Stubhub had one brilliant idea and unfortunately they couldn’t maintain it because they’d look at a price of $30 all fees included and then a similar seat for the same show at $25 no fees included and conclude the latter was cheaper though it actually came to $40 in the end. Morons almighty, and they stopped Stubhub from doing a true service to consumers.
However, that’s not what this is about. This is about how ticket brokers went from how to get into sold out shows by getting a second mortgage on your home and selling your wife into white slavery to getting 30% – 40% off a ticket to a mediocre sized show like Death Cab For Cutie by waiting for the bottom to fall out of the market.
At the moment, prices for Death Cab (after fees) are about the same on Stubhub as Ticketmaster -nosebleeds for $54. The hope is, wait long enough and they’ll drop to a lot less than that and often enough you win the bet to make it worth the gamble if you don’t much care, I won’t pay $55 for Death Cab but I might pay $30.
Far be it for me to agree with Bob Lefsetz, I actually agree with Bob about one thing, he claimed the bands did it the wrong way. They should sell tickets to fanclubs and presales very cheap, maybe, 35% off rate card and then when they’re sure of a good turn out, up the prices and make last minute decision makers pay the price. In effect, bands punish fans and reward those that don’t care.
It used to be that at least in New York City, everything you wanted to see sold out instantaneously, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. U2, Taylor Swift, Madonna, even The Weeknd, is not entirely sold out (The Weeknd has tickets available at Prudential and loads more in the secondary market).
I personally, would not bet on any of those names, but there is a lot of names, Ricky Martin for one, I might well risk and so the business has changed from let me in to let me in cheap.
With the advent of ScoreBig, where you bid on tickets at about 25% discount, there is another wrinkle though if they do any business in the long run I’d be shocked, I’ve tried it and found it entirely worthless.
Meanwhile, including fees you can get a ticket to Janet Jackson at the Prudential center for $36 . That’s Miss Jackson if you’re a cheapo.