The real reason for paperless event tickets?
The spread of airline-style "paperless tickets" to concerts and sporting events is stirring a lot of debate. Ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster and Veritix tout them as a way to eliminate worries about lost or stolen tickets, according a story in yesterday's Washington Post. But writer Paul Farhi found more questionable aspects to the new system, especially as envisioned by the dominant company, Ticketmaster, in his piece, "'Paperless ticketing' aims to thwart scalping at concerts, sports events."
The real reason for paperless event tickets?
Jeff Gelles, Inquirer Business Columnist
The spread of airline-style "paperless tickets" to concerts and sporting events is stirring a lot of debate. Ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster and Veritix tout them as a way to eliminate worries about lost or stolen tickets, according to a story in yesterday's Washington Post. But writer Paul Farhi found more questionable aspects to the new system, especially as envisioned by the dominant company, Ticketmaster, in his piece, "'Paperless ticketing' aims to thwart scalping at concerts, sports events."
Ticketmaster's solution to the "grandma problem," just to take one example, doesn't pass the laugh test:
Unlike a conventional ticket, Ticketmaster's paperless tickets can't be transferred from a buyer to a second party (Veritix's technology allows for transfers). The inability to pass along a seat creates what's become known in the industry as the "grandma" problem. Since a paperless ticket buyer has to show up at the door at the same time as the rest of his or her party, it's almost impossible for a grandma living at one end of the country to buy a paperless ticket as gift for a grandchild living at the other end. On its Web site, Ticketmaster tells would-be gift givers to buy paperless tickets "on the credit card of the person attending the event and [then] reimburse them."
Another drawback: Groups hoping to attend an event can be shut out if the person who bought the tickets on the group's behalf fails to show up for some reason.
More controversial is how paperless ticketing could affect the ticket reselling business, a vast, Internet-based marketplace facilitated by behemoths like StubHub.com, Razorgator.com and hundreds of smaller brokers and dealers.
Ticketmaster says its paperless system is designed to undercut scalpers, such as those who scooped up large blocks of tickets to Miley Cyrus's concerts last year and resold them at extraordinary prices. The system ensures that tickets end up in the hands of fans, not speculators, a company spokesperson says, and at the prices established by the performer.
But without the ability to transfer virtual tickets, brokers and dealers fear being run out of business. Consumers would also have a harder time selling unwanted tickets. There
The airlines' e-ticketing systems have their drawbacks, but their efficiency is a big plus. Since airline tickets aren't transferable, anyway, the lack of paper ticket isn't generally a problem.
But concerts and sports events? Another ballgame entirely - and one Ticketmaster seems determined to win.
Oh my heart bleeds for those ticket brokers and dealers. Guess what, nobody cares. Get a real job instead of leeching off people by taking advantage of them.— RightWingHypocrite- "More controversial is how paperless ticketing could affect the ticket reselling business...". So, this will put the scalpers out of business. I say: THIS IS GOOD FOR ALL OF US.— tonyS
- tonyS - If you actually were to use StubHub and other sites of that type, you would find that there are just as many, if not more, bargins on tickets than "scalping". Flyers first level seats for many games this year, under $60 when they're $75 face value; Phillies tickets for $10-15 for some of the less popular games, and same with concerts, plenty of good deals. It's real supply and demand.— tfnj42
- Solutions will be developed for the legitimate problems, eg.,'grandma's tix', but it's wonderful if the reselers/scalpers are destroyed.— stoneman
- Non-transferrable tickets? Forget it. That means if you can't make it, you can't give your ticket to a friend. Whatever, I don't go to Ticketmaster events anyway.— dartvader
uh, what about the ridiculous "convenience fees" and "misc charges" we are are made top pay, even tho we do everything ourselves via our own printer?- So this is all just to combat scalpers? I wonder if the fact that Ticketmaster has its own scalping operation, thinly disguised as an "auction", had any bearing on this? Nahhh, couldnt be, Ticketmaster ALWAYS has the consumers' best interests at heart...NOT.— ChrisM5150
- Don't forget ticket Master themselves are scalpers too look at all the fees they charge. And remember you always want more than one seller, it creates competition and more availability, Imagine if ticket master is the only one sell tickets for a particular concert or sporting event.— keith6
dartvader got it on the nose. And I'm not wild about swiping my credit card willy-nilly all over the place. Make it an option, not a mandate. Ever have a problem with something you bought but didn't have a paper receipt? Good luck on getting your money back.— verve
Now if only a legitimate ticket-selling enterprise that truly works in the best interests of the entertainers and sports leagues, as well as fans, would emerge to put the Ticketmaster gouging operation out of business as well as the ticket brokers and scalpers...— jp8899- the ticket brokers and scalpers (yes even stub hub) adds 40, 50 even over 100% to the costs of tickets. Put it this way. there are maybe 25,00 teenage girls that want to go to a miley cirus (?) concert. But the scalpers buy them all up, and 15,000 of them stillwant tickets when the event is "sold out" now their parents will pay anything to make sure their kid doesn't miss it. The event gets their money, the entertainer gets hers , which is all well and good because they provided a service. But the only service the ticket brokers provided was to raise the price of tickets , ie extortion! as for phillies , and sporting events, sure season ticket holders can get rid of the gamesz they don't want (and I am a season holder to those 2 teams), but halfd the tickets on stub hub for the phillies and eagles, are actually listed by brokers which brings us back to the original discussion. do you really think all those season tickets are bought by fans? No, a significant amount are bought by brokers just to turn a profit.— doc al
- Seconds here on the death of that rip-off Monopolistic operation Ticketmaster. They care nothing about the fan. Printing tickets at home used to be free b/c it saved them the costs of printing and mailing. Now they charge YOU the consumer an additional fee for the "convenience" of printing it at home on your own printer with your own ink! That Live Nation deal didn't do anything for consumers. Where are the gov't watchdogs on this industry> Stubhub is the BEST thing for consumers; it creates a fair and efficient marketplace for tixs....supply & demand.— MyTown
- We need to ensure TicketMaster has REAL competition as they have been the ones taking money with added fees from consumers.— BFlint
- be careful what you wish for...— millerharold
- Pretty stupid comment. Fact of the matter is, I don't even bother trying to go to a "special" event anymore because some corrupt criminal promoter or scalper has the fix in, and I can't get a real price ticket. So to hell with the performers. I'll buy their album for $10, and make up my own entertainment. And if anyone breathlessly says they get a $50 ticket for only $500, I'll tell them they're loons.— ChrisWZD
Comment removed.- I support the Arizona immigration law and want everyone checked who enters PA, NJ and DE. We can identify illegals and terrorists at the toll booths. I support Capitalism and defending borders against illegal immigration.— BFlint
- bflint, can those entering at the tolls print their own toll tickets and pay for the convenience?— mike l
- I refuse to go to any events where Ticketraper or its ilk are the ticketing provider. Concerts are a rip-off anyway because the record companies are trying to make up for the (much-deserved) lost revenue due to downloading.— juliusman3
- Ticketmaster is evil, Stubhub and the other brokers are just as bad. I stopped going to concerts a long time ago because of this.— jkt
Reach Jeff at jgelles@phillynews.com.
