I'm always amazed when I meet someone who doesn't know they can
buy event tickets online. People often don't realize that just
because the box office says a game or show is sold out, doesn't
mean there are no more tickets available anywhere. You don't have
to stand in long lines anymore or camp out overnight. You can now
get tickets to just about anything online these days. And all
you'll need is a credit card and an Internet connection.
Just like the book market and stock trading industry, the
Internet has had a profound affect on the ticket industry as
well. It has leveled the playing field, making it easier than
ever before for anyone to purchase sold out, premium or hard-to-
find event tickets. Since you don't need to physically touch a
ticket before you buy it, purchasing tickets online makes a lot
of sense. The only things that differentiate various online
ticket websites are trustworthiness, selection and price.
What Kinds Of Tickets Can I Buy Online?
You can buy just about any event tickets you can think of on the
Web. You can get NFL season tickets, NBA playoff tickets, or
World Series tickets. You can purchase tickets to the U.S. Open,
Broadway or Las Vegas shows, world concert tours, NASCAR races,
jazz concerts, circus and magic shows, and tickets to a thousand
other events too.
It used to be that you either had to wait in a long line right
before the tickets went on sale, continue calling Ticketmaster or
the box office battling the busy signal until you finally got
through (often right after the tickets were sold out), or
participate in some shady deal outside the venue or stadium with
a scalper, chancing arrest. All of these options were less than
ideal. But now you can go to many competing ticket websites
online and shop till you drop, all in the comfort of home or
office.
The people who benefit the most by this are the consumers. We can
now compare prices in a flash, find great seats that used to be
only for people who knew someone important or who had season
tickets, got a hot tip, or was somehow 'in-the-know'. What else
could we do? There was no other way.
But now it's different. We have plenty of choices. And if you are
willing to pay a price that is above face value, you can buy
tickets to almost anything.
How Do I Buy Tickets Online?
You buy tickets online just like you would buy a book online:
find a website that sells what you want, enter your credit card
and shipping information and you're done. Compared to going down
to the box office weeks before the event and waiting in line when
the tickets first go on sale, buying online is much better.
Actually, online ticket websites have been around for a while.
There is Ticketmaster.com and Tickets.com, which have
relationships with many venues, and are probably the most well
known ticket websites. Ticketmaster.com for example, prides
itself in not charging more than face value.
But since they don't charge more than face value, there are some
drawbacks in using Ticketmaster.com. For instance, they sell out
of their tickets very fast. It's not uncommon for a band's
tickets to go on sale and sell out in mere minutes. And you're
still waiting in line, just virtually. In other words, you are
put into a queue when you log on to their site and find the event
you want, and then you stare at a "processing" page till your
turn comes up. You are then presented with any tickets that are
left. If they've sold out in the meantime, you're out of luck.
Why Is It So Hard To Find Sports And Concert Tickets?
One of the reasons Ticketmaster.com for example sells out so
quickly is because the demand is often much higher than the
supply and Ticketmaster is the top of the food chain, so to
speak. Also, many other people besides consumers buy the tickets
first. Many tickets are grabbed by promoters, tour sponsors,
scalpers, marketers, radio stations, bands, fan clubs and
stadiums, which often give preferential treatment to season-
ticket holders seeking concert seats. Regular fans are frequently
some of the last people to have a chance at that prized ticket.
So, if you don't want to wait in an online queue, or you come up
empty-handed at Ticketmaster.com which happens all too often,
then your next online choice is to go to secondary market ticket
broker websites. Examples of these are tickco.com,
http://www.bestshowticketslasvegas.com, ticketsnow.com or
http://www.clickitticket.com.
How Do You Find These Tickets Websites In The First Place?
Either go to any of the websites mentioned directly above (since
I have used each of them and know they are completely reliable)
or use your favorite search engine and type in a relevant phrase.
But be sure to be as specific as possible. You'll have a much
better chance of finding the tickets you want easily, and most
importantly quickly, by typing in "cheap Boston Red Sox tickets"
or "the musical Wicked in Los Angeles tickets" for example, than
you would "baseball tickets" or "Broadway".
Prices are often higher than face value in the secondary online
ticket market. This is because service fees are added. You are
paying for the convenience and the opportunity to purchase
tickets to games or concerts that have already been sold out. And
it is often much better than Ticketmaster.com since you are not
waiting in a virtual queue and you are much more likely of
actually getting the tickets you want, regardless of the show or
game being sold out.
Another very important reason why these tickets cost more than
face value, sometimes a huge amount more, is because of simple
supply and demand economics. If there is a larger demand than
supply for tickets to the Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, the Red
Sox in the playoffs, or the Super Bowl for instance, then prices
will get higher. In fact, they will get as high as people are
willing to pay.
The Princeton University economist Alan Krueger, who helped coin
the phrase "rockonomics," said "There's a cadre of wealthy fans
pushing up prices of popular acts."
Critics of the secondary ticket market argue that consumers are
made to pay outrageous prices. But these people need to re-learn
fundamental economics. No one is "making" anyone pay higher
prices. On the contrary, by being in such high demand, consumers
are more than willing to pay the high prices. If we start to
attempt to regulate the secondary ticket broker market, then we
may need to review eBay.com and all the things being sold for
what some people consider "high" prices. Let capitalism take care
of prices, not regulations.
There are other benefits from using secondary market ticket
websites. The ticket inventory on these sites is often in real-
time, so you can see the most updated inventory of tickets for
any show or game at any given time. They also frequently offer
seating charts to see where you would be sitting. Just be sure
that they have a secure and encrypted server to purchase your
tickets from. Look for the closed pad lock on the bottom right of
your browser when you are on the page that asks for your credit
card number. As long as it is closed, you are safe to purchase
from that website, since the closed pad lock means 'encrypted'.
Along with speed, easiness and convenience, purchasing tickets
online from a ticket website has another benefit. If you are
traveling to another city and want to catch a show while there,
such as New York City to see a Broadway play, Chicago to see a
White Sox game, or Las Vegas to see a show, you can buy tickets
online to almost all major events and shows going on in the city
you're traveling to. And you can do it in advance in the comfort
of your home.
What Other Online Choices Do I Have For Buying Tickets To Shows
And Games?
Another option for buying tickets online is to go to the
performer's website. Performers or productions will often
purchase blocks of tickets up front to sell to their preferred
fans or website members.
For instance, you can sign up on your favorite rock band's
website, or favorite Broadway production website, and buy special
pre-sales tickets for fans and fan club members. You may need to
register at the website, but it could be worth it to have a place
to buy sold out tickets and get newsletters and information on
your favorite performers. If a concert, show or game is sold out,
check back regularly as promoters, performers and venues often
times release last minute tickets that are close to the event
date.
Also, try searching the Web for pre-sale password codes for
Ticketmaster or band Web sites.
You can check if your credit card company has pre-sales or
preferred tickets put aside for cardholders. American Express has
offered this benefit in the past.
And you can go to eBay.com or Craigslist.com to find tickets for
sale by individuals. Here you need to be very careful however,
since an individual can sell you fake tickets.
If you want the convenience, speed and ease-of-use, or if the
tickets you want are premium or already sold out, then your best
bet is to go to a reputable online ticket website which sells
tickets above face value on the secondary market.
Check to make sure they have a secure checkout (as explained
above), that they have a street address, phone number and privacy
policy listed on their website, all of which show
trustworthiness, and you should be fine. You can also check for
seals such as Square Trade, the Better Business Bureau, or
Thawte. If a site has any of these seals, and the link goes to a
unique page verifying the authenticity, then you should be fine
too.
The ticket websites mentioned in this article are all reputable
websites that you can trust. Also, if the ticket website you are
considering is part of Ticket Network Direct
(TicketTransaction.com), then you can trust them as well.
If you find a website that you like, and have a good experience
with it, then be sure to bookmark the site since you'll probably
want to buy tickets again in the future.
When searching for tickets online, I recommend that you open up a
few browser windows, find the show or game you want to go to on
each ticket website you're considering buying from, check the
seating charts and prices for the day you want, and compare the
websites' prices. Just be sure you are comparing the same exact
days and seating sections across websites.
Gone are the days of camping out in line, out in the cold,
overnight. Now we can all just hop on the Web in only our
underwear, click around a few times and viola, our hard-to-find
tickets are in-hand a few days later!
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