Concert & sports ticket brokers Q?

[short]

Could someone fill me in on how ticket brokers work. I have looked a few ticket broker sites and they seem to have better seats when ticketmaster is sold out. Sometimes the price of the tickets is substantially higher but not always. Sometimes the price is only slightly higher and the seat much better.

Do people rush in or have priority to get the best seats? What happens to the tickets if they do not sell them. Are these places reliable place to buy tickets?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

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[Dave M]

Many concert artists have fan clubs with a nominal $15-$30 membership fee and offer members first chance at buying concert tickets - before the public sale starts. I usually join the clubs for those artists I want to see. Paying the membership fee is much less expensive than paying the ticket mark-up through a broker and the seats are always great.

Some clubs have a nominal waiting period of a few weeks after joining before becoming eligible to buy preferred-seat tickets. That prevents people from joining after ticket sales have been announced and immediately buying tickets.

Using this method I have had tickets front-row center (or within the next several rows) in recent years for Elton John, Rod Stewart (three times), Sarah McLachlan (twice), Mannheim Steamroller, Santana, Celine Dion, Michael Crawford, etc.

 

[bogey21]

Another source of tickets is Ebay. Sometimes you will pay over face, sometimes less than face. For major sporting events in particular there is much activity.

GEORGE

 

[JanT]

Also, there are season ticket holders for all venues. Many of them have prime seats and they will turn them over to a broker to sell for them (at higher prices, of course). And always the artist holds back the first several rows for family, friends, VIPs, etc. Sometimes those will be released towards the performance date to whatever national seller they use (Ticketmaster), etc.

That said, I have to confess that we have several ticket brokers we use. We have two on the East coast and two on the West Coast. And we have found the broker with the best prices is Ticketsnow.com. We only use a broker for big name concerts that we REALLY want to see (mostly Jimmy Buffett who sells out his venues in 10 minutes flat and is almost impossible to get prime seats to otherwise). I know alot of people are opposed to using a broker and in reality I hate doing it but I want what I want, so I go to who has it. I would gladly pay premium price for tickets directly to the performer if I could get the kind of seats I wanted.

We have never experienced any problem with any of our brokers. They are all reputable, although their "service charges" are outrageous.

 

[short]

Tickets to Wicked at the Pantages.

I purchased tickets to Wicked at the Pantages on Sunday 6/8 for the perfomance tonight 6/10. Purchased on Ticketmaster. I could not find any discounts so paid the usual rate plus their handleing fee but got Orch Center row G.

Craigslist has lots of people selling tickets but many look like ticket brokers or people selling the same or similiar group of tickets. One ad had the same tickets seats offered as came up for me on ticketmaster.(Not the ones I eventually bought).

Are their groups of people who buy good tickets early and then try to sell them at a profit and would this group of people be dropping them back into ticketmaster after they fail to sell them on their own or through a broker at a higher price? If so how is this group of Entrepenours doing as gas prices and credit woes eat into peoples disposable income? Who takes the hit if these tickets do not sell.

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[Sandy VDH]

Have you looked at www.stubhub.com?