That ticket scalper on the corner may be moving online. Well, perhaps not, but the secondary market for tickets has made the shift, and it’s resulted in more reliable and safe transactions for consumers. Companies like TicketsNow.com and StubHub promise on-time delivery, stable pricing, and act to turn away counterfeiters and con artists.
Estimates vary wildly as to the size of the secondary market, but it may be somewhere between $2 billion and $25 billion annually. Most of the “product” comes from season ticket holders who can’t (or won’t) attend every game. Entertainment events also generate a large number of tickets for sale.
Online business is booming. StubHub crowns eBay as the number one source for secondary tickets, while more than 600 brokers have listings on TicketsNow.com. Even in the midst of this enormous growth, the industry has settled down. TicketsNow, for example, screens every seller.
“The Internet has tamed the secondary market,” said Mike Domek, CEO of TicketsNow. “We’re responsible for 100 percent security. Music or sports fans don’t want to be in that small percentage that couldn’t get into the stadium because they bought a counterfeit ticket or didn’t receive their tickets on time.”
Even some schools are getting onboard with the idea. The University of Southern California directs its fans to StubHub. “It’s been a good partnership,” said Jose Eskenazi, an associate athletic director. “We can send our fans to a company they can trust and know that they don’t have to deal with some scalping type of operation.”
However, there are still parties who object to the secondary market, or at least some aspects of it. For example, the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots try to protect fans from high prices by banning any season ticket holders who are caught selling their tickets for more than face value.
The next time you need sold-out tickets, rethink approaching Sal on the corner. An online dealer may be able to offer an all-around better deal.
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Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
