Originally posted by Birdsong:
Fair point Mr Ekin, but there is one problem that does arise out of ebay ticket prices and the like.
I suspect that there are those who purchase a bunch of tickets with the sole intention of making a profit by selling on e-bay when the venue announces that all tickets are sold.
Possibly, but I think these are more likely to be people who act in one way or another as a form of genuine tout - eBay has taken that element off the street in part and moved it into a room with a terminal. To some degree, this is better than having to deal with someone who you're uncomfortable with in person, even if the ends are the same. For these people who sell, they will have some form of contact - whether it is acknowledged or not - with a concert promoter, or a network of contacts who are able to buy up large numbers of tickets to sell on at inflated prices. The reason people like you or I could not do that is twofold; (1) that, generally, we are restricted to the number of tickets we can purchase through official sources and so the chances of mass buying and selling for quick gains are restricted, or (2) as individuals we are uncomfortable with the act of touting wholesale as we know for personal gain as it is morally and in some cases legally wrong. To support the first of these explanations, Seetickets or Ticketmaster will allow a maximum number to be purchased either on a card or at a specific address. Likewise, if you are buying direct from a box office, a buyers address will tell someone if there are excessive numbers of tickets going to one person and they will be made void. It's not perfect, and you
may get a few more than what you'd expect as your normal quota, but overall I would imagine few people make enough money from eBay or similar sites to be able to give up their day job.
eBay does allow people to see what the face price of the tickets were. If people (fans or otherwise) can see that price at the first instance
and are willing to buy at an inflated price, then I think the argument of exploitation falls down a little. Either way, you will make the choice, not the seller; either you'll want to go and are willing to pay more than the face value, or you maintain a stance that buying above this is not for you and you will stay away. As I said, in my experience, genuine fans are more likely to buy early from official sources rather than leave it to the chance of eBay.
EG
