ticketbastard busted!!!!!

[walkonby]

i got 'em; red handed style.  i bought a ticket from a ticket broker on ebay (i know, i know) because i really wanted to go to this specific show.  i also had a ticket for the same show purchased through ticketbastard.  i got the ticket in the mail from ticketbastard and from the ticket broker on the same day, and both tickets were identical to the tee.  the ticket broker's tickets came from ticketbastard, and ticketbastard claimed that only two tickets per order (for the actual fans) would be allowed, or the order would be cancelled. period.  that one ticketbroker in question had over 50 tickets for sale for that show that he got directly from ticketbastard.  caught by me redhanded.  and for those who don't know, ticketbastard releases tickets to brokers before they go on sale; those brokers sell the tickets for up 10 times face value and give ticketbastard a kickback on the profit; any tickets not sold by broker is returned to ticketbastard, which they release to general public and re-release to what are called "operatives": those scalping punks who wonder around outside the show, hunting for those with desperation in their eyes.  
 
 oh..., and tickets.com does the same thing, except brokers do not return the tickets back to tickets.com.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Anybody who wanders around a concert with "desperation in their eyes" is probably a lost cause anyway.

[walkonby]

at the sonic youth show, i must of heard "i need a scalper", atleast a dozen times.  they can make victims out of the strongest reserve.

[edbert]

I suspect the broker you dealt with is just a department within TicketBastards... if so you didn't really catch them doing anything other than making an extra buck off you

[Jaguär]

Catching them redhanded doesn't do any of us any good if the judicial system doesn't get involved and my thinking is that will never happen due to all the freebies and 'donations' all of the political whores probably receive via these companies, with Ticketbastards being the biggest briber of them all.

[walkonby]

not to beat the dead horse, but it was really sad when a "high-profile" rock star like e. vedder, who puts out the music the public pays to see, can't even dent that unholy cash cow of a company.  i knew "catching" them red handed wasn't going to matter to crap, but atleast i've confirmed to myself the rumours of broker/ticketbastard tie-ins that i've always heard about.  one group of musicians, widespread panic, seems to get away with selling the majority of the tickets to their shows off their own website, and then the rest goes to ticketbastard.  sometimes, none to less than 100 tickets become available for ticketbastard's dirty, little hands.  i don't know how they pull it off, but it's cool enough that other bands should look into the practice.

[sweetcell]

NPR: Ticketmaster Has Its Own Secret 'Scalping Program,' Canadian Journalists Report

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

This has been a gripe of mine since they added 'the secondary market' to their site

the journalists asserted that resold tickets are "particularly lucrative" for Ticketmaster, because the company reportedly profits from two separate sets of charges collected from the same ticket. "For example," they write, "if Ticketmaster collects $25.75 on a $209.50 ticket on the initial sale, when the owner posts it for resale for $400 on the site, the company stands to collect an additional $76 on the same ticket."

[hutch]

There are only two solutions as Lefsetz said in his column yesterday (and I have said for years)


1. Price tickets at actual value
2. Paperless

[Yada]

There are only two solutions as Lefsetz said in his column yesterday (and I have said for years)


1. Price tickets at actual value
2. Paperless

Or follow the ticket buying process that I've posted on here multiple times over the years.

[gavroche]

There are only two solutions as Lefsetz said in his column yesterday (and I have said for years)


1. Price tickets at actual value
2. Paperless

Or follow the ticket buying process that I've posted on here multiple times over the years.

Last time I had to sell tickets for a live nation show I could only get the tickets via text or at will call.  That meant that the only way I could sell the tickets was through the live nation marketplace (ensuring they got another cut of the fee).  They always find new ways to screw you.