Scalping concert tickets: ethical or not? (1 Viewer)

[Dumsum]

Generally, I disapprove of scalping, especially when I've missed out on tickets and the only way to get them are on ebay for inflated prices. However, the recent media chaos surrounding the Rage Against the Machine scalpers, and after today no doubt the BDO scalpers*, has set me thinking. Is it actually wrong?

I thought of share prices. Is scalping a few tickets really all that different from buying shares at a low price, then reselling them later at a higher price? If the market is willing to pay 500% of the face value of a ticket, why should it be wrong to sell it to them at that very price? Keep in mind that without scalpers these shows would still sell out rather quickly.

I'm sure someone will shoot this analogy down but I just thought I'd get the ball rolling.

Discuss further. Keep it civilised plz.

*I'm making this a new thread as it is a general topic, and discussion shouldn't be limited to RATM or the BDO.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I'd say it's wrong. When a huge fan misses out because scalpers buy large amounts of tickets, just because they're willing to pay lots of money for a ticket on ebay, doesn't mean they should have to.

 

[LaurenceBM]

I don't think the whole "share price" thing works - buying shares is a way to make money, buying tickets is a way to have a good time. For what its worth, I think all scalpers should probably die.

 

[pete_mate]

there are many forms of scalping.

if i buy 2 tickets and i decide i dont want to go and sell it for a profit on ebay, its quite differant from companies that:

Set up rows of computers with dedicated hardware and software that connects to the site reads the automated code and buys tickets automatically, allowing someone to get thousands.

Not only this, but these companies buy so many that they don't care if they sell all of them, because if there is decreased supply, price goes up so they make more money on the ones they do sell.

Now that, is very bad.

If it were like waiting in a queue then it would be differant. Scalpers would wait in line, buy 6 tickets and if you didn't want to wait you'd pay them, if you wanted to you could compete equally. However, on the internet this is not the case.

 

[7th Sign]

depends to what extent,

a lot of scalpers actually have ties with event organizers and can buy tickets direct off them in large numbers, they dont mess around with buying them online like most people usually do.


usually people are not quick enough to get the tickets so they they get angry and have all this anti scalping thing.

People have offered to sell me large amounts of tickets in the past ie: park life at the start of this year I was offered 50 tickets at $70 each, so for like 3.5k I could have sold each ticket for $240 and then made $170 profit per ticket (would have used for sale forum and myspace to off load most ot a extent to cut fees then eBay to offload the rest, that's like 8.5k CLEAR profit of only 50 tickets and you wonder why scalpers do it?


Personally I don't buy tickets because its a risky thing and their are much more ethical ways of making money out their.

 

[7th Sign]

there are many forms of scalping.

if i buy 2 tickets and i decide i dont want to go and sell it for a profit on ebay, its quite differant from companies that:

"companies"

you think companies scalp tickets lmao...

its usually just a kid or a older kid trying to make a quick hustle of a few tickets.

 

[P_Dilemma]

Ask an economist and they'd say yes it's quite alright.

What's happening is the original sellers are selling tickets below market price. The market is in disequilibrium. Scalpers can bring the market back to equilibrium, where supply and demand intersect.

One solution would obviously be for the original sellers to raise prices. But either way, is there a difference where the your extra money goes to? a big corporation or a scalper? you're poorer either way.

-P_D

 

[7th Sign]

No one has ever offered you anything you fucking loser.

blow ass, my mate works for fuzzy ent he sold 900 tickets, its quite obvious where my source lies.

I know a lot of event organizers, furthermore do I need to prove any thing to you? the short answer is NO, so shut the fuck up.

thanks for wasting your time replying to this.

 

[Legham]

Scalpings fine by me. I'd do it if i had the money. In fact one of my best mates did it real recently!

 

[sXcGuRl69aU]

No one has ever offered you anything you fucking loser.

 

[katietheskatie]

Personally I don't buy tickets because its a risky thing and their are much more ethical ways of making money out their.

not only are you a fucking deadset moron, you have no idea about the english language. go team 7th sign.

i think scalping is an asshole thing to do. i know for the most part it's not illegal, and it's a supply and demand thing if people are willing to buy at inflated prices - but preying on people and buying tickets that should be purchased by genuine concert goers, only to sell them on ebay ten minutes later for triple the original price - it's pretty unethical to me.

 

[katietheskatie]

hahahaha matt

 

[ogmzergrush]

Usually, at least to the best of my knowledge, when you buy shares you don't enter into an agreement not to resell them for profit. That's probably the main thing I can think of which makes the analogy at the start of the thread problematic. Of course, the fact that you're breaking an agreement that you enter doesn't make what you're doing strictly unethical, market forces blah blah blah.

Being clever enough to realise that when a big event is on, some people are going to be willing to pay many times more than the face value of the ticket, shouldn't really be a license to inflate prices on as many tickets as you can, as much as you can. All it means is that you're a leeching fuck who turns buying tickets to events like that into a circus, all for the sake of making some extra money off someone (or something) else's popularity. Coat-tail riding parasitic fucks, some of the most overt cretins around.

And yeah, I know, they're not the only people who know how supply and demand works, it's cool, I don't like a lot of the others either.

 

[bazookajoe]

Totally against it

 

[bazookajoe]

If the initial face value was set via bidding before sale with a certain full number of tickets, you would actually get a bidded price close to the original anyway.

Even merely suggesting this is incredibly stupid

 

[neafoo]

i feel its rather much like 'exploitation'
so i dont like it, but hey, shit happens.

 

[katietheskatie]

alan shut the fuck up

 

[mr_brightside]

1. It is a shit thing to do; Denying people their right to see live acts at a reasonable price set by the organiser of the event.
Some jerkoff with no respect and love for any of the music shouldn't be able to take this away from people.
What's worse is the fact they then go on to sell the tickets for their own personal gain.

2. Economists are shit boring people who don't give a fuck about music.
Don't preach your suppy and demand market bullshit ITT.

3. I implore you all to hit up eBay and abuse these people. Make fake bids, send them annoying messages, create fake listings, do what you can!
I've been trawling eBay and shot down this fag;

Hi, I'll give you 180 bucks for one ticket. $50 more than they are worth. That's fair isn't it?

how generous

damn right I'm generous!
...so you obviously forgot you had to go to your cousin's girlfriends friends party when you bought the BDO tickets. Pity you can't go!
You're so awesome putting the tickets on eBay for people that didn't get them!

Is someone a bit sore they didn't get up early in the morning to buy them?.
pity, they were available to buy off the big day website.

Oh no. I got my tickets. you're just taking tickets from people who would really want to go, and that irks me.

Have a nice evening faggot.

No, I am taking tickets from people who want to go but cannot be bothered to get up in the morning, and reselling them to those people who want to go for a surcharge. Have a nice day, and please research the nature of consumer law

Oh you're so thoughtful you fucking cunt!
Consumer law? what are you a lawyer? You're the one that's voiding the tickets in breaching it's Terms and Conditions.

Didn't get a reply from then. I figure I pwned him.

GO FORTH BOS AND ANNOY YE SCALPERS!

 

[sXcGuRl69aU]

dan i want to make sweet sweet love to you

 

[mr_brightside]

Let's do it in the back of my car in between hunting and slitting the throats of dirty scalpers.