There is an economics research paper that shows that ticket auctions on Ticketmaster can reduce the arbitrage profits of scalpers (https://faculty.chicagobooth.

There is an economics research paper that shows that ticket auctions on Ticketmaster can reduce the arbitrage profits of scalpers (https://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/eric.budish/research/Ticket-Auctions.pdf https://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/eric.budish/research/Ticket...) They compared the primary auction price to the ebay resale price and found they were about the same. It's unclear why ticket auctions never took off, although it may be that the only work well for shows with high demand.