The truth behind tickets on TicketExchange

[Teodora]

The Wall Street Journal wrote a story about how things work with TicketExchange, and the fact the artists and promoters are actually keeping tickets back from the normal Tickemaster sale, and put them up on TicketEchange with much higher prices. I suggest your read the story before you comment, it's very interesting.

Mind you, all artists do it, I don't wanna hear anything bad about Celine, ok? I just thought it was an interesting thing to read and Wall Street Journal is quality journalism, that's all. Click for the Story.

[Edwin]

Ticketmaster says TicketExchange shouldn't be considered scalping. It says the site's "goal is to give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the best tickets

Then they shouldn't keep any tickets from the fans during any of the pre-sales at the very least! Most passionate fans already can take part of pre-sales, but yet can still not get the BEST tickets because they are being withheld I really hate buying and selling through TicketExchange. They charge the seller a fee for selling the tickets PLUS they charge the buyer a fee for them Talk about profiteering.

[Jacqui]

Well...it's probably not the most ethical thing to do, but that's business, I guess...

[KimboCosmo]

Well, I bought my front row seat for Omaha from TicketExchange...for A VERY GREAT PRICE. I was really amazed and shocked at the price...that's why I couldn't pass it up! They aren't always a ripoff....however my Atlanta tickets, I paid $1,200 for. Just depends on how much you are willing to spend and how BAD you want them.

[Davey84]

Just depends on how much you are willing to spend and how BAD you want them.

 

 

yeah that's totally true! I thought Paris was a total rip off with 210 euros! and then I got 2 tickets for different nights for about 75 euros on Ebay! now thát was a great price!!

 

I think it's a 'smart' way of the management and artist to make more money like this, especially when you see how much (sometimes) is paid for tickets on the black market, but what is sad is that when real fans can't get tickets and can't afford the 'black market' price and in the end the tickets aren't sold at all, and no body goes to the concert in those seats!

 

also I thought it was very strange that a lot of 'first row seats' were on sale on the day of the concert! must be from the packages that weren't sold or something like that

[Bralo20]

Fortunately it's prohibited in Belgium... Tickets that are sold at to high prices are even blocked when the government and the original ticketseller (mostly Teleticketservice or Sherpa in Belgium) do get the name or the ticketnummer...

 

And actually I agree with this... Everyone can buy tickets at face value, no ticket sales other the official are allowed and no auction also (unless for good cauces or so)...

 

The agreement between the government, concert organisors & promotors and the ticketsales companies was renewed this year for several years so we can be sure that during the next couple of years no external sales or auctions are allowed.

[CellyDee87]

Quite frankly I wish we had something like TicketExchange here in Australia I don’t understand what the big deal is like Jacqui said after it’s just business, and it’s not as corrupt as ebay or anything I don’t really care who the ticket came from so long as I get it. As for pricing it depends on how much you really want it. When I decided to go to the Los Angeles show, the TeamCeline tickets were already sold out, the only option was 1 seat in a bad location. There were several on TicketExchange for prices in the vicinity of the $300-$400 mark and I was prepared to pay it at that stage given the exchange rate was still good, my only problem was that they didn’t sell internationally so I had my travel agent’s colleague in the US buy them for me and I got sent the tickets as a PDF. I was really happy with the overall result I got front row tickets to CELINE and I don’t care who put them on there. Funnily enough I got better seats for the US shows due to TicketExchange than what I did in my own country in my home town, so I’m ALL for it!!!

[Salla]

http://www.canada.com/Stefani+stiffs+Ticke...9638/story.html Maybe everyone should do it like No Doubt... Also, look at the last paragraph.

[Costa Santos]

... Too bad, but, as someone said... B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S.

[autumnskies00]

Ticketmaster has actually beem blamed for it. Not the artists themselves. I read somewhere that ticketmaster is getting sued for buying out a lot of the tickets and doubling the prices on ticketexchange and then when the show gets closer they release them. Finally learned this at the last Montreal show too late...

[Claudette]

Can I just say that most of the time the artists don't even know how much the tickets to their shows costs. During one interview with Celine here in SA, I got the impression that she doesn't know what the tickets costs. I don't know if it was just because of the different currency or what... But personally I think that the promotors are the ones that pocket the most during such a tour...

[kerche]

I dealt with Ticket Exchange to buy a pair of front row & center tickets for one of the Montreal shows in February, and although it was costly... I was already prepared to pay an arm & leg for it There were 4 seats beside my seats that were also being sold on Ticket Exchange, and only 2 ended up being sold... and the 2 immediate seats beside me were EMPTY!!!

 

I'm sure some really passionate Celine fans would have wanted those great front row seats, BUT it was originally being sold as 4 seats all at once. Stupid!!

 

With this situation, I'm not sure if a seller was selling their tickets.... or if Ticketmaster purposely "bought up" those tickets to "resell" on Ticket Exchange. It was rather odd that 2 ladies managed to buy 2 of the 4 tickets..... UNLESS they were the resellers themselves & couldn't find anyone else to purchase the remaining 2 tickets (which I'm sure someone would've bought no matter what!)

 

Either way - I'll be purchasing concert tickets for Coldplay & U2 soon..... and I hope it won't be such a pain in the rear and that I can manage to get tickets!!!!! or not have to pay an outrageous amount to attend......

Edited March 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM by kerche

[Davey84]

Can I just say that most of the time the artists don't even know how much the tickets to their shows costs. During one interview with Celine here in SA, I got the impression that she doesn't know what the tickets costs. I don't know if it was just because of the different currency or what... But personally I think that the promotors are the ones that pocket the most during such a tour...

 

yeah that's what I think too!! oke some venues are bigger then others, but the prices were soooo different!! I paid:

 

Antwerp 160 euro and 130

Paris around 75 x times, for a 210 euro ticket

Amsterdam 80 euros (first row!)

Arras 50 euros for a 66 euro ticket! (seating places, that sucked btw) were above 125 euros if I remember it well)

 

 

 

I paid around 55 euros for my ticket in amsterdam in 1999... and I saw a pamflet announcing tour dates in the UK in 94/95 and tickets were 20 - 30 pounds!!! where are the days...

Edited March 12, 2009 at 12:13 PM by Davey84

[maceta_biloxi]

What is the moral of the story!?

1. Buy tickets when they go out on sale and don't wait until the last moment.

2. Join Team Celine in order to find great seats at better prices.

[Davey84]

What is the moral of the story!?

1. Buy tickets when they go out on sale and don't wait until the last moment.

2. Join Team Celine in order to find great seats at better prices.

 

1 true

2 true, BUT the 'fares' make the tickets about the same price as normal sales, PLUS you have to pay 40 dollars a year AND you can only buy '2 tickets per tour'

[Bellamy]

What is the moral of the story!?

1. Buy tickets when they go out on sale and don't wait until the last moment.

2. Join Team Celine in order to find great seats at better prices.

 

1 true

2 true, BUT the 'fares' make the tickets about the same price as normal sales, PLUS you have to pay 40 dollars a year AND you can only buy '2 tickets per tour'

Not to mention Team Celine doesn't offer the best tickets. It's easy to get better ticket from other places. I will remember my "front" row Team Celine ticket in Shanghai forever.

[autumnskies00]

I never got front row with TC, even waiting at the computer for the tickets to go on sale. I got front row once and second row plenty of times through here, and through waiting for tickets to be released closer to the show on ticketmaster. Not all the sales on Ticketexchange are scams. I've posted one of my tickets on there once for a normal price, before I realized I could sell on here.

[j411celine]

I got 3rd row Tc tickets on TicketExchange because I had a change of plans so I got a so so of a deal I thought.

[Davey84]

I got front row with TC a few days after the sale was already on. I never thought they'd still be there, so i was pleasantly surprised when I saw I could get front row!

[mirage]

I got front row with TC a few days after the sale was already on. I never thought they'd still be there, so i was pleasantly surprised when I saw I could get front row!

 

and the first show we had in Antwerp we had good seats to. not front row but good ;-)

better then the other days in Het Sportpaleis, those seats on the side were BAD!! if u were lucky you could see a tiny bit of the screens because the ceiling was to low haha...

 

for Paris i bought tickets well maybe a week in advance, and I got seats in front of the catwalk first row... and those are good seats too haha

but the difference in pricing...

[Salla]

What is the moral of the story!?

1. Buy tickets when they go out on sale and don't wait until the last moment.

2. Join Team Celine in order to find great seats at better prices.

 

1 true

2 true, BUT the 'fares' make the tickets about the same price as normal sales, PLUS you have to pay 40 dollars a year AND you can only buy '2 tickets per tour'

Not to mention Team Celine doesn't offer the best tickets. It's easy to get better ticket from other places. I will remember my "front" row Team Celine ticket in Shanghai forever.

 

And the fact that they didn't even offer Team Celine seats for all the concerts.

[Davey84]

I got front row with TC a few days after the sale was already on. I never thought they'd still be there, so i was pleasantly surprised when I saw I could get front row!

 

and the first show we had in Antwerp we had good seats to. not front row but good ;-)

better then the other days in Het Sportpaleis, those seats on the side were BAD!! if u were lucky you could see a tiny bit of the screens because the ceiling was to low haha...

 

for Paris i bought tickets well maybe a week in advance, and I got seats in front of the catwalk first row... and those are good seats too haha

but the difference in pricing...

 

 

OMFD!! YEAH!!! antwerp was soooo great!! those seat where the best, sitting wise! LOL! it was better then front row, cos you had more over view! plus céline saw us anyway with IDAN! remember the walking and running during the second night! those seats were horrible!!

Edited March 12, 2009 at 07:36 PM by Davey84

[Teodora]

Well the thing is like that: for the 2 last shows in Montreal I wanted to buy tickets from Ticketmaster, not Team Celine, because I wanted to see the show from another side too. So I went on ticketmaster at the exact moment they were put on sale. It took about a minute to tell me there are no more good tickets available (I wanted floor seats). So I had to go on TicketExchange. There were tickets there for rows 2, 3, 4 etc, just a minute after the official sale had begun. Those were not tickets put back on sale by other fans, they were tickets withheld by Ticketmaster and put on sale directly on TicketEchange at double the price. That is a problem. It is a form of scalping too. I should have been able to buy those tickets at normal price, instead I had to pay double, because Ticketmaster held them back from the normal sale.

Not that I'm sorry! They were the best concerts ever! But I lucky they were just double the price, some $300 and not $500 - $1,000 or more, in which case I couldn't have afford them. And it's just the principle of it.