Hacker News Reader

Comment by koolba | Hacker News Reader

> I have never yet seen a system that cannot be beat by scalpers, including paperless ticketing, and I find that most venues and artists want to maximize profits anyway.

How would a scalper get around ticketing that requires presenting ID that matches the name of the person on the ticket?

I've been to a few shows that were like that for pickup up tickets at the will call booth. I suppose you could get them there and hand them off to the true purchaser but that would require boots on the ground at each show.

Also, not sure how do deal with ID presented at the door to get into the venue if it has to match the ticket purchaser.

(All of this assumes no resales to rename the ticket owner)

View on HN

> How would a scalper get around ticketing that requires presenting ID that matches the name of the person on the ticket?

The article mentions a workaround for this:

> So-called "paperless" tickets are an antiscalping measure that requires the purchasing credit card to be presented at the venue on the night of the concert. This requirement makes scalpers' lives much harder but is regularly circumvented by the most serious operations. Wiseguy, for instance, told its wholesalers to ask their customers for their credit cards before a sale happened. Wiseguy then used its bot to buy paperless tickets directly on fans' credit cards.

That's one way. There are a few more. I know people who would have three credit cards, buy 24 tickets, and fly around the country picking them up. One guy I talked to had seen Metallica every time they played in the past 10 years and made a good chunk of cash doing so.

The scalper could "sell" their front-row ticket to someone else who buys a cheap nosebleed. Then they get in with the cheap seat and go sit at the better spot. Clumsy but it would work.

> who buys a cheap nosebleed

What does this mean? That the person gets punched in the face? Do you just mean mugging people?

Nosebleed seat means a seat at the very back of the house. Because it is usually very high up, the idea is that the atmosphere is thin and it makes your nose bleed. Basically what the person is saying is that the fan can buy a very cheap ticket and exchange it for a much more expensive ticket that the scalper bought.

I think he's referring to a seat that is not a good seat. Normally called nosebleed seats because the altitude is so high it could make your nosebleed. I think.

This is one of many downsides of PDF ticketing. Fraudster buys a nosebleed, edits the PDF to fake a great seat. Ticket scans just fine at the door, since it has a legit barcode. (If the scanner displays the real section/row/seat for that barcode, the person working the door could cross-check it, but I've never seen that happen.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com