Scalping tickets has always been an impediment for the ticket industry. Year after year, statistics have shown that a large portion of profits have been made after the initial purchase of the tickets, in what has now become known as the secondary ticket market. In this area of ticket sales, scalpers and brokers charge above the ticket’s face value, hoping that desperate customers will pay the high, and sometimes even extreme prices for the tickets. Corporations dealing with the sales and purchases of tickets, most notably Ticketmaster, have always detested scalpers and their scams. In order to combat their scamming and seemingly unethical form of business, Ticketmaster constantly tries to develop new technology, which may ultimately prevent the illicit transactions. Subsequently, Ticketmaster has recently instituted a “paperless” form of ticket sales.
The new ticketing program calls for customers to present a credit card and some form of identification when he or she arrives at the venue. The credit card is scanned and the purchaser’s personal information will prove whether or not he or she has actually made a purchase. Similarly, if the actual buyer wants to sell the ticket, Ticketmaster has developed a way for the purchaser to do so. This will largely eliminate the intrusion of ticket brokers, such as Stubhub, thus freeing the secondary ticket market and ultimately allowing Ticketmaster to have exclusive rights to the profit that can be made.
Ticketmaster seemed to have taken a conservative approach of instituting the new program. Personally, however, I feel that it was definitely intelligent and probably the correct one. Penn State has adopted the new ticketing platform, using it for its football games. When a student arrives at the stadium, he or she is required to present their student ID, which is scanned. If the student has purchased a ticket package, they will gain entry to the game. In addition, students are now allowed to resell their tickets for a reasonable profit. The University itself is able to put a limit on the number of tickets that can be resold and the actual price the tickets could be sold at. I strongly agree with Penn State’s stance because it eliminates the influence of brokers and scalpers and keeps the tickets affordable (it is purported that tickets have been sold at an outrageous $1200).
Although paperless ticket sales currently account for an insignificant amount of the actual sales, I have a strong feeling that this will change in the future. The new program is gaining support from musical icons, including Bruce Springsteen and Miley Cyrus. With the affirmation of such artists and the advantages introduces in the aforementioned examples, it is difficult to see why this new program will not flourish. Moreover, I truly hope that it will indeed succeed so unfair ticketing practices can ultimately be eliminated. In conclusion, I highly agree with Ticketmaster’s stance and truly believe this is the future of ticket sales. It incorporates innovative technology with fair business practices, which seems to have an auspicious future.
Article found online:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/sns-ap-us-tec-ticketmaster-scalpers,0,6028675.story
I think this invention of paperless tickets is a great way for companies to save money. It first gets rid of all the simple problems of having a physical ticket: you can't forget it, and you can't lose it. I even had a personal experience with the problems and security features of TicketMaster. I bought 2 tickets for a Philadelphia Phillies game over ticketmaster, and when I printed them out the first time, the printer malfunctioned so I had to print them again. When I got to the park, they scanned my ticket and said they were not valid. I realized that TicketMaster only allows a ticket to be printed once, and since I printed them twice I was carrying invalid tickets. I had to wait a while and go to customer service and prove I bought the tickets. This new technology can prevent circumstances like this from happening, and I think is a great advancement in ticket sales.
ReplyDeleteThe implementation of a "paperless" ticket system brings both consumer and company benefits. For a company, this system offers a greener approach to the business, cuts down on cuts and provides a more secure method of operating. In addition, it provides an opportunity to hedge against the secondary ticket market. For a consumer, this system puts the responsibility for the ticket on the company, however, I do see a potential problem created by "paperless" tickets. Although the secondary ticket market protects Ticketmaster's profits, it also eliminates an opportunity for consumer to consumer business. Websites like StubHub, despite perhaps promoting illicit transactions, also give consumers the opportunity to get rid of unwanted tickets if plans suddenly change or find tickets to an otherwise sold out event.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this implementation of the paperless ticket is an excellent way to eliminating increasing ticket prices and it will also decrease the number of tickets being bought in mass amounts upon them going on sale. Many scalpers tend to purchase vast amounts of tickets initially and then sell them for extraordinary prices. They almost always make their money because by purchasing many tickets when they first go on sale lessens the pool of tickets available to the public which causes customers to buy at a significantly greater price. The implementation of the paperless ticket is also an excellent way to avoid the loss of one's ticket. Many times people pay for their ticket and then loose it which creates a very big hassle when trying to prove the purchase in order to get another ticket. This ability to use one's credit card is very convenient and hassle free which is usually created when one has to hold on to a paper ticket.This ticket although will prohibit the sale on StubHub or E-bay, Ticket-master has still created a process in which the ticket can be resold to other customers. This reduces the likelihood of increased prices when it comes to ticket purchasing.
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