more to get a ticket that I either a) wouldn't otherwise get or b) wouldn't know where to go to get it, if people like OP didn't exist.

edge: there's actually a large difference here, and as usual you are completely wrong. people who cannot afford his price markup probably can't afford to sit around all day f5ing ticketmaster, either.

Maybe they wouldn't have to f5 ticketmaster 3 seconds after tickets went on sale if there weren't a million dirtbag "brokers" (lol) looking to nab up dozens of tickets each, creating an immediate, artificial sellout (i.e. tickets have just been sold to another, more expensive seller). Like ACL music festival this year, the 3-day passes sold out in hours even before the ****ing lineup is released (edit: and were on "broker" sites at a substantially marked up price hours later). Ok so then if you actually want to see the lineup before getting a pass (crazy, I know), you have to buy it from a "broker" because the tickets are all sold out...oh, what a super service that has been provided for us all!!

Note: I do understand in the above example that there is a lot wrong with the system besides the "brokers".

And to the people that mention he takes a risk and can lose or that he has money tied up in the tickets that he is losing the opportunity cost of being able to invest/whatever....um so what?? I don't give a **** if he takes all the risk in the world. WTF difference does that make from my end?? I just want the peace of mind of having a ticket at face value (well face value + getting blasted in the ass by ticketmaster/livenation/whatever).

In a previous broker thread, someone linked to an article where they gave an extreme example where that the broker could buy all the tickets in the theater and just sell one ticket to bill gates for a million bucks to maximize profit. Yeah, that's an extreme and unrealistic example, but that idea in general reflects the fact that the brokers' goals aren't necessarily lined up with the fans'/buyers'.

Also note: I don't really ever buy sports tickets so this is all coming from the perspective of wanting to go to a show.

P.S. I do understand basic principles of economics so that side of the argument isn't lost on me.

Definitely don't give up lower level sideline Broncos season tix. You should come pretty close to breaking even from selling all 10 games. Look at it as investing your loses (maybe 10% a year tops?) for a couple years towards having those seats when they are much more valuable. If Tebow ever starts the religious nutjobs in Denver should fill that stadium up