Me and my wife tried getting tickets this past Sat. from scalpers before the Falcons/Cowboys game at the Georgia Dome. We were amazed at how many people told us they were scammed by counterfeit tickets and lost $200, $300 or more to scammers. Then later, we met someone else at a sports bar who said the woman in the ticket counter told him they had over 100 cases just that night alone! This is crazy! We ended up not getting in to the game due to the ridiculous prices the scalpers wanted ($200 for upper deck!!) but was kind of glad we didn't get ripped off.
Was wondering if anyone else has had experiences with counterfeit tickets and what is the consensus on buying from scalpers these days?
I guess the only way to be sure, is to see if that person will walk with you up to the gate....but most scalpers aren't willing to do that, since they will waste time they could be selling other tix. The cops don't care, because these are transactions among private persons. The whole situation really sucks and is due to all these scalpers or ticket brokers grabbing all the tickets they can for high-demand games and then reselling for huge profits.
OT: Ticket Counterfeiting
Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
I'm not saying I'm surprised...I'm saying that would be the only way to assure that the ticket is real. They actually had one window open at the GA Dome soley for that purpose. We had one woman who was willing to walk to the gate with us, but her price was too high.
BigAl wrote:You're surprised a scalper might be less than ethical? You want them to walk to the gate with you?
I guess if you thought the eBay kid selling 360s was legit enough to give him your $...
How is scalping unethical? Likewise, its perfectly legal in the state of Georgia. Even if it weren't legal, then I still would not see anything unethical about it. That just would be a case of mala in se vs mala prohibita. Just because something is illegal, that does not inherently mean its not ethical. On the same hand, just because something is legal, that does not make it ethical.
very rarely have I run across fake tickets. most of the time when I go to any college or pro sporting event, I buy scalped tickets. and honesty, I almost always pay less than face, even to sold out events.
this is partly b/c in the midwest, for instance, it's a pretty naive black market. there's very little competition among buyers and lots of people who go with extra tickets. I don't usually buy from professional scalpers.
I just got fed up with buying season tickets and missing games or seeing crap games and/or crap teams.
now, I go when I want, and if the price is higher than my limit, I walk away.
I feel no remorse for this when pro owners charge parking fees for public stadiums, get stadiums financed by sales taxes and even college sports start giving $1.5M per year contracts to mediocre coaches and then charge $65 to see a college game.
I'll go to the games. but I won't be their sucker anymore.
this is partly b/c in the midwest, for instance, it's a pretty naive black market. there's very little competition among buyers and lots of people who go with extra tickets. I don't usually buy from professional scalpers.
I just got fed up with buying season tickets and missing games or seeing crap games and/or crap teams.
now, I go when I want, and if the price is higher than my limit, I walk away.
I feel no remorse for this when pro owners charge parking fees for public stadiums, get stadiums financed by sales taxes and even college sports start giving $1.5M per year contracts to mediocre coaches and then charge $65 to see a college game.
I'll go to the games. but I won't be their sucker anymore.
When the Mavs made the NBA Finals, some buddies and I decided we'd try to score some tickets to Game 1 in Dallas. We went thru a rather shady ticketbroker site that had "printable" tickets. Anyway, we wound up getting 6 tickets for ~$240/ea - a buddy gets the e-tickets sent to him via email.
We arrive at the game and everyone gets their printed ticket - me and another guy were first to try them - both got declined as "cancelled" and we were told to go to the will call line to get it straightened out. Shocked, we stepped aside and watched as the other 4 all get in FINE!!!
Pissed, we head to willcall and get in line - apparently, there were LOADS of people who had similar problems.
Anyway, after waiting in line for about 15 mins, we finally get to talk to someone and they said that the tickets had been cancelled, the guy says that the best he could do was to allow us to buy similar seats for face value - $30/ea!! We quickly pony up the money and get our tickets. They turned out to be slightly better than the ones that we had paid for.
In the end, we wound up disputing the charges on my CC, got a full refund and wound up going to Game 1 of the NBA finals for $30.
I was really suprised at how well the Mavs/AAC handled the fake ticket mess and how prepared they were by having seats set aside for such things.
In the end, I'd say that if you don't completely trust the source, don't use cash. Try online and at least you can dispute the charges if you get phony tickets.
-Ray!!!
We arrive at the game and everyone gets their printed ticket - me and another guy were first to try them - both got declined as "cancelled" and we were told to go to the will call line to get it straightened out. Shocked, we stepped aside and watched as the other 4 all get in FINE!!!
Pissed, we head to willcall and get in line - apparently, there were LOADS of people who had similar problems.
Anyway, after waiting in line for about 15 mins, we finally get to talk to someone and they said that the tickets had been cancelled, the guy says that the best he could do was to allow us to buy similar seats for face value - $30/ea!! We quickly pony up the money and get our tickets. They turned out to be slightly better than the ones that we had paid for.
In the end, we wound up disputing the charges on my CC, got a full refund and wound up going to Game 1 of the NBA finals for $30.
I was really suprised at how well the Mavs/AAC handled the fake ticket mess and how prepared they were by having seats set aside for such things.
In the end, I'd say that if you don't completely trust the source, don't use cash. Try online and at least you can dispute the charges if you get phony tickets.
-Ray!!!
I've had one incident where i think i was sold a fake ticket but got in anyway. FYI, Scalping tickets is illegal in Los Angeles at the venue. I'm not sure what the details are. You can sell tickets in newspapers or online or whatever but not at the venue.
I was at a Kings game and was buying two tickets from a guy outside. He shows me the tickets and says he'll walk with me to the gate so it doesn't look suspicious to the cops. I give him the money, he gives me the tickets and he just starts rushing me to the gate, acting all paranoid, key word "acting". It just seemed kind of odd. Then when we get into line and are close to the doors he says the cops are coming over this way so he can't stay and just kind of runs off.
When i get to the ticket guy he scans them a few times and they don't read. He noticed that i kind of had the tickets bent in my hand so he says sometimes they don't scan when they get bent and just lets me in. I personally don't see how they could have been bent enough to prevent a scan. The rest of the game went smoothly. No one had the same tickets or anything like that.
Maybe i'm just paranoid and the guy was legit but I really don't trust tickets from scalpers at all. I've heard too many horror stories and have had other weird experiences like the one I just described. Most of them involving a scalper claiming the cops were coming and just running off when i was already in line and just about to enter the building. Which reminds me of another time i actually did get scammed. Or i should really say my buddy is the one who got scanned since he was the one who was all eager and care-free about buying from a scalper.
Once again we are at a kings game. A guy is selling two seats in the lower bowl, somewhat near where my friend normally has season seats. The guy claims he's got season seats and just needs to sell off these two extras he has for the game. Anyway, to make a long story short the guy pretends he's gonna walk in and sit down with us but ditches us at the last minute and claims he's gotta take a call or some crap like that. When we get inside we realize the seats are in completely different sections.
My friend was trying to act all chummy with the guy before we went inside, thinking he was a fellow season seat holder. My friend starts spouting off names of other season seat holders in the section the seats were suppose to be in and the guy acts like he knows them as well. The whole time I could tell something was not right but went along with it since my friend was so confident in the honesty of scalpers.
Sorry for the rant, but i hate scalpers.
I was at a Kings game and was buying two tickets from a guy outside. He shows me the tickets and says he'll walk with me to the gate so it doesn't look suspicious to the cops. I give him the money, he gives me the tickets and he just starts rushing me to the gate, acting all paranoid, key word "acting". It just seemed kind of odd. Then when we get into line and are close to the doors he says the cops are coming over this way so he can't stay and just kind of runs off.
When i get to the ticket guy he scans them a few times and they don't read. He noticed that i kind of had the tickets bent in my hand so he says sometimes they don't scan when they get bent and just lets me in. I personally don't see how they could have been bent enough to prevent a scan. The rest of the game went smoothly. No one had the same tickets or anything like that.
Maybe i'm just paranoid and the guy was legit but I really don't trust tickets from scalpers at all. I've heard too many horror stories and have had other weird experiences like the one I just described. Most of them involving a scalper claiming the cops were coming and just running off when i was already in line and just about to enter the building. Which reminds me of another time i actually did get scammed. Or i should really say my buddy is the one who got scanned since he was the one who was all eager and care-free about buying from a scalper.
Once again we are at a kings game. A guy is selling two seats in the lower bowl, somewhat near where my friend normally has season seats. The guy claims he's got season seats and just needs to sell off these two extras he has for the game. Anyway, to make a long story short the guy pretends he's gonna walk in and sit down with us but ditches us at the last minute and claims he's gotta take a call or some crap like that. When we get inside we realize the seats are in completely different sections.
My friend was trying to act all chummy with the guy before we went inside, thinking he was a fellow season seat holder. My friend starts spouting off names of other season seat holders in the section the seats were suppose to be in and the guy acts like he knows them as well. The whole time I could tell something was not right but went along with it since my friend was so confident in the honesty of scalpers.
Sorry for the rant, but i hate scalpers.
"Be tolerant of those who describe a sporting moment as their best ever. We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium." -Nick Hornby
I worked security for the Pats for a few years and dealt with a ton of revoked tickets from Stubhub and other honest buisness sites. The problem is that the season ticket holder has his tickets revoked for the rest of the season then sells them to Stubhub who then resells them. The person who gets screwed is the person who got them from Stubhub...It is just sad to see this happen at football games.
My xbox live name is "The Zlax45"
-
davet010
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 3563
- Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:00 am
- Location: Manchester, England
Newer stadiums in England cut scalping completely by using smartcards. My Man City season ticket is just like a credit card, scan at the barrier to get through. People wanting tickets for individual games buy a card for £5 at the start of the year, then have to ring the ticket office in the week before the game to pay for a seat at the match, their card is then 'unlocked' for that game.
Same works for Cup games which aren't part of my season ticket - if I want to go, I just contact the ticket office and they unlock the card for that match.
Same works for Cup games which aren't part of my season ticket - if I want to go, I just contact the ticket office and they unlock the card for that match.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
something is going to have to change and soon. with online and printers and electronic tickets and stubhub, Ebay, etc., there are just too many ways a ticket buyer can get ripped off. I'm not sure what the answer is, but it seems like it's out of control. The illegal scalpers know that there is no risk because the law doesn't care about these person to person transactions. I guess the best bet right now is to buy them online with a credit card and just disoute the charges if they do not go thru.