4 ms·

I agree that is one factor at work, but performers have caught onto this in the last couple of years and have started to offer a lot of exclusive VIP packages t

I agree that is one factor at work, but performers have caught onto this in the last couple of years and have started to offer a lot of exclusive VIP packages to try to capture this price-insensitive market. I'm thinking more about mass scalping for events like Hamilton where every single ticket is bought up instantly by bots for the next four months. There is essentially no way to reliably buy the tickets at normal prices. I tried to buy tickets for Hamilton's touring show and there were hundreds of resell tickets listed on StubHub while I was still trying to get through the process of even seeing if I could find tickets myself. It was completely absurd. A significant percentage of the total available seating must have been scalped. I've done a little work in this space tangentially in the past. The resale market is highly developed with a lot of money at stake and inventory is readily available at every price level and ticket type. Have you ever noticed how every resale site has more or less the same tickets for sale? There are a few middlemen companies that provide the ticket inventory for any reseller to sell instantaneously via API feeds. Stubhub is in both businesses - selling to customers and acting as a middleman to other sellers. It's way more developed than most people think.

kbenson 8y ago
> performers have caught onto this in the last couple of years and have started to offer a lot of exclusive VIP packages to try to capture this price-insensitive market. Artists/promoters have also started using dynamic pricing. Ticket prices might raise or lower after some presales depending on demand. Wednesday the cheapest ticket to the venue might be $49, while on Friday they've raised the price on existing unsold inventory to $69. > I'm thinking more about mass scalping for events like Hamilton where every single ticket is bought up instantly by bots for the next four months. It sucks that the situation is happening, but it's also very easy to fix. Either increase supply, or do something to reduce demand (like raise the price). > I tried to buy tickets for Hamilton's touring show and there were hundreds of resell tickets listed on StubHub while I was still trying to get through the process of even seeing if I could find tickets myself. Some of the is spec listings, where they don't have inventory yet but plan to get some, some of that is brokers/people listing items they've reserved but haven't finalized the process of buying, and some may very well be brokers, or even the venue or promoters themselves listing on Stubhub. If you're an artist, venue of promoter and you want to make more money but don't want to look likeyou're gouging your customers, and you have access to inventory you're allowed to sell yourself, what would you do? That's what they're doing. > I've done a little work in this space tangentially in the past. The resale market is highly developed with a lot of money at stake and inventory is readily available at every price level and ticket type. I've done, and am doing, work in this market. It's like any other, except that the ratio of good actors to those acting a bit excessively is a bit skewed for historical reasons. > There are a few middlemen companies that provide the ticket inventory for any reseller to sell instantaneously via API feeds. It's not that they sell instantaneously via API feeds, they just help push inventory to multiple exchanges, and help sell out the inventory in the point of sale when it sells on an exchange and remove it from the other ones. I'm sure there's software that does something similar for Amazon and Ebay too. I've written about this before here[1], and there's some more detail in that. Specifically, I think the secondary market performs a useful function, as much as it's vilified, as explained in that link. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16379207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16379207
- ageitgey 8y ago
  Thanks, I appreciate the additional insights!
- theboat 8y ago
  One way to get around this without relying on the secondary market is purple pricing: https://hbr.org/2013/05/any-business-trying-to-sell https://hbr.org/2013/05/any-business-trying-to-sell
w0m 8y ago
It was cheaper to buy an entire 'season pass' for the local theater (~8 shows? Including Hamilton) than to buy a single Hamilton ticket. Just crazy.
Benjammer 8y ago
>It's way more developed than most people think. Totally. I like to tell people that it's an "iceberg" industry, in that you don't see 80-95% percent of the whole thing "above water." >There are a few middlemen companies cough cough TicketUtils cough

kbenson 8y ago

> performers have caught onto this in the last couple of years and have started to offer a lot of exclusive VIP packages to try to capture this price-insensitive market. Artists/promoters have also started using dynamic pricing. Ticket prices might raise or lower after some presales depending on demand. Wednesday the cheapest ticket to the venue might be $49, while on Friday they've raised the price on existing unsold inventory to $69. > I'm thinking more about mass scalping for events like Hamilton where every single ticket is bought up instantly by bots for the next four months. It sucks that the situation is happening, but it's also very easy to fix. Either increase supply, or do something to reduce demand (like raise the price). > I tried to buy tickets for Hamilton's touring show and there were hundreds of resell tickets listed on StubHub while I was still trying to get through the process of even seeing if I could find tickets myself. Some of the is spec listings, where they don't have inventory yet but plan to get some, some of that is brokers/people listing items they've reserved but haven't finalized the process of buying, and some may very well be brokers, or even the venue or promoters themselves listing on Stubhub. If you're an artist, venue of promoter and you want to make more money but don't want to look likeyou're gouging your customers, and you have access to inventory you're allowed to sell yourself, what would you do? That's what they're doing. > I've done a little work in this space tangentially in the past. The resale market is highly developed with a lot of money at stake and inventory is readily available at every price level and ticket type. I've done, and am doing, work in this market. It's like any other, except that the ratio of good actors to those acting a bit excessively is a bit skewed for historical reasons. > There are a few middlemen companies that provide the ticket inventory for any reseller to sell instantaneously via API feeds. It's not that they sell instantaneously via API feeds, they just help push inventory to multiple exchanges, and help sell out the inventory in the point of sale when it sells on an exchange and remove it from the other ones. I'm sure there's software that does something similar for Amazon and Ebay too. I've written about this before here[1], and there's some more detail in that. Specifically, I think the secondary market performs a useful function, as much as it's vilified, as explained in that link. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16379207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16379207

ageitgey 8y ago
Thanks, I appreciate the additional insights!
theboat 8y ago
One way to get around this without relying on the secondary market is purple pricing: https://hbr.org/2013/05/any-business-trying-to-sell https://hbr.org/2013/05/any-business-trying-to-sell

w0m 8y ago

It was cheaper to buy an entire 'season pass' for the local theater (~8 shows? Including Hamilton) than to buy a single Hamilton ticket. Just crazy.

Benjammer 8y ago

>It's way more developed than most people think. Totally. I like to tell people that it's an "iceberg" industry, in that you don't see 80-95% percent of the whole thing "above water." >There are a few middlemen companies cough cough TicketUtils cough