4 ms·

Wow, that's genius! Let me make sure I have you straight (I've never heard of this before)... You check the TicketStumbler blog for hot pre-sale tickets. You b

by zain 18y ago

Wow, that's genius! Let me make sure I have you straight (I've never heard of this before)... You check the TicketStumbler blog for hot pre-sale tickets. You buy them for face value when they go on sale (10AM?) hoping they'll get sold out. Then, you flip them on StubHub/Craigslist after they're sold out? What if the show doesn't get sold out? Also, did I understand you correctly in that TicketMaster gives the best tickets to the first people who buy them, and you might get bad seats buying at 10AM? How can you tell if the seats are good enough? Thanks for the info :)

rms 18y ago
Yeah, you got it. It's not just presales, there isn't a big difference between buying in a presale and a regular sale. Presale just gives you two shots at it. The tickets are first come first served so whoever completes the CAPTCHA fastest gets the best tickets. However, some will always be released when people don't actually complete the transaction. So you can keep trying again and again for 15 minutes or so. Whatever you do, do not try to buy different tickets at the same time on the same computer. You cannot buy tickets for two cities at once, you will lose all your tickets. You need a VPN or your cell phone internet if you want to start playing that game. The best way to decide on a show is to look at the listings on Stubhub for a show by that artist that is already on sale. Assume that to sell a ticket you need to beat the lowest price on Stubhub. This isn't always possible and that's where your intuition comes into play. If you're in doubt about whether or not to purchase, feel free to email me and ask. For now, Leonard Cohen is a really good one to start with. The presale passwords are easy to find on google. Phish will also be announcing more shows soon and they are just about the hottest ticket this summer. In a small theater, any seat is good enough. In a pavillion, only the front sections or the front of the rear sections are ok. The back of the rear sections in pavilions are a trap. Lawn tickets usually don't have very good margins. In an arena, anything that isn't behind the stage is usually ok. This is because in a pavilion the rear seats are usually the same price as the front seats, but in an arena the upper seats are significantly cheaper. I haven't had a show yet where I have lost money, but I make my picks carefully. 200% profit isn't very common though. 50% profit is probably a realistic average. I may end up getting rid of Billy Joel/Elton John tickets soon at just a little over cost.
- anewaccountname 18y ago
  Why would anyone want to do this? It is completely zero sum. You aren't creating any wealth, even if you are making money.
  - ggrot 18y ago
    You are essentially performing arbitrage. For the person who has a little more money, but not enough patience or planning to login to the ticket website at 10am, actors like the commenter are creating wealth for this person.
    - nostrademons 18y ago
      But if the ticket scalper hadn't been scraping the ticket website at 10am in the first place, the ticket would still be on sale. (Okay, it likely would've gone to someone else who got there after 10 but before the customer. But now you're cheating that person out of the ticket they otherwise would've had. Still zero-sum.)
      - davidmathers 18y ago
        Insert Inigo Montoya quote here.
  - swombat 18y ago
    Why would anyone want to do this? For the money, obviously.
- falsestprophet 18y ago
  This seems like a pretty interesting scheme. How quickly are you able to turn tickets around? Do you usually buy a large number of tickets at a time or do you minimize risk by only buying a pair?
  - rms 18y ago
    Most of the tickets are on sale 3-4 months ahead of time. You can turn them around very quickly if you're willing to go for the lowest price on Stubhub which may or may not be the optimal strategy. My fastest turnaround was 4 Jimmy Buffett lawn tickets in California that I got for $40 each and sold on Stubhub for $80 each an hour late. Generally I buy a pair at a time because you are more likely to get 2 good seats together than 4 seats together. Then go back and immediately buy two more. Sometimes I buy 4. It mostly depends on available funds and mood, it's not something I have mathematically optimized.

by zain 18y ago

rms 18y ago

Yeah, you got it. It's not just presales, there isn't a big difference between buying in a presale and a regular sale. Presale just gives you two shots at it. The tickets are first come first served so whoever completes the CAPTCHA fastest gets the best tickets. However, some will always be released when people don't actually complete the transaction. So you can keep trying again and again for 15 minutes or so. Whatever you do, do not try to buy different tickets at the same time on the same computer. You cannot buy tickets for two cities at once, you will lose all your tickets. You need a VPN or your cell phone internet if you want to start playing that game. The best way to decide on a show is to look at the listings on Stubhub for a show by that artist that is already on sale. Assume that to sell a ticket you need to beat the lowest price on Stubhub. This isn't always possible and that's where your intuition comes into play. If you're in doubt about whether or not to purchase, feel free to email me and ask. For now, Leonard Cohen is a really good one to start with. The presale passwords are easy to find on google. Phish will also be announcing more shows soon and they are just about the hottest ticket this summer. In a small theater, any seat is good enough. In a pavillion, only the front sections or the front of the rear sections are ok. The back of the rear sections in pavilions are a trap. Lawn tickets usually don't have very good margins. In an arena, anything that isn't behind the stage is usually ok. This is because in a pavilion the rear seats are usually the same price as the front seats, but in an arena the upper seats are significantly cheaper. I haven't had a show yet where I have lost money, but I make my picks carefully. 200% profit isn't very common though. 50% profit is probably a realistic average. I may end up getting rid of Billy Joel/Elton John tickets soon at just a little over cost.

anewaccountname 18y ago
Why would anyone want to do this? It is completely zero sum. You aren't creating any wealth, even if you are making money.
- ggrot 18y ago
  You are essentially performing arbitrage. For the person who has a little more money, but not enough patience or planning to login to the ticket website at 10am, actors like the commenter are creating wealth for this person.
  - nostrademons 18y ago
    But if the ticket scalper hadn't been scraping the ticket website at 10am in the first place, the ticket would still be on sale. (Okay, it likely would've gone to someone else who got there after 10 but before the customer. But now you're cheating that person out of the ticket they otherwise would've had. Still zero-sum.)
    - davidmathers 18y ago
      Insert Inigo Montoya quote here.
- swombat 18y ago
  Why would anyone want to do this? For the money, obviously.
falsestprophet 18y ago
This seems like a pretty interesting scheme. How quickly are you able to turn tickets around? Do you usually buy a large number of tickets at a time or do you minimize risk by only buying a pair?
- rms 18y ago
  Most of the tickets are on sale 3-4 months ahead of time. You can turn them around very quickly if you're willing to go for the lowest price on Stubhub which may or may not be the optimal strategy. My fastest turnaround was 4 Jimmy Buffett lawn tickets in California that I got for $40 each and sold on Stubhub for $80 each an hour late. Generally I buy a pair at a time because you are more likely to get 2 good seats together than 4 seats together. Then go back and immediately buy two more. Sometimes I buy 4. It mostly depends on available funds and mood, it's not something I have mathematically optimized.