Letter to Phish re: scalping

[Play_It_Leo]

Nice find nab. I figured there was a way, just depends on ebay's cooperation. I do not feel this is a waste of time. If any band would take the time to get their tickets back from a blatant scalper of tickets like this, it's 

[mattstick]

Ebay's privacy policy does allow third parties to request personal information.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/privacy-policy.html#Disclosure

Then people will just take their tickets to Stubhub.

The best way to get tickets out of the hands of scalpers is for "fans" not to buy them on the secondary market.

How many people on this board bought Hampton tickets on eBay or StubHub?

[Hicks]

Ebay's privacy policy does allow third parties to request personal information.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/privacy-policy.html#Disclosure

Then people will just take their tickets to Stubhub.

The best way to get tickets out of the hands of scalpers is for "fans" not to buy them on the secondary market.

How many people on this board bought Hampton tickets on eBay or StubHub?

Truth.  Although I think it's OK to buy them on the secondary market myself.  What's not OK is paying hundreds of dollars over face.  If these douchebags can only make a couple bucks on Phish tickets then they'll stop bothering with them.

[Play_It_Leo]

I'm not disagreeing that scalping will continue to be a huge problem. I agree that the best way to cut down on it is for less people to buy outrageously priced tickets. But when someone is blatantly flaunting that they got their tickets from the lottery, I'd like for the band to put them in their place just once and revoke their tickets before they're mailed.  And yes, next time they do it they'll be smarter about it. I'll take small victories for us vs. the brokers though.

[mattstick]

I've found my way into 103 shows without ever using eBay or brokers for tickets.

[Play_It_Leo]

That's awesome matt. I'm hoping to get day-of-show tickets for the Fox the way things are going. Hopefully people stay away from stubhub/ebay and there's still a lot of tickets unpurchased when the show rolls around. Odds on that w/ the 2009 version of Phish is a lot less likely though. It's the unfortunate reality of v3.0.

[rowjimmy]

Ebay's privacy policy does allow third parties to request personal information.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/privacy-policy.html#Disclosure

Then people will just take their tickets to Stubhub.

The best way to get tickets out of the hands of scalpers is for "fans" not to buy them on the secondary market.

How many people on this board bought Hampton tickets on eBay or StubHub?

mattstick is correct.

It's a hard-truth but it's the only way that the scalping could come to an end.

/won't happen

[postjack]

postal money order mail order

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I NEVER got shut out for any show with the old system, not NYE shows, not Halloween shows, nothing.  I for one would love it if they went back to the old system.  But, the brokers would just hire people to fill out the forms and get the tickets mailed to them, so I don't really think it would solve anything, I just liked doing it more.

Yup, like it or not Phish is kind of a big deal in 09.

QFT, and I don't really think that there is any end all be all system to stop scalpers and brokers from getting their hands on the tickets.  I fact, I think that on the whole, Phish fans have been lucky that no one has really paid that much attention to us and we have never really had to deal with this on this scale until now, where as this same thing has been plaguing the more well known "big" acts for decades.  Our scene has finally grown up.

Actually there is a method to stop scalping that has been discussed here before: ticketless tickets.  2 ticket max per order, bring ID and credit card to show to gain entrance.  Your guest must be present with you upon entry.  NIN employs a similar scheme with their lottery tickets.

Tom Waits did this with his entire tour last summer, all sold through TM.  Of course this also makes tickets untradeable or unsellable at face, but this also prevents folks from putting in for tickets to shows they'll never goto in hopes for a trade.

I am not sure what the barriers are for Phish to do this.

[nab]

Ebay's privacy policy does allow third parties to request personal information.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/privacy-policy.html#Disclosure

Then people will just take their tickets to Stubhub.

The best way to get tickets out of the hands of scalpers is for "fans" not to buy them on the secondary market.

How many people on this board bought Hampton tickets on eBay or StubHub?

mattstick is correct.

It's a hard-truth but it's the only way that the scalping could come to an end.

/won't happen

Add to this equation the fact that Phish fans are by and large more established in their lives now, better off, more able to afford the exorbitant prices  

[mattstick]

Actually there is a method to stop scalping that has been discussed here before: ticketless tickets.  2 ticket max per order, bring ID and credit card to show to gain entrance.  Your guest must be present with you upon entry.  NIN employs a similar scheme with their lottery tickets.

Tom Waits did this with his entire tour last summer, all sold through TM.  Of course this also makes tickets untradeable or unsellable at face, but this also prevents folks from putting in for tickets to shows they'll never goto in hopes for a trade.

I am not sure what the barriers are for Phish to do this.

Imagine trying to get into Hampton like this...

[mattstick]

Phish shows are fun, but they have never been worth a months rent to me.

The shows that are easy to get tickets too are often the most fun.

This time next year the buzz will have died down and Summer 2010 tour will be mostly easy to get into.

[postjack]

Actually there is a method to stop scalping that has been discussed here before: ticketless tickets.  2 ticket max per order, bring ID and credit card to show to gain entrance.  Your guest must be present with you upon entry.  NIN employs a similar scheme with their lottery tickets.

Tom Waits did this with his entire tour last summer, all sold through TM.  Of course this also makes tickets untradeable or unsellable at face, but this also prevents folks from putting in for tickets to shows they'll never goto in hopes for a trade.

I am not sure what the barriers are for Phish to do this.

Imagine trying to get into Hampton like this...

Honestly?  I don't think it's any harder then scanning a ticket. At Waits they had handheld devices: they checked my ID, swiped my AMEX, a seat assignment printed out, and we walked right in.  No hassles.

I don't know what the heck was up at Hampton.  It was the lamest security patdown ever.  No idea what the logic was there.

[VDB]

I don't know what the heck was up at Hampton.  It was the lamest security patdown ever.  No idea what the logic was there.

To give the fans a cheap thrill? Man was I embarrassed to be wearing sweatpants!

[keeb333]

A much better course of action would be to find eBay regulations that these auctions violate and report them to eBay.

Phish has no legal recourse over these auctions.

While I agree with you about the course of action, Phish does have legal recourse over the individuals that put these tickets up for auction through the agreement included in ticket purchase.  Admitting that the tickets came from lottery also implicates these individuals.  Reporting the activities to Phish couldn't hurt, and just might help.

Since the tickets have not been mailed yet, Phish should tell those bastards they violated the terms of the sale, cancel their tickets and then refund their money.  Then, draw another name from the Fox requests (surely they still have that data somewhere), send that person an email offering the tickets to them...if they decline, go the next name on the list, etc.

That would seem like a reasonable way of dealing with this, especially since they admitted they won the tickets on through the lotto.

[G. Augusto]

I've found my way into 103 102 shows without ever using eBay or brokers for tickets.