Kingstonthisweek.com- Hip tickets eXpensive on eBay - Printable Version
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Kingstonthisweek.com- Hip tickets eXpensive on eBay - NegPhil - 01-31-2008
Hip tickets eXpensive on eBay
Kingston This Week.Com
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For Matt Rogers, it all started a few years ago when he got hooked on the Tragically Hip. The self-professed 23-year-old “big Hip fan” is a graduate student of elementary education at Plattsburgh State University in Watertown, N.Y. When tickets to the sold-out Hip concert at the Kingston Regional Sports and Entertainment Centre (KRSEC) first went on sale in December, he immediately went online and purchased, separately, two pairs of tickets.
He now holds only the Floor 3, Row 14 pair, having sold the Floor 3, Row 2 pair on eBay for $530 after 30 bids.
“It was unbelievable! Once it started going up, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, who really wants these second-row seats?’” Rogers said.
Turns out, a Kingston-area parent did. Rogers said they were amongst three bidders that kept going back and forth and at last scored the tickets for their son’s 21st birthday.
Rogers first learned about Hip’s homecoming concert at the new arena through a forum on Hipbase.com, a Hip fan site where “a lot of people were bitching about the ticket prices” at KRSEC. He paid $165.30 for each pair at $69.50 per ticket through Tickets.com, KRSEC’s official ticket supplier. The total amount includes a $22.80 convenience charge and a $3.50 order charge, which is a lot even for a diehard Hip fan’s standard.
However, Rogers was sure he would at least make his money back on eBay as he wasn’t the only one reselling KRSEC Hip tickets online. A seller on eBay recently fetched $330 for a pair of Floor 5, Row 2 tickets after 23 bids and another on Craigslist.org is looking for “best offer” for a pair of Floor 4, Row 4 (it was at $250 a week ago).
“Most of the Hip’s tickets, at the most, are $50. Add another $30 on top you start to scare people off. There’s always some sort of charge but this is a bit more than usual. If you divide $22.80 by two, that’s $11 per ticket plus the order processing fee. It’s a lot to throw on top of a $70 ticket — you usually see, like, $5 or $6,” he said.
Since KRSEC started selling tickets for its inaugural events, gung-ho spectators have only had two options to get tickets: online or by phone through the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Tickets.com.
It was announced two weeks ago that tickets to the first four Kingston Frontenacs games would be available for in-person purchase, with no service fees, at the Kingston Memorial Centre. However, tickets are $18, 16, and $14 as opposed to $16.50 (before service charges) through Tickets.com.
Neil Shorthouse is the director of marketing for KRSEC. He confirmed this week that a temporary off-site box office will be “operational at the end of next week.”
“It’s not unusual in a scenario where you have a brand new building and you are going with a computerized ticketing system. We are very open with our fee structure and it is very similar to most venues in North America.”
The fee structure he referred to can be found under “Service Fee Structure,” which is the last link under “Helpful Hints,” which is the second link under “Tickets” on KRSEC’s website. It lists “several fees applicable to ticket purchases” such as convenience charge, order charge, and credit card charge.
“There are marketing tools attached to our ticketing system and depending on what level of service you want to provide, there are different costs attached to that,” Shorthouse said.
For example, Tickets.com has one dedicated phone line for KRSEC, so the operator in Costa Mesa will know the caller is calling about a KRSEC event. This is one of the “benefits” that determines the final percentage of applicable service charges, which pay for the ticketing software and systems, said Tickets.com’s vice president of marketing Mike Martinez.
“Service charges — it’s revenue for us, that’s how we make our money. I think people don’t realize that there’s such a large infrastructure behind all of the systems, it not only takes a lot of money to buy this equipment but to maintain it, too,” he said.
For buyers, this means shorter wait time on the phone or visual aids such as the colour-coded seating plan online.
“All of those things of course cost money,” Martinez said.
As for the inevitable credit card charge: “There’s no way around that. That’s how the credit card company gets compensated for,” he added.
So, somebody’s got to make money. For Rogers, he’s keeping the Row 14 tickets to himself.
“With the $530 I made, that now pays for the $165.30 for the tickets. I’m staying at a hotel with my girlfriend and I still have $80 left for food and gas. It makes the trip free and I get to see the Hip opening up the new arena,” he said. “I just saw them in New York but it’s going to be nothing compared to this Kingston show.”
- thedarkcanuck - 01-31-2008
fans of the hip don`t gouge other fans of the hip... jerkoff
- redhill - 01-31-2008
agreed
- mojo_mattv - 01-31-2008
here here darkcanuck
- NegPhil - 01-31-2008
Why are you guys so hard on this kid?
Sure, it would of been cool if he sold them to a fan at face value but why attack him? Is it his fault that people are willing to pay crazy money to see the best rock band in the world?
Are the loving parent who dropped that kind of cash jerk-offs also?
- mats - 01-31-2008
I often see this here on this site, people complaining about the Hip and e-bay.
Not every Hip fan is a member of the hipbase and thus doesn't share the "trading tickets to each other for face value" idea. BTW, I love the hipbase for that but...
WTF? Are The Hip the only band in the world that can't be sold on e-bay. Welcome to real world of scalpers and e-bay. Often people wouldn't have a chance PERIOD to buy a product or see a Hip show for that matter if it wasn't for avenues like e-bay. Sure it costs more than face value, but that's the idea.
If I had the chance, I'd pay more money to sit in the first 10 ten rows anytime, anywhere. I sense that those who can't afford to go are the biggest whiners.
Sorry for this, actually no I'm not.
- wpghipfan - 02-01-2008
Remember that 1991 Pro-Set hockey card that Gord took his inspiration from, for Fifty Mission Cap? It's a ten-cent card, but I paid $1.50 for it on Ebay, years and years ago. Is this essentially the same thing?
Rory
Halifax
- chris - 02-01-2008
I think the complaint is about people who buy tickets solely as a means of making some quick cash.
Should I buy tickets just because I know that I'll be able to sell them on eBay?
- colinjardine - 02-01-2008
I sold my extra 2 for the Kingston show to some poor kid at Queen's for what I paid for them. That's my good deed for the year. I was tempted to try and make some money, but I thought since I'm lucky enough to have row 2, someone else should be able to share my fun and see the boys play.
- tina - 02-01-2008
And don't forget this poor single mom, still looking for ONE ticket....
:-)
tina
- jamseyb - 02-01-2008
Yep, we all know that scalpers are scumbags. Over the years I always try to get a couple of extra tixs for a show to help people out who have missed the sale. Even the one and only time that I put a ticket on ebay, I put it on as a "Buy it Now" for the cost of the ticket. I pulled 2nd row centre during the K-town presale, but after much deliberation ....and thoughts of my wife killing me after just having spent $200 to see Neil at Massey, I decided to let some other fan have them. In retrospect, I should have just bought them and offered them to someone on the list after seeing what some fans are paying on ebay.......
- Scotty12 - 02-01-2008
Jamsey - you know you were just torturing yourself checking to see what kind of tickets you got , if you knew your wife wouldnt let you
mats Wrote:I often see this here on this site, people complaining about the Hip and e-bay.
Not every Hip fan is a member of the hipbase and thus doesn't share the "trading tickets to each other for face value" idea. BTW, I love the hipbase for that but...
WTF? Are The Hip the only band in the world that can't be sold on e-bay. Welcome to real world of scalpers and e-bay. Often people wouldn't have a chance PERIOD to buy a product or see a Hip show for that matter if it wasn't for avenues like e-bay. Sure it costs more than face value, but that's the idea.
If I had the chance, I'd pay more money to sit in the first 10 ten rows anytime, anywhere. I sense that those who can't afford to go are the biggest whiners.
Sorry for this, actually no I'm not.
Mats,
I dont think its just the hip and ebay. I am a member of fanclubs for many of my favorite artists. Dave Matthews, Pearl jam, etc. Oftentimes i will get tickets, and then upgrade through ebay or craigslist. The same goes for NHL and NBA tickets. I would say about 20% of the time, I use the tickets I purchased for face value, and the remainder I get owned by some scalper who more often than not couldnt be farther removed from 'fandom' of these bands. Everytime I appreciate my ability to buy what I want, when I want - but I also resent lining the pockets of a scumbag industry. They know they are purchasing an item in demand, a purchase most people will jump at with their heart and not their head, and they take advantage of that. Over the years, I have had many times when I've bought tickets and been unable to attend, creating opportunities to scalp incredible tickets that would have fetched an enormous premium (dave matthews 2nd row dead center in NYC, where front rows sold for $9,800 two feet in front of me), the hip 6th row for their dvd show in Toronto, 10 row floors for this kingston show ( <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12578">http://hipbase.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12578</a><!-- m --> ) I have also went to shows and sold surplus tickets in the lots for face value, once being offered half of face value by a shirtless, tattooed and muscular scalper when I was a skinny 16 year old - he was selling tickets for 2x face, and told me he would punch my face in if I didnt get off of 'his location' because he had to put food on the table (or maybe it was drugs in the system?)
I am fortunate to be in the position to afford these luxuries, and also to not have greed overtake me enough to rob someone else of whatever they can afford to do the same just because I want more $ in my pocket. Karma goes a long way.
When you think about the net effect of sites like stubhub, ticket brokers, etc - I think its negative. Sure, those with money or those who missed out on ticketmaster can fight eachother to pay the highest price (and im sure some spend more than their limit on their credit cards while doing so.) But on the other hand, some parents cant take their sons to leafs games affordably to watch their heroes growing up - something that meant alot to me during my childhood and Im sure was even more widespread in the 60s, 70s, 80s.
Bands like pearljam and thehip with this brockville show really have the right idea. Keep the tickets affordable, will call them, and they stay in the hands of the fans. This results in a better atmosphere when you're at the show (no suits who paid to see one hit song and feel entitled to be there) and more affordable experience for all.
- cochise - 02-01-2008
tina Wrote:And don't forget this poor single mom, still looking for ONE ticket....
:-)
tina
Well......helloooooo Tina, how you doin'??........... :lol: :lol:
- thedoctor - 02-01-2008
He with the biggest bankroll gets to go! Fanclub tickets should only be offered for pick-up at box office. But....... if you have the money to pay you get to go.
- mats - 02-01-2008
Cool.