Ask HN: Time to fix the online ticket space. What would you do? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Time to fix the online ticket space. What would you do?

2 pointscmsimike5 comments

It's been an ongoing problem but these last few weeks have really focused my attention on it as a huge problem needing to be fixed.

Online ticket sales are absolutely broken. I'm not talking specific outlets, though they are broken for tons of other reasons, but the ability to resale tickets has been a huge pain as of late for many. Scalpers purchase their max tickets and turn around and put them up for sale at 10x the cost for concerts.

What really made me point this out now is this article on /. http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/04/25/2026214/wwdc-sells-out-in-2-minutes-ticket-on-ebay-45-minutes-later

What would be your solution here?

Mine would be simple - don't allow resale. Only allow the tickets purchased to be used by the person that originally purchased it. I can't help but think that applications like iOS' Passbook would be perfect for this. That way if you purchase a ticket, only YOU can use them. Even if you purchase many, then you have to be there to allow anyone entry.

I hate paying MORE for concerts these days but this solution would also provide an "insurance" at a nominal price that would allow a full refund if unused. Other sites already charge a ton for "service fees" so I'd happy purchase a ticket that only I could use and pay a little more to make sure I can get fully refunded if I don't go.

Thoughts? What's wrong with this solution? What would you do to fix this?

> Only allow the tickets purchased to be used by the person that originally purchased it.

The reason this method can't be used is because of a legal issue. Someone who buys a ticket has the right to resell it. Suppose after buying the ticket, they realize they can't attend -- should they be stuck with a ticket they can't resell?

Also, if reselling wasn't allowed, ticket agents would be driven out of business, and ticket agents vote.

> I'm not talking specific outlets ...

What is an "outlet" but a ticket reseller? If this idea were put into play, that reseller would be prevented by law from doing business.

Concert producers cooperate with, and depend on, resellers to increase the market for their product. So even the ticket's originators would object to the idea of disallowing resales, for a reason given below.

> ... this solution would also provide an "insurance" at a nominal price that would allow a full refund if unused.

That's another objection to the idea. A concert producer would much prefer that the ticket be resold than to have to provide a refund as well as lose one attendee for each refunded ticket.

It's probably the same few scalpers every time. You don't want to punish the average guy that changed plans and needs to resell once or twice.

If you had the data, it would be easy to spot these trends and catch the bad guys. We need the staff at the concerts to check ID and log the name of the person and the name on the ticket. Mismatch: flag the buyer and see if they've done it before.

Isn't this a demand-supply problem? People tend to make profit (legal or illegal) by increasing selling price when demand is high. This might suck for buyers who can't afford it. But, that is pure economics.

Would you change the supply side of the equation or would you tinker with the transaction to fix this?

If you mean competing with TicketMaster, etc, go read http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

It turns out most of the acts scalp the tickets themselves for additional income.

I have season tickets for the local sports teams. I don't really make money selling the tickets, but I wouldn't buy them if I couldn't sell or give away the tickets whenever I wanted.

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