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Have Internet sites such as StubHub and eBay made ticket "scalping" a
more accepted practice?
Dave Larsen | Dayton Daily News |
The increase in competition and available information helps to set
fair market prices, said Gary Adler, general counsel to the National
Association of Ticket Brokers. "The consumer, if they do their
research, can get a good read of the market and get a ticket at the
market value," Adler said.
The Cincinnati Bengals' Web site, for example, sends fans looking for
single-game tickets to StubHub.com.
However, the concert industry still frowns on the resale of tickets.
"I don't think it's accepted at all by us or the promoters, or the
acts themselves," said John Siehl, director of the Ervin J. Nutter
Center.
What is the difference between a ticket broker and a ticket
scalper?
Ticket scalpers sell tickets outside of a venue on the day of an event
for inflated prices. Ticket brokers are registered businesses that
guarantee ticket authenticity and belong to consumer groups such as
the NATB or Better Business Bureau. Scalpers negotiate their prices,
ticket brokers do not.
"There's always going to be the resale of tickets," said the NATB's
Adler. "You're never going to outlaw it, you're never going to
regulate it out of business. What you want to do is have legitimate
business people doing this with consumer- protection measures in the
light of day, rather than having people doing it out of the back
trunks of their cars."
How do ticket brokers get their tickets?
A 1999 New York State Attorney General's report on ticket distribution
practices listed such methods as sending "diggers" to stand in line at
the box office, using high-speed dialing equipment and purchasing
tickets for a legal premium from fans who were able to buy them.
The investigation also uncovered illegal or corrupt methods that
included obtaining seats from promoters, performers, venue
representatives or ticketing agents by paying substantial bribes,
historically known as "ice."
"We've always advocated strict penalties for people who bribe
box-office people or do something that's illegal," said the NATB's
Adler.
Do ticket brokers help fans to get hard-to-find tickets or
better seats?
Fraze Pavilion's Karen Durham said that ticket brokers "have a knack
for being in the first 10 rows."
Fans purchasing tickets after the initial on-sale date may get better
seats from a broker who purchased the tickets immediately, as opposed
to what's left available at Ticketmaster.
"People are able to get a better ticket," said the Nutter Center's
Siehl. "Yeah, that's a problem, because they've taken those out of the
market to the public. And probably the ticket does have an increased
value if the fan is a big enough fan."
Do ticket brokers make it harder for fans to get face-value
tickets?
The Nutter Center's Siehl said that ticket brokers take tickets out of
the market, reducing the supply for legitimate buyers.
However, Ticketmaster and other automated systems make it more
difficult for brokers to procure large numbers of tickets, "unless
they've just got the huge network that can go in and, on multiple
computers, physically buy at the moment of the on-sale," Siehl said.
In contrast, Adler said that brokers make it easier for fans to get
tickets.
"You can get can a ticket to almost any event you want to go to
because of brokers," Adler said. "The problem for people is they have
to pay a higher price, that we're suddenly the reason for that. It's
not. It's the market."
Do ticket brokers take a risk if the ticket supply is greater
than the demand?
A ticket broker with a staff of 10 people buying tickets all at once
to an event with a four-ticket limit can end up with 40 seats.
"If the show's a real hot show and they can double their money on
that, then they probably consider they've done well," Siehl said. "The
dangerous thing from a broker's standpoint is that a show isn't as hot
as they think it's going to be, and then they get stuck with the
tickets, because there's no demand out there."
Are ticket brokers to blame for the rising cost of concert
tickets?
Ticket brokers aren't to blame, the Dayton-area concert venue managers
said. It's the artists and concert promoters.
"I think the artists are demanding more and there are major concert
promoters willing to pay more," Durham said.
Promoters pay performers a "guarantee" for walking through the venue
door, regardless of how many tickets are sold. "As they were competing
and driving the guarantee prices up, somebody's got to pay the bill,"
Siehl said. "And that filtered down into ticket price."
In addition, the concert industry is faced with rising prices for fuel
and labor. That, too, is passed on to consumers.
Do ticket brokers and online auctions serve to move the concert
market further away from average fans?
"It is a hot topic in the industry right now; just exactly what to do
about that and what the direct relationship is between ticket prices
and artist guarantees," Siehl said.
But unlike musical trends, ticket brokers are unlikely to go out of
style.
"I do believe that there are lots of people like me who would rather
pay some money to sit in the great seats than to sit on a lawn way
back," Adler said. "I think it's a great service. And as long as it's
determined by free-market forces, it's a great thing." |
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Source : http://www.daytondailynews.com/life/content/life/daily/070206lifetickets2.html |
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