How To Scalp Tickets Online
How to Scalp Tickets – wikiHow
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Scalping tickets refers to the advance purchase and resale of tickets once an event has sold out. Depending on the supply-and-demand for a given ticket, there is a lot of money to be potentially made in ticket scalping. It is illegal most places, you can easily fund your personal ticket purchases by learning the craft of scalping and selling a few tickets at each sold-out show you attend. [1]
1Use a proxy server. Ticket scalping is most likely illegal where you live. Although the chances of you being caught are slim, you should look into getting a proxy browser like Tor if you’re any bit worried. Proxies will block your IP address and make it difficult
2Buy tickets early. If you’re going to be using an online outlet to sell, you won’t be doing yourself any services if you wait to strike. Keep your eye out for presales and wide-release sale dates. The sooner you buy tickets, the better tickets you’ll have at your disposal. Better tickets will maximize the likelihood of being to sell them off to a potential customer.
3
Choose a suitable price. [2]
There is much debate as to how much a scalper should charge for an upmarked event ticket. Ultimately, it depends on the original price, quality of seat, and predicted demand for the ticket in question. Generally speaking, if a show has sold out, it becomes a seller’s market. Many professional scalpers tend to upmark resold tickets by 50%. [3]
Don’t forget to factor in service fees (including fees from the online marketplace) into your final price.
If your ticket price is way over the face value on personal ad sites like Craigslist, you run the risk of getting your post flagged. [4]
4Sell via an generic online marketplace. You can sell tickets online as you would anything else. Websites like eBay and Craigslist are known hangouts for online scalpers although the police are wise to that now. [5]
Both of these sites allow the resale of tickets, and you can do so without incurring the major fees of ticket sites like StubHub.
5
Use a ticket resale website. [6]
Ticket resale websites, colloquially called “fan-to-fan marketplaces”, have emerged specifically due to how much money there is to be made in ticket resale. Websites like StubHub will allow you to post your tickets in a trusted setting. [7]
These marketplaces are helpful because they’re relatively safe and the buyers on that site will be there specifically with what you’re selling in mind.
A ticket resale website also allows you to browse your scalping competition more conveniently. If you’re unsure how much you should mark up your ticket price, you can look up on what other scalpers are charging for the point of reference.
6Consider hidden fees. If you’re using an online marketplace like StubHub, you should keep in mind the fees you may incur. StubHub typically siphons 15% of your profits, plus a service charge. If you’re selling enough tickets and cutting enough of a profit margin, this shouldn’t be an issue. If you’re a more small-time scalper however, you may be better off with using a site like Craigslist or selling the tickets in person.
7
Track your profits. While scalping tickets in person tends to be a casual affair, purchasing and reselling tickets online for profit is more of a business than anything. Because the logistics are easier, you can think more about it in terms of supply-and-demand, market value and probability. With that in mind, keeping a spreadsheet of your profits and losses is essential for success in the long run.
If your tickets are selling fast, you may want to buy more tickets next time. On the other hand, if you’re not getting enough sales, you could lower your upmark a bit to attract customers.
Not everything will work the same for each category. Sports events may see different rates of success than an avant-garde metal concert. It may be a good idea to split your spreadsheet into different types of event. That way, you’ll be able to see where the most money is.
1
Determine whether a show will sell out. Especially if you’re selling a ticket in person, you need to make relatively sure that there will be a demand for the upmarked tickets you’re trying to sell. There is only a promise of demand if the event sells out. You can usually have a decent idea whether or not a show will sell out based on other shows that artist or team have put on. Look online to see if earlier events sold out.
Artists who charge the least for tickets are your best bet as a prospective scalper. [8]
It’s a good idea to look up on the artist performing as well, specifically their history for pricing. Some artists may charge as much as they can for tickets, while others will purposefully undercharge with the hopes of capitalizing on merchandise sales once their customers are inside the venue. [9]
2Aim to buy higher quality tickets. Unlike selling online, you are probably not going to be able to sell to a large amount of buyers while scalping in person. Realistically, a dedicated scalper may only sell to a few parties in one night, so it’s important to make those sales count with higher quality tickets. Buy your tickets early, and make sure the tickets themselves are part of a tier that’s bound to sell out fast.
3Get to the venue early. It doesn’t hurt to get to the venue early. After all, fans who are desperate to get tickets aren’t going to wait around to head over. For the highest demand events, you may have all of your tickets sold hours before the show starts. Getting to the venue will also give you a time to gain some selling momentum before the majority of ticket-holders show up and things begin to get chaotic.
4Make sure the buyers have the cash beforehand. Because of the illegality of scalping tickets, you won’t be able to go to the police if you’re cheated by a prospective buyer. Before handing anyone your tickets, make sure they actually have the cash to pay for it.
Be loud. You don’t exactly need to have a brilliant marketing scheme when it comes to scalping tickets, but you do need to make people aware that you’re selling them. Be loud, and shout what you’re selling. including the type and number of seats. You can repeat this information loudly. If there is a demand for what you’re selling, people will eventually come up to you and ask.
For example, if you were selling great tickets to a sold-out Dream Theater concert, you could say something like this: “Dream Theater, front row! Pair of tickets. ”
You don’t need to shout out the price as part of your repeated mantra. Some people who approach you may be more likely to accept a price once they’ve already opened a dialogue with you, as opposed to hearing a high price before approaching.
6
Make the exchange. Once the interested buyer has agreed to your price, its a simple matter of exchanging the tickets for the cash. The exchange itself should be fast and painless. There may be reason to be suspicious if the buyer is procrastinating or wasting time. In the vas majority of cases, buyers looking for scalped tickets are in a rush to get inside the venue, so an interaction shouldn’t take very long once the price has been agreed upon.
Don’t expect the buyer to show much in the way of gratitude. Scalpers are looked down on, and although they technically getting into a sold-out show because of you, the opportunism isn’t going to get you into anyone’s good graces.
Lower your prices if necessary. Like so many things in business, there is an element of financial risk in scalping tickets. Sometimes, a show will not sell out near as much as you thought you would. The tickets you are selling may not be quite as demanded as you had hoped for. If you’re having bad luck, don’t be afraid to lower your ticket prices. If there is no hope of selling them for a profit, you should cut your losses and sell the tickets at face value or below. It will be a defeat, but nowhere near as much as if you let the tickets go to complete waste.
On a brighter note, selling tickets at their face value is completely legal, so you won’t have to worry about infringing upon the law if it turns out you have to lower your prices. [10]
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How do I know when tickets start to sell?
Usually there are websites, often owned by the ticket providers themselves, that will list upcoming shows and the future ticket sale date. Ticketmaster is a good example.
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While turning a profit on scalped tickets is often illegal, it’s legal everywhere to sell a ticket at its face value. Of course, there is no use in doing this unless you bought tickets and can no longer use them. [11]
Some people have actually made entire careers out of the resale of tickets. [12]
You might make surprisingly good money off of this venture if you have a knack for scoping out the market.
Selling scalped tickets is illegal, you can’t get into much trouble buying them. Although the upmarked prices tend to make scalped tickets not worth it, you can go into buying them free of anxiety if you choose to do so. [13]
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Be cautious if you try to buy any scalped tickets yourself. Ticket fraud is very common, and while most scalpers are trying to make an honest dollar, there are some trying to swindle buyers.
Although it’s a victimless crime, the act of scalping tickets is illegal in most countries. If you choose to go through with the resale of tickets, you do so at your own risk. In some Canadian provinces, for example, you may incur a maximum $5000 fine if caught. [14]
Be aware of competition and the police. If it’s a high-priority event you are reselling for, it is unlikely you’re the only one tapping into the scalping market. Keep your eyes out for other scalpers. If you can, try to hear how much they’re selling their tickets for.
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How to Make Money Ticket Scalping Online (Legally!) – The …
It used to be that ticket scalping was seen as sleazy and illegal. Shady characters hung around outside concerts or sporting events offering tickets for a premium to anyone who didn’t get theirs before they sold out.
Add to that, scalping is illegal in Canada and in several US states as a safety or crowd-control measure. But you no longer have to hang out by the stadium gates….
Now you can make money buying and selling tickets at home, using online brokers. Oh, and you’re no longer a disreputable “scalper. ” Now you’re a respectable “ticket reseller. ”
Since some states and cities do regulate ticket resale in various ways, it is best make all your sales using online brokers that make sure sales are in compliance with any local laws. It’s one less thing for you to worry about. Perhaps the biggest and best-known of the online platforms is, which also guarantees the tickets for the buyer, alleviating their concerns about fakes. That makes it easier for you to sell.
I learned about StubHub a few years back, when a friend said he was going to see A Perfect Circle play at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver. He paid $100 for two tickets, and although I hadn’t heard of the band, they apparently have a devoted following. My friend later ran into a problem with his schedule and couldn’t go to the concert, so he sold the tickets. It took two days to get them sold on StubHub… for $200!
He paid a $30 commission (15%) to StubHub, but there were no other costs. StubHub even provided a printable prepaid shipping label for him to use to send the tickets to the buyer. My friend accidentally made a $70 profit because of a scheduling conflict!
Crazy, I know! But, here’s how to replicate his success…
How to Sell Your Tickets
It’s free to list tickets for sale on StubHub, and the website has become even more useful over the years. For example, much of the time now you can simply enter barcodes from your tickets so they can be delivered electronically and instantly to buyers, who then print them out. This means you get your money faster, since you’re paid once the buyer has the tickets.
Of course, if you have physical tickets that can’t be uploaded you can still use the printed labels to send them. The process isn’t difficult, and StubHub explains in detail how to sell your tickets. You can choose to receive payment by check or PayPal deposit.
You might be surprised by the variety of events for which tickets are resold. Golf tournaments, plays, music festivals, magic shows, car shows — if there is an event near you there are probably tickets for it on reseller sites. Using the search feature I checked the next thirty days without specifying any type of event, and I got more than 14, 000 results. Those results were for particular events, with some having hundreds of tickets offered.
Making Money as a Ticket Reseller
Sure, it’s nice to get something for tickets you can’t use, and maybe even make a profit, but what about regularly doing this? To make it into a business or profitable hobby you basically bet on which events will sell out so you can buy early and resell the tickets at a higher price as the event date nears. Research for this is done easily enough online.
Look up events in and around your community and start checking for tickets daily to see if they sell out. If a regular event sells out one time it’s likely to do so again. If there are bands coming to town, search their schedules online and check to see if they sell all seats in other places. Then take a chance, make a purchase, and wait until the event is near to list the tickets for sale.
You can also get an idea of prices right on the various resale websites. If close-to-the-stage seats for a band repeatedly sell for $150 to $250 as they go from one venue to the next, you can be pretty sure you’ll make a profit buying them early for under $100. In addition to you can use the Ticketmaster resale site for research or to sell. Check prices on eBay too, but if you sell your tickets through them their policy is that you are responsible for knowing the laws and regulations for the event location.
You don’t always need an event to sell out to make a profit. If you have really good seats they can sell at a premium even if there are many seats still available far from the stage or field.
You can also buy resale tickets in person to resell them. Let friends and coworkers know you pay for tickets which they can’t use, and make an offer that leaves room for a profit. For example, suppose a coworker has two tickets to a Santana concert. You check and see Santana tickets listed for $178 each (actual price for a Tampa concert as I write this). There are only four tickets left so it seems likely they’ll sell for that price. You pay $120 for the two tickets, list them online, and get $170 each. After a 15% commission is deducted you get a check (or PayPal deposit) for $289, leaving you with a profit of $169. Now repeat the process a couple times weekly if you can.
It may not be as easy as it sounds, and this isn’t a risk-free business, but you won’t go broke trying. Start by buying a couple $40 tickets for an event you would enjoy. Wait until closer to the event date and list them for sale. If they don’t sell for a profit you’re out $80 and you get to go to a show. If you do make a profit you can parlay that into more purchases and try again. Keep in mind that you’ll pay a 15% commission (on; gets all of their money from buyers), so you need to sell for substantially more than what you pay.
The bottom line is that if you guess wrong you lose money, but the potential to make a lot is there. In an ABC News report on scalping, StubHub CMO Ray Elias admits that tickets to “incredible events” sometimes go as cheap as $5, but boxing match tickets have sold for as much as $100, 000 on the site.
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Is Ticket Scalping Illegal? (with pictures) – My Law Questions
Scalpers are generally greedy.
In the US, ticket scalping is the practice of buying and reselling event tickets by private citizens, rather than by the sponsoring venue or organization, usually at a much higher price than their face value. Laws about ticket scalping vary by state, and there is no federal law that prohibits the practice. Approximately 16 of the 50 states have a law that makes scalping illegal. Seven states — Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania — require a special license to resell tickets. Four states — North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio and Virginia — leave the issue up to local municipalities.
Certain laws make ticket scalping illegal.
When ticket scalping laws are broken, consequences are often not enforced. As with crime in general, police officers handle the offense according to severity. Scalping is a nonviolent crime without a victim — in fact, it is a crime where both parties are agreeable to the transaction. Therefore, cops are often hesitant to get involved.
In addition to state laws, other laws make scalping illegal in raceways and the NFL. Those who can enforce the law at races or football games include box office personnel, supervisors, venue managers, ticket agents, security agents, event promoters and seat holders. At other events, reselling tickets is not illegal, but it’s not permitted on stadium grounds. This is why scalping often occurs in close proximity to events, such as concerts or baseball games, but not within the grounds or stadium.
Box office.
Laws became even more difficult to enforce when the practice became widespread online. Internet sites that resell tickets are regulated, tax-paying websites that capitalize on fans’ eagerness to buy tickets at any cost. If the official website for the event sells out, these sites promote themselves as a second chance. Efforts to make the practice illegal are overshadowed by such websites.
Tickets.
Those in favor of the legality of ticket scalping say that going through brokers creates a safe and reliable way to get tickets. They state that it creates a fair, open market that both parties are agreeable toward. Those who want to make the practice illegal argue that the system favors the wealthy and prompts scalpers to buy large quantities of tickets strictly for resale. If the reseller buys up the tickets, fans may not have the opportunity to purchase tickets at their original cost.
States set scalping laws, and some, such as Virginia, leave it up to municipalities.
Ticket scalpers are motivated by different factors, including greed, the desire to prey on fans’ emotions, and a love of capitalism. When scalpers buy large quantities of tickets, they take the risk of failing to resell all of them, losing money. People who attend concerts or sporting events are usually emotionally invested in that event, and resellers take advantage of those feelings. Others see themselves as businessmen. In an effort to compromise on ticket scalping laws, licenses or permits are often required, and the decision to make scalping illegal is made by individual states or municipalities.
Frequently Asked Questions about how to scalp tickets online
Is online ticket scalping legal?
In the US, ticket scalping is the practice of buying and reselling event tickets by private citizens, rather than by the sponsoring venue or organization, usually at a much higher price than their face value. Laws about ticket scalping vary by state, and there is no federal law that prohibits the practice.Jun 10, 2021
How do people scalp online?
When it’s discussed online, scalping usually refers to the practice of making money by reselling something in limited supply. A scalper buys items online at retail price and then resells them for a profit elsewhere. This profit can be small, such as a few extra dollars, or it can be multiple times the original price.Jun 25, 2021
Can you scalp tickets?
While turning a profit on scalped tickets is often illegal, it’s legal everywhere to sell a ticket at its face value. Of course, there is no use in doing this unless you bought tickets and can no longer use them. Some people have actually made entire careers out of the resale of tickets.
