hi everyone,

Literally---in the 35 years I've been attending concerts/shows---I've never bought tkts for more than $30. I need help in understanding how or where to sell tickets. I have never bought expensive tkts til now---and I cannot use them! And I must sell and am completely flummoxed.

What happened:

My friend/former BF was hyping this "40th Anniversary Last Waltz" concert coming to San Francisco -- Saturday April 15.

He's friends with Warren Haynes and maybe as a favor to him? he hyped the hell out of the San Francisco Last Waltz show---he was just over the moon---hinting many remaining participants in the original Last Waltz would be showing up for the concert. (Saturday April 15th - The Masonic - San Francisco)

He posted on FB that the tkts were going on sale at 10am and would sell out super fast. He indicated that Taj Mahal, Dr. John, and Garth Hudson were already publicly announced - which is true - but the other big names would be forthcoming...which may be true but remains to be seen.

I bought 3 tkts from Live Nation for $275 each for the 3rd and 4th row Floor.

But now...I cannot go. I'm in a professional certification program and turns out Saturday is a mandatory class. I live in Las Vegas and can't make it to San Francisco by Sat. night.

Please don't tell me what a stupid $%^&*ing idiot I am. I know.

The show has NOT only NOT sold out----it seems to have sold only 1/4 of the tickets----seats $$$ have plummeted.

I didn't even know ticket prices can drop!

WORSE----one of the tickets was apparently an "official" Live Nation ticket, and I hit the RESELL button, but it only allows dropping the price from $275 to $250 (comparable seats are selling for $200 now).

AND-----the other two were apparently something called "Platinum," which means they are Friends & Family placed for sale by STAFF. That is why I was forced to purchase 2 instead of 1. AND I cannot re-sell them on Live Nation, and have to go to a "third party." But I don't know how.

Please help me.

I do not understand this arena at all. I am kicking myself so hard I can't even tell you. As I said, I'm a risk-taker, but any risk in my life has been calculated--except this one thing---and for which I exercised terrible judgment.

I do not know how or where to sell tickets. What do you do? Where is it "safe" to sell them? I don't understand how you would sell via craigslist? or StubHub?

Do you think anyone will buy them? How can I sell somewhere, for almost any price?

I am far from being a monied person. This purchase was only because it seemed my former BF had inside scoop that Neil Young was showing up, as well as maybe Dylan, etc.

It seemed like it WAS worth it to for *literally* a once-in-my-lifetime splurge.

Please advise--please don't be a jerk, chiding me for my idiocy. I know. I know. I know.

Whether I deserve this for being such a stupidass---losing $800 for tkts I cannot use would literally be (by 20x) the worst financial loss I've incurred in my life.

Thanks
-swiss



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2017-04-12 15:07 by swiss.

Quote
swiss
hi everyone,

Literally---in the 35 years I've been attending concerts/shows---I've never bought tkts for more than $30. I need help in understanding how or where to sell tickets. I have never bought expensive tkts til now---and I cannot use them! And I must sell and am completely flummoxed.

What happened:

My friend/former BF was hyping this "40th Anniversary Last Waltz" concert coming to San Francisco -- Saturday April 15.

He's friends with Warren Haynes and maybe as a favor to him? he hyped the hell out of the San Francisco Last Waltz show---he was just over the moon---hinting many remaining participants in the original Last Waltz would be showing up for the concert. (Saturday April 15th - The Masonic - San Francisco)

He posted on FB that the tkts were going on sale at 10am and would sell out super fast. He indicated that Taj Mahal, Dr. John, and Garth Hudson were already publicly announced - which is true - but the other big names would be forthcoming...which may be true but remains to be seen.

I bought 3 tkts from Live Nation for $275 each for the 3rd and 4th row Floor.

But now...I cannot go. I'm in a professional certification program and turns out Saturday is a mandatory class. I live in Las Vegas and can't make it to San Francisco by Sat. night.

Please don't tell me what a stupid $%^&*ing idiot I am. I know.

The show has NOT only NOT sold out----it seems to have sold only 1/4 of the tickets----seats $$$ have plummeted.

I didn't even know ticket prices can drop!

WORSE----one of the tickets was apparently an "official" Live Nation ticket, and I hit the RESELL button, but it only allows dropping the price from $275 to $250 (comparable seats are selling for $200 now).

AND-----the other two were apparently something called "Platinum," which means they are Friends & Family placed for sale by STAFF. That is why I was forced to purchase 2 instead of 1. AND I cannot re-sell them on Live Nation, and have to go to a "third party." But I don't know how.

Please help me.

I do not understand this arena at all. I am kicking myself so hard I can't even tell you. As I said, I'm a risk-taker, but any risk in my life has been calculated--except this one thing---and for which I exercised terrible judgment.

I do not know how or where to sell tickets. What do you do? Where is it "safe" to sell them? I don't understand how you would sell via craigslist? or StubHub?

Do you think anyone will buy them? How can I sell somewhere, for almost any price?

I am far from being a monied person. This purchase was only because it seemed my former BF had inside scoop that Neil Young was showing up, as well as maybe Dylan, etc.

It seemed like it WAS worth it to for *literally* a once-in-my-lifetime splurge.

Please advise--please don't be a jerk, chiding me for my idiocy. I know. I know. I know.

Whether I deserve this for being such a stupidass---losing $800 for tkts I cannot use would literally be (by 20x) the worst financial loss I've incurred in my life.

Thanks
-swiss

There are countless 'platforms' for selling unwanted tickets, collectively they are described as the 'secondary market'.

Visit the websites of the four principal players:

STUBHUB
GETMEIN
VIAGOGO
SEATWAVE

Then dive into the 'How To Sell' pages, of which there will be such on all four. Pick your platform of choice, 'list' your tickets (make them available for sale), follow the prompts as you work your way through the listing process ... and voila ! Your tickets will be listed, and you will get paid by the method you have chosen, an amount that corresponds to whatever you listed them for, LESS the platform's fees !

From the information you have given, you will likely lose money on getting rid of your unwanted tickets, but 'something' is better than 'nothing' - right ?

Good luck. We all have to take a hit sometimes, you'll survive to live another day !

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

O whoops, just noticed that the date of the show was yesterday 15th ! Posted too late - sorreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

thanks, Paulywaul - much appreciated. I will never buy tkts again. I didn't realize (b/c I dont follow threads here when ppl are discussing tkt pricse and frustrations) that ticket prices drop sometimes!

Also---never ever ever ever buy "Platinum" tickets from Livenation/Ticketmaster. There's no wiggle-room, no ability to sell, no transfer, no refunds, you're forced to purchase at least 2 tkts -- these "Platinum" tix are ones the venue or promoter sell themselves, and it's not really a Livenation/Ticketmaster sale, altho' the initial transaction happens on the Livenation/Ticketmaster web site.

I was overwhelmed by wading into that "secondary market" of which you speak. I didn't know which one to pick...pros and cons...or whether I could post the seats in multiple websites--then ended up getting walloped by the flu with 103 temp and could not think straight and knew my judgment was not trustworthy.

So---grabbed for the thing I know "best," which I don't really know that well, which was craigslist.

I sold 1 solo tkt (literally best seat in the venue) for almost what I paid -- it was VIP and had some schwag. I had purchased that one as a Livenation/Ticketmaster seat -- because I don't know this "game," it was baffling to me that that seat wasn't available right away. I had gotten on Livenation/Ticketmaster minutes after the tix went on sale---due to friend hyping it, and based on what he said, thinking "Holy shit! I might be able to see Robbie R, Neil Young, and Mavis Staples doing the Last Waltz, and that it would sell out in minutes----but that awesome single seat showed up a week later (?!). So I bought it, thinking it was a fluke and I could sell the others easily.

The solo seat went pretty much effortlessly on craigslist. The fact that 3 out of 4 inquiries were scammers was disconcerting but whatever.

But the pair of Platinum tix was a bear to sell. Some random guy (tho I figured out his name) posted a "Last Waltz - Public Service Announcement" and told people that my ad was a scam, that he was 100% sure of it, and that he narrowly escaped being ripped off by me----this guy had wasted 10 hours of my time going back and forth about whether he wanted both seats or 1, trying to get lower and lower prices, and then would disappear while other people were also inquiring, so I had pulled the plug on this guy. (Weird thing is, he's an executive at a tech firm, I Googled him, and you'd think he'd have better things to do with his time--as well as better judgment--scammers usually sound like scammers--and this guy and I had 16 backs and forths on the tix).

FOUR people considering buying the tkts were good enough to tell me that Mr. "Public Service Announcement" made them too leery to deal with me.

Finally, at 6:30pm, a nice guy who works for Google and has seen The Last Waltz movie 100 times, bought the seats -- he paid 1/2 before he got into the venue and 1/2 immediately upon entering.

Mr. "Public Service Announcement" had helpfully warned that I make counterfeit tickets and they would not be able to get in, even if the tkts look real.

Anyway---all's pretty well that ends well.

But those waters are so ugly I will never swim in them again.

-swiss

Quote
swiss
thanks, Paulywaul - much appreciated. I will never buy tkts again. I didn't realize (b/c I dont follow threads here when ppl are discussing tkt pricse and frustrations) that ticket prices drop sometimes!

Also---never ever ever ever buy "Platinum" tickets from Livenation/Ticketmaster. There's no wiggle-room, no ability to sell, no transfer, no refunds, you're forced to purchase at least 2 tkts -- these "Platinum" tix are ones the venue or promoter sell themselves, and it's not really a Livenation/Ticketmaster sale, altho' the initial transaction happens on the Livenation/Ticketmaster web site.

I was overwhelmed by wading into that "secondary market" of which you speak. I didn't know which one to pick...pros and cons...or whether I could post the seats in multiple websites--then ended up getting walloped by the flu with 103 temp and could not think straight and knew my judgment was not trustworthy.

So---grabbed for the thing I know "best," which I don't really know that well, which was craigslist.

I sold 1 solo tkt (literally best seat in the venue) for almost what I paid -- it was VIP and had some schwag. I had purchased that one as a Livenation/Ticketmaster seat -- because I don't know this "game," it was baffling to me that that seat wasn't available right away. I had gotten on Livenation/Ticketmaster minutes after the tix went on sale---due to friend hyping it, and based on what he said, thinking "Holy shit! I might be able to see Robbie R, Neil Young, and Mavis Staples doing the Last Waltz, and that it would sell out in minutes----but that awesome single seat showed up a week later (?!). So I bought it, thinking it was a fluke and I could sell the others easily.

The solo seat went pretty much effortlessly on craigslist. The fact that 3 out of 4 inquiries were scammers was disconcerting but whatever.

But the pair of Platinum tix was a bear to sell. Some random guy (tho I figured out his name) posted a "Last Waltz - Public Service Announcement" and told people that my ad was a scam, that he was 100% sure of it, and that he narrowly escaped being ripped off by me----this guy had wasted 10 hours of my time going back and forth about whether he wanted both seats or 1, trying to get lower and lower prices, and then would disappear while other people were also inquiring, so I had pulled the plug on this guy. (Weird thing is, he's an executive at a tech firm, I Googled him, and you'd think he'd have better things to do with his time--as well as better judgment--scammers usually sound like scammers--and this guy and I had 16 backs and forths on the tix).

FOUR people considering buying the tkts were good enough to tell me that Mr. "Public Service Announcement" made them too leery to deal with me.

Finally, at 6:30pm, a nice guy who works for Google and has seen The Last Waltz movie 100 times, bought the seats -- he paid 1/2 before he got into the venue and 1/2 immediately upon entering.

Mr. "Public Service Announcement" had helpfully warned that I make counterfeit tickets and they would not be able to get in, even if the tkts look real.

Anyway---all's pretty well that ends well.

But those waters are so ugly I will never swim in them again.

-swiss

You're right, the 'secondary market' waters are very ugly indeed. And regrettably, that means if whether it's by choice or by necessity that you find yourself swimming in them, it is rather incumbent upon you to be wise, be smart, and understand how the particular platform you choose to buy/sell through works, and whether you can make it work vaguely in your favour fir any given 'transaction'. And as always, beware the scammer, the bullshi**er, the outright liar ... and so on !

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]