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/

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