Sadly, this will only lead to an increase in ticket prices generally in future. They're basically seeing how much people are prepared to pay. Why should they sell tickets at $50 when people are quite prepared to pay hundreds for them? Supply and demand... People want the tickets so much, they'll pay whatever they feel is worth it. Quite frankly, I think it stinks, but that's business for you... There's no-one to blame but the people bidding on them. If everyone refused to play their game, those same tickets would end up being sold off for less than their face value come day of concert... I've seen it happen here in the UK... Even Billy Joel tickets that were advertised at (if I remember correctly) about £300 for "aa" seats (in little areas right next to the stage, even closer than front row) didn't sell - so what happens at the gig? Two tour crew members were 'upgrading' seats for those lucky enough to be 'aesthetically pleasing enough' free of charge.. Just because they didn't want any empty seats at the front.. Doesn't look good for the artist does it? My wife went to see Darren Hayes - the first few rows of that concert were bought by fan club members... What happened when the concert started? The venue let loads of other ticket holders scramble to the front, standing in front of those who had paid through the nose for their tickets.... I know it's really tempting, especially since we've waited 23 years for this.. But the ticket agencies know that. They know there are people prepared to bankrupt themselves to see these shows... So they're going to exploit it. Sadly, I was also disappointed with the pre-sales of Sting's UK shows which I joined the fanclub for... I had a better allocation of seats AFTER the pre-sale by ordering directly from the venue box office... I couldn't understand why I'd paid to join a fanclub on the promise of better seats only to find I could get better myself without needing to join! (That's not to take anything away from Tina, Dave or Wendy - I'm sure they do a great job - but I believe they don't have any control over situations like that anyway) J. -----Original Message----- From: police-bounces+jason=digital-solutions.co.uk@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:police-bounces+jason=digital-solutions.co.uk@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Paula Mickevich Sent: 13 February 2007 14:13 To: Police@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Police] Auction at ticketmaster! today Tuesday Bids start at $250 Has Ticketmaster ever had AUCTIONs before? Auction Starts: 2 hrs, 50 mins Ticket Groups Low Bid Per Ticket Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 2 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 3 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 4 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 5 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 6 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 7 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 8 US $250.00 Section A3, A4 & A5, Row 9 US $250.00 Section A4, Row 10 US $250.00 As of Tue, Feb 13, 2007 09:09 AM EST Event The Police The Police - Premium Seat Auction Fenway Park, Boston, MA http://www.ticketmaster.com/auction/01003E4902E2F378/1/ _______________________________________________ Police mailing list Police@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/police