How has scalping of TFC tickets affected you? Here's a chance to weigh in on proposed legislation:
http://globalnews.ca/news/3277781/on...-scalper-bots/
Your chance to weigh in on anti-scalping legislation
How has scalping of TFC tickets affected you? Here's a chance to weigh in on proposed legislation:
http://globalnews.ca/news/3277781/on...-scalper-bots/
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
They should put something in there about first party carriers like Ticketmaster owning secondary sellers and basically scalping their own tickets. That's the bigger scam than scalper bots.
For TFC and live music it doesn't affect me at all but I feel sorry for people who like mainstream music and want to see big concerts. There's really no hope anymore unless you dump hundreds on tickets.
Direct link to survey:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/consulta...ing-and-resale
Ontario attorney general to consult fans about event ticket selling, buying
Make your voices heard!!!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...ales-1.4002388
Direct link to Survey
Ticket scalping used to be almost a sort of service. When people had to stand in line to buy physical tickets, these guys would then have to stand outside the venue to resell or advertise in print publications.
The internet and software has changed that and given resellers and speculators the ability set up what is essentially a racket. They generate artificially inflated demand by buying up all the tickets and then fill that demand at artificially inflated prices. The ticket issuers like MLSE and companies like TicketMaster wanted a piece of that action because it was legal, so they set up deals like TicketsNow and the SSH exchange.
Allowing individuals to resell their tickets at face value to recover their money seems like a fair practice to me. But that's not what is going on here. Due to the software used by scalpers, they can end up owning huge blocks of tickets to individual events as well as season seats to hot sports teams. The regular fans, who don't always have access to these resources, end up getting screwed by this still-legal racket.
I don't blame MLSE and TicketMaster for wanting their piece of the pie, but this activity should be illegal, as it is certainly wrong to screw people over this way. Of course, if we keep buying tickets and don't speak and/or act against this practice, we can't expect anything to change. Red Patch Boys has long had a policy of face value and we are proud to get people tickets at a reasonable price and also give ticket holders an outlet to sell their unused tickets and recuperate their money without gouging fellow fans. If TFC/MLSE and even Ontario laws were to adopt a face value policy, this issue would finally be put to rest and these parasites would have to find another scam.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
Exactly! It used to be illegal (at least theoretically) to sell above face value. When they dropped that provision the last time the law changed, they added some (pretty weak) legal protections, e.g. around fake tickets, or tickets that are sold multiple times. But it's not enough.Originally Posted by Jack
I don't even think resale has to be exactly face value. After all there are fees and similar things for regular tickets. But there should be some limit: perhaps something like total cost (incl. fees and markups etc.) no more than $20 or %20 above face value, which ever is higher. (Just pulling a number out of a hat there to give an idea.) I do admit there are major benefits to online ticket markets. It used to be much harder to get rid of extra tickets. But there's enough room for ticket holders to be reimbursed, and for the ticket reselling companies to make a bit of money, w/o people getting screwed like they are now.
Sadly I bet any restrictions related to face value are pretty unlikely. One reason: I believe sports teams in particular like high resale values for tickets. It creates more demand for season tickets, if people feel they can make a buck on re-selling their own seats above cost, e.g. if they can't make it to some games.
Just decided to make it 3 outta 3 to start the season. Heading out to BC for the game. Any pregame or post game drink locations? I know it's an early kick off, but ya never know. So pumped for all this.
I've always gone to Doolin's when out there for the pre-game. Southsiders are pretty decent group, never had an issue there, but it might be because i have friends there. You will be chanted/sung at but nothing too bad.
Done. Consider my voice heard
I want to complete this survey one way as a consumer and another way as an industry member so I'm just going to leave it - fuck bots, don't get me wrong (I'd answer that way for both ways of answering).
Last year, Rihanna played a half-empty but sold out show at Wembley. Bots/scalpers scooped the tickets and then people wouldn't pay the prices - that's sad on so many levels.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Sad on many levels, but also necessary if we want to stop this sort of shit. Just don't pay. I refuse to use scalpers of any sort.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
I used to use them waaaaaayyyy back in the day - I would buy a cheap seat to ensure I was in the building and then trade up with scalpers for floors. The last time I used a scalper was for deadmau5 because they still had tickets at the box office so the scalper lost money on it and I saved.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Thank you for this!
I have filled out the survey.
This is one of my greatest peeves with ticket buying in this country.
Too many people are being taken advantage of.
Ditto.
It is our imperative as a group to NEVER USE A SCALPER>
If as a group, we do this, we will starve them out of business.
It is your moral obligation if you feel that scalping is wrong.
Only resell at face value, or go fuck yourself.
Amen.
Couldn't agree more!
End this now!
I ended up getting my hands on 30+ tickets for MLS cup.
Each and every one went to someone at face value. Im glad this government is finally doing something about this. Or at least appears to be.
How did you end up with some many?
Also a flaw in their system. They would have pre sales and they would release tickets periodically in the week leading up. Plus i have many seasons tickets.
They need to tighten up next year.
One of the big issues is the transparency. On Friday, my brother attempted to get tickets to a show via Ticketmaster but it sold out quickly. Online everybody complained about bots scooping the tickets, and yeah, there were tickets on StubHub being sold for six times the face value shortly after. Hours later Rotate This gets their stack of tickets for the show, and I buy a pair no problem (and cheaper because the service charges are considerably lower). The tickets that Rotate This received were never ever in the pool of tickets available from Ticketmaster and bots probably had little to do with it TM selling out. It's the same as the Voyageurs getting the tickets to the supporters' section. If you (royal you) wanted to get tickets in the section the moment the tickets went on-sale it would seem like they had been sold out in seconds and clearly that must have been the work of bots.
I think that's a big part of the proposed legislation - forcing sellers to tell consumers how many tickets they actually have for sale - how many are on hold for artists, agents (i.e. places like Rotate), sponsors, fan clubs, pre-sale and finally the general public.
Sometimes the tickets you see on StubHub were never part of the initial pool.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Definitely a flaw in Ticketmaster's system - if only I knew of different ticketing software that could cap sales based on customer accounts.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Agreed. But as long as were there, I grabbed them before scalpers could.
I filled out the survey that they should cap fees and resale pricing. Then there wouldnt be a need to cap per person tickets.
Good on you - and hopefully you accumulated some credit card points at the same time.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
I rarely have any issues getting concert or sports tickets for most events. With concerts, you have to watch for presales and/or join respective fanclub or newsletter to get advance access code. You can also often find presale codes on Reddit. So far this year, I got great seats for Metallica, Queen, U2, Depeche Mode, Deep Purple and Guns N' Roses through presales.
Last year, went to a bunch of hockey games during World Cup and World Juniors in Toronto after buying ridiculously cheap tickets off Stubhub and Ticketmaster resale, people were practically giving them away for some games.
I do agree that transparency/distribution mechanism could definitely improve. Ticketmaster generally sucks.
So which concert are you taking me to... Metallica or GnR?
Haha... you wish! Though tickets are still available for both Metallica (Toronto) and GN'R (Montreal), they've been releasing them in batches to deal with scalpers.
Ontario to make ticket-buying ‘bots’ illegal, cap markups in scalping crackdown--article in the Globe & Mail.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ticle35460982/
Looks like an improvement...
"Recognizing that rapid ticket-scalping “bot” technology will only get more sophisticated with time, Ontario plans to implement a cap on markups for resold tickets at 50 per cent above their face value to make scalping less lucrative as part of broad legislation to make ticket-buying more fair. While bots will be banned with the forthcoming Ticket Sales Act, to be tabled this fall, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said in an interview that stripping financial incentive from scalping would be a more sustainable long-term plan. “Technology is going to rapidly evolve. We want to make sure we put rules in place that can withstand the changes in technology,” he said.While many jurisdictions around the world have laws flat-out banning ticket resales for more than their original values, Ontario wants to acknowledge that “the Internet is here to stay,” Mr. Naqvi said."
That's huge.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
Won't stop the markup for the guys with 3 inch wads of sesaons standing just outside the Go tunnel.
Perhaps, but it would make their asking price illegal/ticketable. That is the smaller part of the business these days.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
So during the lean years (their were many) I could not give away tickets for free and even had people ask me to pay them to take the tickets, no joke. I was stuck with tickets when I could not attend as the re-sale market did not exist. Now where demand outweighs supply and I can get a good return for my tickets I will be penalized for getting a premium? You can't have it both ways. I have been a season holder from day 1 and have seen it all. Good, bad and very ugly. I pay for my season tickets like everyone else. Many people dropped season tickets after the team was in shambles. I stuck it out. If I can't go and want to sell there is nothing wrong with me getting whatever the free market is willing to pay.
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