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Buying tickets
Introduction
Tickets for the big events sell out in minutes. Is there any way to beat the rush?
There's nothing much more frustrating than wanting to go to a hot-ticket event and then find it’s sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. Even worse is finding out the ticket you've hunted down through some internet site is not the real thing.
We look at how to protect yourself against fraudulent ticket sales and how to get tickets to the next big show.
Beating the rush
Prepping for presales
Before tickets are sold to the general public there are always "presales". Presales can be a misnomer: for example each year 18,800 Sevens tickets are "pre-sold" to season ticket holders, rugby clubs, hospitality companies and so on. Another 7700 are distributed to Sevens' teams and commercial partners. Just 8500 of the 35,000 tickets are sold direct to the wider public.
So the first rule of ticket buying is to get a head start on direct ticket sales. Try these tips:
- Join your favourite band's email list or social network page (Facebook or MySpace). You'll get information on tour dates, band members and - crucially - presales.
- Create Ticketmaster and Ticketek accounts. You can customise your account so that ticket alerts and presale options for your preferred events are sent directly to your inbox.
- Sign up with major promoters like Frontier Touring Company and Chugg Entertainment. It's their business to advertise upcoming gigs - and presale options often come as part of the marketing package.
- Register with your local venue. Some clubs and pubs sell gig tickets online. If you frequent a venue, join its email list for updates on events.
- Buy season tickets for your favourite team. If your team performs well, you'll get first go on semi-final and final tickets. Many season tickets also come with presale options for related events held at your home ground.
Buy with thunder
Event organisers differ in their approach to selling tickets. The NZI Sevens' organisers rely on presales whereas bands sell most tickets direct to the public.
Successful ticket buyers need determination and organisation:
- Find out what company is selling tickets and the exact time tickets go on sale.
- Pre-register with the ticketing company. You can log in your details (including your credit card number) and save yourself precious seconds when sales begin.
- Set yourself up next to a powerful computer (log on before the event goes on sale). Watch the clock closely ...
- Attack from different angles. Get one friend to phone the ticketing company while another buys tickets online.
- Stay cool. Online pages will take longer to upload if there's heavy traffic. Simply refresh the page if the server "times out". Likewise phone calls will take longer to get through. Be patient.
When it's sold out
There are always tickets - even if the local press declares that all tickets are gone.
Big bands often announce second shows after the first show sells out. You might get a second bite of the apple if you missed out on tickets to the first show.
Official hospitality partners also resell tickets as "package deals" - these are available long after the box office has closed. We discovered we could still get package deals (including tickets, accommodation and "exclusive souvenirs") for the Sevens a month and a half after general sales had sold out. But they were very expensive compared with booking your own accommodation and tickets a few months in advance.
Add your contact details to the waiting list on the official event website if you can't afford a package deal. The organisers will contact you if more tickets become available. But there's no guarantee the tickets will be in your price range or in good seats.
For certain shows, Ticketmaster now offers online auctions. The amount you're willing to bid will determine whether you receive tickets as well as the type of seat you're allocated. Ticketmaster auctions are between artists/promoters/venues and concertgoers rather than private sellers and buyers.
If all else fails radio stations, sponsors and event organisers will run competitions leading up to the event. Keep your ear to the ground: you might pick up free tickets.
Online auctions
The other option if you're after tickets is to buy them via an online auction site like Trade Me. Tickets can cost much more than the official retail price.
Another disadvantage (according to promoters) is you risk buying counterfeit tickets from unscrupulous sellers. But Trade Me's Mike O'Donnell says this is rare and Trade Me is able to assist the buyer seek redress through the Disputes Tribunal.
Tickets sold over Trade Me are covered by a host of laws. According to Mike, people selling counterfeit tickets online face prosecution under the Fair Trading Act, the Sale of Goods Act and the fraud provisions of the Crimes Act.
Mike says that if you're buying tickets on Trade Me you should use the same trust and safety tools you would for other goods: "Look at a person's feedback, check to see they are 'address verified', pay through a secure and traceable mechanism and pick up the item personally. If you can't pick up the tickets, use Safetrader to insure them."
Who's being scalped?
You'll discover many sellers on Trade Me have a reason for reselling their seats: "my mates pulled out" or "my brother overbooked". No one wants to be accused of on-selling tickets to make a profit (scalping). And promoters themselves partly contribute to scalping: the organisers of NZI Sevens, for example, only released 8500 tickets for general sale.
Economics professor John Fountain noted that there would be less demand for scalped tickets if event organisers released all available seats - instead of 24 percent.
Terminating touts
Tickets sold on Trade Me compete with official resellers of package deals. Under the ticket's terms and conditions, organisers may attempt to stop scalpers by threatening to bar scalped ticket holders from the event.
Such terms and conditions are legally valid but difficult to uphold. Chapman Tripp commercial lawyer Gary Hughes explains: "It is hard to accurately identify and weed out the scalped tickets and it raises major practical issues about disputes and confrontation on the doorsteps of an event between security guards and punters."
The government's Major Events Management Act 2007 bans ticket scalping for selected major international events. For instance, it's a criminal offence to scalp tickets to the Rugby World Cup.
Terms and conditions
A ticket is a contract between you and the ticket seller. The seller has to clearly inform you of the ticket's terms and conditions before you buy.
Make sure you read the terms and conditions: different events have different rules.
The agent that sold you the ticket (for example Ticketek or Ticketmaster) is legally responsible for sorting out any problems with the ticket, not the venue.
Here are some common problems:
- Cancelled shows: You should get a full refund of your ticket price plus any booking fee if the show's cancelled. But you won't be compensated for costs such as airline tickets if the event's cancelled for a reason outside the promoter's control.
- Postponed shows: You should be able to claim a refund on the ticket price if the rescheduled date doesn't suit you. But this won't apply if the postponement was allowed for in the terms and conditions (for example, if it's an outdoor event rescheduled for a fine day).
- Double-booked seats: You're entitled to a refund if a ticketing agent doesn't exercise "reasonable care and skill" when allocating your seat.
- Poor A-reserve seats: Each grade of seating should be superior to those cheaper than it. You should be able to see and hear a show well from your A-reserve seats. Complain immediately if the seats you paid extra for aren't any good: you might be re-seated. Otherwise ask for a refund at the ticketing office the following day.
- Shut out: Event organisers claim that they can refuse entry to people who hold "scalped" tickets, although this is tough to enforce at the venue.
Service fees
Recently Paul, a Technical Writer at Consumer and film buff, wanted to see several films at the Wellington International Film Festival. He booked his tickets through the Ticketek website and was charged a $5.25 service fee.
"They wanted to add that per booking, which meant I had to book the five films I wanted to see in one go or get stung for another $25-40 for the honour of using their service", he explains.
After booking, Paul was offered the option of paying a further $8 to get his tickets sent to him or picking them up himself from the venue. Paul opted to print them for free. So what exactly is a service fee?
Ticketek's Country Manager Brendon Bainbridge says that the service fee partly covers the distribution cost of the ticket sale: "The individual who picks up the ticket at the venue still orders them through a channel (phone or web) and obviously a cost is incurred in managing that sale. ... Distribution costs cover the overall cost of transacting the ticket sale to the consumer."
Brendon points out that the cheapest option if you're buying several tickets with Ticketek is to purchase "print at home" tickets online. Otherwise it's usually cheaper to pick up single tickets direct from the box office.
Case study: Bledisloe Cup test match
Brian Small and his wife bought seven tickets costing $644 to a Bledisloe Cup test match at Eden Park. He had two family members flying in from Australia and three others heading north to Auckland from around New Zealand.
Brian and co arrived at the park 40 minutes before kick-off only to find other people sitting in their seats: "I asked to see their tickets and was surprised that they had the same numbers as us." Brian told an usher that the seats were double-booked. The usher offered to relocate the group after the Haka.
Brian then spent 25 minutes after kick-off squabbling with ground staff and ticket clerks before being relocated to an inferior section of the stadium. His Bledisloe night was ruined.
Afterwards Ticketmaster offered the group a $45 credit on each ticket (rather than a full refund) on the basis that they'd "seen the game". But Brian wanted a full refund.
Ticketmaster raised the offer: would Brian accept a $350 refund and seven tickets to an NPC game? No, he wouldn't ... "you are required under New Zealand law to make a full cash refund".
When Ticketmaster automatically refunded $350 into his credit card account ("Ticketmaster now considers this issue closed"), Brian took the matter to the Disputes Tribunal. As he says: "We won - and received a full refund."