Why Are So Few Tickets Being Scalped

[peyote2004]

The majority of tickets that Scalpers have will be be appearing closer to BM ... probably starting around May or June.
The closer it gets to BM, the more desperate people wil be and they will get more $$$ for the tickets. It's not good business to sell them right now.

Also, I think that any true Burners that have extra tickets will likely redistribute them to their friends and within their camps, rather than through STEP.

For all those who didn't get Tix ... Good Luck!

[mshaman]

You can either believe that pro and amateur scalpers have all independently chosen to treat Burning Man differently than any other 'hot ticket' event, or that the ticketing system has been fairly successful in blocking professional scalpers and their proxy networks. Based on the evidence I've seen, I believe it's the latter. We'll see how it plays out.

Based on the reality of actually watching this all play out so far, id say you have no basis for your optimism. But it's a moot issue for me, as I don't think scalpers could make the situation any worse no matter how many tickets they have. It's quite possible they could even make it better.

Overall it's really hard to see where Trilo keeps getting his optimism from, but I have to admit it's a bit contagious. The low sales through stubhub does at least indicate that the possibility exists that the anti-scalping measures in the lottery were mostly effective. As for everyone comparing Burning Man to other festivals as far as ticketing and scalping goes - it's beyond apples and oranges. Coachella, the crowd it attracts, and the potential for scalping there is in no way even similar to Burning Man and I'm sure scalpers know that. They have to have different strategies for an event that sells tickets in stages over months and has so much up-in-the-air speculation going around as to what's happening.

What it comes down to at the moment is that no one actually knows what is going to happen - no one. I doubt even the LLC has a good idea of how this will play out. The announcement that theme camps will get the remaining tickets probably had the effect of delaying larger releases of scalped tickets as the theme camp founders/members are going to be more driven to get tickets early on than individuals or small groups. Now that many of them will be getting tickets I'm sure scalpers will wait a bit longer to put their tickets up for sale. Whether it's "panic" or not - there will be points later on when tickets will be more valuable than they are right now, but as Trilo says - we'll all just need to see how it plays out.

The LLC seems to finally be taking the idea of non transferable tickets for 2013 seriously. Whether that means they'll also drop the lottery and go back to first come first serve we just don't know (but can hope!). They still bring up the incredibly tired excuse of needing to think about people that buy for others or gift tickets, or sell last minute - but honestly compared to this year I think those issues are tiny and can be figured out with good logistics if they don't just consult InTicketing (and hopefully drop them altogether - they do not know what they're doing). It's been a belief of the LLC that a substantial number of tickets change hands for free or at face value and that associating names could ruin that process - but if so many aspects of getting to Burning Man are changing then I think the community can deal with dropping the idea of buying spare tickets just to have or to gift down the road. Here's hoping next year we see an end to tiers (the model is dead and the reasoning behind it no longer applies), non-transferable tickets, and an end to the lottery. No secondary open sale needed - just put 50,000 tickets on sale in Jan and if folks can't save up between now and then too bad for them. Sure there'd be some bitching and whining, but compared to this year it can only get better.

Heh, I'd feel he was optimistic if he asserted all the tickets were in the hands of scalpers. At least then we could buy them. Given the lack of volume in scalping activity and the fact that big camps aren't sitting on stores of tickets, my vote is still radically increased demand due to increased awareness through social networking apps. Which is not to say I agree with any aspect of the lottery or that I don't think it was a problem in and of itself.

[socks]

Please, Just wait until BM.org starts sending tickets in June and the scalpers get their tickets in hand just hold on.

[danibel]

I hope the BMorg holds the hard tickets till August. Then people will have to use STEP to get their money back on their speculated tickets. It will keep the listings off Ebay.

Also - keep the counterfeiters to minimum. Do BMorg. Hold the paper till the very last minute!

[playawaya]

reading these replies in this forum cracks me up. FYI scalpers are already on eplaya, trolling just like how you are trolling for tickets. Let me tell you this, I have and know, many brokers who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars of this event already. Good luck getting "HOME"! =]

[Stephendragonfly]

reading these replies in this forum cracks me up. FYI scalpers are already on eplaya, trolling just like how you are trolling for tickets. Let me tell you this, I have and know, many brokers who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars of this event already. Good luck getting "HOME"! =]

Are you identifying yourself as a scalper???

[playawaya]

are you going to chase me down with a pitchfork?

[Stephendragonfly]

No, makes no real difference to me. I sure can't afford a scalped ticket (heck I'll be lucky to pull off a low income ticket), am just curious why you would out yourself to a group who espouses such an anti scalping vitriol? Of course there are alternate explanations. Perhaps you a snarkmeister shooting for the biggest reaction you can get. If that is the case...join the club.

[Shambala]

This is the year I predict that these slippery scalpers get blocks of tickets shoved up their asses. If they lose their shirts, they will be hawking tickets to the circus next year. Need 'em, got 'em!

[Stephendragonfly]

More tickets coming up on Stubhub all the time, up to 125 tickets for between $1195 and $5000. Just for fun, note that the 5K tix include parking.

[theCryptofishist]

More tickets coming up on Stubhub all the time, up to 125 tickets for between $1195 and $5000. Just for fun, note that the 5K tix include parking.

I will really have trouble feeling sorry if anyone loses his/her money that way...
(I also don't think that those are associated with so much as an email...)

[BBadger]

I will really have trouble feeling sorry if anyone loses his/her money that way...
(I also don't think that those are associated with so much as an email...)

The money has been liberated from the clutches of those who are undeserving of it.

[kujo]

reading these replies in this forum cracks me up. FYI scalpers are already on eplaya, trolling just like how you are trolling for tickets. Let me tell you this, I have and know, many brokers who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars of this event already. Good luck getting "HOME"! =]

This is a lie, what a joke. only 150 ish tix have sold on stubhub which represents probably 75% of the scalper market at an average price of 800. You can see this by creating an account on stubhub and go through the steps of selling burning man tickets. On the last page they will show all tickets sold and the prices they sold for. So you dont have to list tickets you can just view the sale prices.

Good news 150ish tox sold so far which is almost nothing.

Bad news, price keeps rising last few were over 1100. They were 600ish before the camp distribution announcement.

[alt12]

reading these replies in this forum cracks me up. FYI scalpers are already on eplaya, trolling just like how you are trolling for tickets. Let me tell you this, I have and know, many brokers who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars of this event already. Good luck getting "HOME"! =]

Reall? You've made "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on this already? Wow, I'd think you'd be off vacationing in Baja by now instead of desperately trolling around eplaya trying to irritate people.... Hmm something doesn't quite add up...

[glitteranddust]

reading these replies in this forum cracks me up. FYI scalpers are already on eplaya, trolling just like how you are trolling for tickets. Let me tell you this, I have and know, many brokers who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars of this event already. Good luck getting "HOME"! =]

Reall? You've made "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on this already? Wow, I'd think you'd be off vacationing in Baja by now instead of desperately trolling around eplaya trying to irritate people.... Hmm something doesn't quite add up...

Well, said "he has known"... some are better than others at their jobs.
Also, just simple math... that's a good number of tickets to come out of one person's pocket... even if you were selling them last year at $1-2k a pop you'd need 50 ($12,000 min not including s&h) just to get to a hundred thousand dollars back without subtracting cost from that figure to find actual profit. If you make the assumption that last year the vast majority of ticket resold where at face up to around double... the price-inflater in question would be making quite the upfront investment and ordering a whole lot of tickets for one person. Also, this year it quite frankly would be a pain in the ass to get enough ticket have already make "hundreds of thousands of dollars" thus far.... especially since you'd probably also end up stuck paying people to buy them in their name if they knew there was profit to be had. Hence, I doubt anyone made that much yet as there just aren't simply enough tickets that being sold thus far on the internet at high enough prices above face value to make any single person that much money.. (Anything beyond that is likely speculative profit on their part.)

[glitteranddust]

^good luck making sense out of that. here's to insomnia.

[AntiM]

are you going to chase me down with a pitchfork?

If you like, and we'll only charge you $572 for the experience. Parking gratis.

[graidawg]

are you going to chase me down with a pitchfork?

If you like, and we'll only charge you $572 for the experience. Parking gratis.

can i use a cutlass? pitchforks are sooo 18th century

[SquirrelHead]

are you going to chase me down with a pitchfork?

[playawaya]

reading these replies in this forum cracks me up. FYI scalpers are already on eplaya, trolling just like how you are trolling for tickets. Let me tell you this, I have and know, many brokers who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars of this event already. Good luck getting "HOME"! =]

Reall? You've made "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on this already? Wow, I'd think you'd be off vacationing in Baja by now instead of desperately trolling around eplaya trying to irritate people.... Hmm something doesn't quite add up...

Well, said "he has known"... some are better than others at their jobs.
Also, just simple math... that's a good number of tickets to come out of one person's pocket... even if you were selling them last year at $1-2k a pop you'd need 50 ($12,000 min not including s&h) just to get to a hundred thousand dollars back without subtracting cost from that figure to find actual profit. If you make the assumption that last year the vast majority of ticket resold where at face up to around double... the price-inflater in question would be making quite the upfront investment and ordering a whole lot of tickets for one person. Also, this year it quite frankly would be a pain in the ass to get enough ticket have already make "hundreds of thousands of dollars" thus far.... especially since you'd probably also end up stuck paying people to buy them in their name if they knew there was profit to be had. Hence, I doubt anyone made that much yet as there just aren't simply enough tickets that being sold thus far on the internet at high enough prices above face value to make any single person that much money.. (Anything beyond that is likely speculative profit on their part.)

Yesterday alone I sold 12 tickets online @ $1200 before fees, netting $1000 per ticket. Considering my face value was a blend of $320 and $390 each, I made more in one day than most of you have in your bank accounts. That's not to take into consideration past sales as well as cash sales on other exchanges as well as selling to camps who will pay cash up front with no drama. Believe what you want, but by actually being a burner and networking with these camps allows a scalper to easily sell his tickets at fair market asking price. Just because you do not have 1k each or will not fork it over, doesn't mean the next burner wont. Bring on the lynch mob =]

[junglesmacks]

Bull.. shit.

[playawaya]

Bull.. shit.

[ticket listing details removed]

[The CO]

Trolls get hungry.

[CornMan]

I believe the reason there is not a flood of scalped tickets for sale right now is the same reason OPEC doesn't sell all the oil in one sales bundle.

[Stephendragonfly]

@Playawawa,
If in fact you are a scalper and not a troll, I sincerely hope that all of your ticket rights are revoked by the BMORG and that you are sued into the ground for multiple breaches of contract, starting with reselling the tickets for over asking price. If you are a troll, you are one of the more obnoxious ones, and deserve a long drawn out Bronx cheer.

[playawaya]

@Playawawa,
If in fact you are a scalper and not a troll, I sincerely hope that all of your ticket rights are revoked by the BMORG and that you are sued into the ground for multiple breaches of contract, starting with reselling the tickets for over asking price. If you are a troll, you are one of the more obnoxious ones, and deserve a long drawn out Bronx cheer.

breach of contract? sued? LOL! Mommy he's a bad guy, he's selling tix @ over face! Arrest him!
Get your facts straight son, scalping is not illegal

[forge]

[Yesterday alone I sold 12 tickets online @ $1200 before fees]

How did you get 12 or more tickets from the lottery?

[alt12]

Yesterday alone I sold 12 tickets online @ $1200 before fees, netting $1000 per ticket. Considering my face value was a blend of $320 and $390 each, I made more in one day than most of you have in your bank accounts. That's not to take into consideration past sales as well as cash sales on other exchanges as well as selling to camps who will pay cash up front with no drama. Believe what you want, but by actually being a burner and networking with these camps allows a scalper to easily sell his tickets at fair market asking price. Just because you do not have 1k each or will not fork it over, doesn't mean the next burner wont. Bring on the lynch mob =]

Oh Chicken John, is that you again? You already hyped yourself-up all over town about your plan to scalp tickets to punish the org... This kind of angry in-your-face but totally full-of-shit style is your hallmark! Nice try, but no one's buying it. Anyone going out of their way here to publicize their scalping profits obviously has another agenda altogether.

[trilobyte]

Playawaya appears to have been a frustrated scalper, trying to chum the waters and see if he/she could get people freaked out and biting. In reviewing the scalped ticket listings on a few sites over the last several weeks, I've noticed relatively little 'churn' (change and turnover in the listing pages), which indicates that not much buying and selling is going on (compared with other events, where there's a ton of turnover each week).

Nevertheless, playawaya's account has been disabled. While scalping may be legal in the state of Nevada (whose laws govern the event), and there's certainly no rule against being an asshole on ePlaya, we do have rules against listing 3rd party ticket sales or auctions.

[kujo]

Bull.. shit.

[ticket listing details removed]

Playawaya, you're the kind of person who enjoys torturing squirrels when their a child.

I'm sure you are a scalper and made a few sales but you have extensively exaggerated the amount of money you made.

You purposefully made people feel bad about a situation that they care deeply about for no other reason then it makes you feel good to make others feel bad.

The scalping really isn't the bad part The exaggerating and the attempts to kick someone when their down show you as a sad and empty person.

You may want to rethink your priorities in life.