Real-life MMD: Should I sell gig tickets for a profit?

Metarie

StirlingDave wrote: »

If you are strongly disagree with touting why would you consider selling for profit and making the problem worst? Touting is a problem, in my opinion, as it means tickets are artificially made expensive and prohibit people from going whilst ensuring the performers still get their cash up front.

I read this as being more of a 'how can I rationalise selling tickets for profits without being the same as a tout' type question. You can't. You're either happy to sell tickets for almost double their value, or you're not.

Very much this. Do what you like with the tickets but don't pretend you're better than a tout (if you sell them for profit) just because you didn't buy them with the express intention of selling them on.

Scorer15

I have a similar issue! I was going to go and see the Rolling Stones on July 13th in Hyde Park but now a friend of mine wants to go to a festival for his 30th birthday meaning in order to be able to afford to go I need to sell the Rolling Stones tickets. If anyone would like to make an offer while I am here feel free haha.

Thegirl

I got tickets for the Stones and someone asked me why I didn't buy four so I would have two and two to sell. Honestly, it never occured to me. It's what is wrong with gigs these days/that's why there are never any tickets *shakes her fist whilst shouting youth of today* etc.

In this situation I would offer them to a friend for face value. If not, well then you are limited. You want to recoup your money. So I would list them covering all of your costs, including selling costs (the muppets who were listing them for buy it now costs that were less than the whole thing was going to cost them).
If you want you can do a buy it now so you make no profit, or just make that your starting price. If you sell them cheaply, chances are they'll be back online for an inflated price anyway. The chances of you finding a genuine fan buying them at cost on Ebay is slim, unfortunately.

milvusvestal

If other people are fool enough to pay silly money for one night's entertainment, then take them for what they are and sell the tickets to the highest bidder.

Just because you bought them in good faith doesn't mean that you shouldn't profit by selling them on at a price that's more than you paid yourself.

crank_girl

Aah, great album. Takes me back.

Was it Ghandi or Dalai Lama that said "be the change you want to see in the world". A rather simple proposition but one that many cannot uphold when the situation involves small coloured folding pieces of paper. The world is going to the dogs because people cannot stick to even the most basic of moral codes, justifying their behaviour with the fact that everyone else seems to be doing it. Tax dodges, benefit fraud, touting, etcetera etcetera.

I can remember going into hmv and buying glastonbury tickets over the counter. No queues. No fuss. No ridiculous registration efforts nor calamitous see ticket experiences. The last year it was like this was in 2000 when the same amount of people jumped the fence as bought tickets - when it was only a measly £98. Once the superfence was up the touts moved in and so did all the anti-tout measures that no doubt pushed ticket prices up for everyone.

We humans don't half seem to spoil things for ourselves. Yet I'm sure that each fence jumper and each tout probably didn't see much wrong with what they did. They bore no individual responsibility for the collective consequences of what they did.

If you turned this dilemma on it's head and made it so you really really wanted tickets, would you make use of somewhere like scarlet mist for face value tickets or pay over the odds for them on ebay?

pjsmiffy

try to buy the tickets again. I bet ticket master's sister site that deals with reselling (legal touting) tickets will charge you an arm and a leg.

That should dispel most morals in that field.

Now try and find a friend or true fan (try a forum on a fan site) to sell the tickets to. I would suggest face value plus fees and your costs (be generous to your self).
Failing that sell to a tout and try to maximize you money.

Figgerty

No, it is not ok to sell them on at a profit, that if you truly do not believe in touting. Try and sell them, at face value, to one of your friends or friends of friends who have not been as lucky as you in getting tickets for Glastonbury.

If you sell for the kind of prices people are willing to pay to attend a Rolling Stones concert then you also will be a tout, principles or not.

BobbinAlong

Whatever price you sell at (and I'd e-bay them) remember to add on the correct complete cost of postage with proof of delivery and insurance that covers their full value.

andyplymouth

I had some tickets to a Little Britain Live event in my home town that turned out to clash with my partner's university interview in London. There was no way we could do both; initially I just wasn't going to go but saw the event had sold out and it seemed a shame to deny someone the opportunity of going so popped them onto eBay for 1p with no reserve. A couple of hours before the auction ended they'd almost reached their asking price but there was a last minute bidding war and they went for over double the face value. I was chuffed, needless to say.

Provided you are not breaking the terms and conditions of the ticket I don't see an issue with selling them on, if you're concerned about the morals of accepting more than face value you could specify a fixed price of the face value of the ticket and/or donate the profit/tickets to charity.

mazdabongo

We had some Kasabian tickets to a one off gig that we couldn't make so instead of flogging them on for profit, we went on their fan website, looked on the forum and found a genuine fan who couldnt make it. Someone that had got loads of posts by their name and were posting in a thread about all of the fans that didn't get a ticket. A few Pm's later and this lass had a pair of tickets. Maybe if you are that worried about touts you could sell them on to some genuine fan in a similar way.