Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Tickets

March 28, 2022 8:06 PM - Season 9, Episode 4

This week (well, two weeks ago): Russias continuing invasion of Ukraine. In the US, the furor over Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill targeting educators, and Disney's contributions to state legislators who support it. And Now: Jim Cramer Presents Grounds For Divorce (expressing many times his wife's love for Wendy's Baconator hamburger). Main story: the market for event tickets, and the many ways it screws over ticket buyers, from the huge market share and hidden fees of Ticketmaster, to the resale market that allows people to buy up huge numbers of tickets and then, in possession of a near-monopoly, flipping those to fans at a large upcharge. On YouTube (20 minutes).
posted by JHarris (2 comments total)

One way to beat scalpers (if they cared to) would be something like a Dutch auction, with the prices starting high and dropping to the expected value. It can be a dick move to customers who miss out, but should at least end up lower than scalped.
posted by Marticus at 8:59 PM on March 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

fb: face value or less
good results: cashortrade
posted by j_curiouser at 12:42 PM on March 30, 2022