The Infidel

This is the first time I've bought a concert ticket from someplace other than one of the major sellers like Ticketmaster or Live Nation, and I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced problems buying from a secondary seller.

A friend contacted me recently upset that she couldn't get a ticket for one of the shows for the upcoming Tragically Hip shows in Canada, so I got her a ticket through Vivid Seats, and after paying, they estimated my receiving the ticket from the seller just two days before the show.

Long story short, I actually got the PDF ticket in my email yesterday (thankfully well before the scheduled show next month), and it appears to be a legitimate Ticketmaster ticket for the show she wants to attend in Vancouver. I guess my only concern would be whether the person who originally put the ticket up for sale through Vivid Seats can still retain their copy of the ticket and try to use it themselves. It seems conceivable, since all they're doing is sending a PDF file which, technically, they still have a copy of. Vivid Seats supposedly has a 100% guarantee that covers getting ripped off, but you never know.

Also, the original buyer's name is on the ticket, but I've never known venues to actually check the name on the printed ticket when they scan you in to the show, so I wouldn't anticipate that being a problem for my friend.

So, any issues out there with selling sites like this?

jgorow

i recently bought tickets from a second hand broker called goldstar.com, i bought them to see bob sagets stand-up show. box office prices were $75 a tickets, which i felt was ridiculously high for a stand-up show. the tickets on goldstar were $40 each and the seats we got were the absolute worst seats in the house, the were in the next to the very last row. the problem with these secondary brokers is that you have no choice of seats at all, and the seats they usually wind up with are the worst seats in the house. i bought my seats as soon as they went on sale hoping i would at least get fairly descent seats, not the case at all!!!

TomOpus

https://disqus.com/home/discussion/t...git_or_a_scam/

Going through these reviews it's kinda hit or miss. Some complained that people were already in their seats with legit tickets. One person said ticketmaster wouldn't even talk to them because someone else's name was on the ticket. Hopefully they won't have any problems.

Dan

I've heard that Vivid Seats is fairly safe.

I bought a secondary ticket for Deftones a few months back, but that was on StubHub. It had the original buyer's name on it, but I got in without a problem.

Your friend should be alright. If anything, I'd tell her to go in as early as possible. On the off-chance that the seller is trying to scam you/her, if she gets hers scanned first, and she's in the door, she should be fine.

The Infidel

^ That's exactly what I told her.

Obi-Wanma

That's not always the case. Many sites, such as StubHub, tell you exactly what section and row the tickets that you are buying are in. The only thing you don't get until you purchase are the exact seat numbers, which is to protect the seller.

Obi-Wanma

In some places, certain secondary markets are designated the official secondary market, and have an agreement with the stadium. For example, at Michigan Stadium, if someone has StubHub tickets and someone else has the original ticket, they have a way to validate the StubHub transaction, and if they find the transaction, then the people with the original tickets will be thrown out.

This is to prevent people from reselling on their tickets on StubHub and then trying use or re-sell the original tickets as well.

That's why if a venue has an official secondary market, I recommend using that, as you're protected that way.

Why So Blu?

Yeah, StubHub is a trusted seller. I know a few people that have sold/bought tickets through them and the transactions have been flawless. I hear their APP is great. You take a picture of the ticket that you are selling and it digitizes the barcode and makes it so that the buyer gets their own version of the ticket while voiding out the seller's altogether. I have not used it myself, so I cannot verify.

Ky-Fi

I got a Stubhub gift certificate this last Christmas, and think I've bought 7 or 8 tickets to various Celtics and Red Sox games this year. No problems at all.

TomOpus

I tend not to use secondary markets but this is good info if I ever do.

Yeah, StubHub is pretty well-known as being legit. But I have never heard of Vivid Seats. They sound kinda porn-ish

DJLinus

Some friends and I are planning on going to the Weezer show on Wednesday and finding a block of 4 good seats together via Live Nation was pretty pricey. So I bought tickets from a secondary seller for the first time ever on Thursday. TicketsNow is the place. They're a rewards affiliate of my USAA credit card, so I assume they are legit. Anyway, I found 4 box seats for a great price and jumped on those. (At this venue the box seats are season ticket holders and with those tickets you get VIP parking, a lounge area, and a different entrance.)

I haven't received the PDF yet, though it's only been one business day and the transaction details said it would take up to three. Now you guys have me paranoid.

The Infidel

What I didn't like about Vivid Seats (and unfortunately I found out about this after I bought the tickets) is that there's pretty much no way to get a hold of anyone in customer service on the phone. No matter what option you choose, they direct you to email them. They have a "live chat" option, but I sat there with the chat window open for an hour and nobody every connected.

But again, I got the PDF ticket pretty quickly (about a week after the tickets originally went on sale to the public), so as long as my friend doesn't get screwed over somehow, it will turn out to be not that bad an experience. If she does encounter a major problem and doesn't get to see the show for some reason, we'll see how good their "100% customer guarantee" is.

dex14

Goldstar isn't really a broker site. They sell tickets for events that aren't selling well for a discount. Like Groupon, Living Social, etc. That catch for it being cheap is you don't know where the seat is in advance. Another site similar to this is ScoreBig. You a name your price for certain sections, but you don't know exactly where until your offer is accepted.

DJLinus

I was really worried when I saw that TicketsNow left a voicemail on Sunday afternoon. I promptly called them back and they just needed to confirm my mailing address. It turns out that since I got VIP tickets (with a parking pass), they couldn't be emailed. So they overnighted them via UPS and picked up the shipping fee. I got my tickets yesterday and am all set for tonight's show.

Looking at some TicketNow reviews online, there seem to be a lot of pissed off people. But it seems like a significant chunk of those either didn't read or understand the terms of the sale or nature of the site and are complaining about things clearly set out. My experience has been completely positive and I'm considering leaving a good review to counter the bad ones. Human nature has mad people complain more than happy people give a thumbs up, so it distorts the actual quality of the service or product. Or maybe I am just the rare happy TicketsNow customer.

Giles

I've never NOT gotten a bad seat via Goldstar.

davidh777

Yeah, Goldstar is a little different because they're working with the event to dump tickets. I've used them a couple times and gotten OK tickets.

Used Stubhub once without issues.

TomOpus

When is the show? I'm curious how it works out for your friend.

Rex Fenestrarum

My favorite StubHub story: back in 2013, a dude wanted to go to a 76ers game. He found tickets selling for 4¢ each... so he said "fuck it" and bought an entire row of seats for 72¢. With delivery charges and service fees, the total ended up being $10.67.. still, 59¢ a ticket is nothing to sneeze at!

TomOpus

That's pretty awesome.