TOS & Ticket Sales

[The CO]

Can we make "Any tickets resold on Eplaya must be at face value plus reasonable shipping only" part of the Terms Of Service?
I'm aware of scalping legality in NV & CA, but would that not be a simple step to take in the mitigation of ticketpockalypse?
I serious here, what's the legals on that?

EDIT!

Oh cheesy petes, this should have gone up in Policy Discussion. Can I humbly beg a mod to move it to the right section?

[ibdave]

Can we make "Any tickets resold on Eplaya must be at face value plus reasonable shipping only" part of the Terms Of Service?
I'm aware of scalping legality in NV & CA, but would that not be a simple step to take in the mitigation of ticketpockalypse?
I serious here, what's the legals on that?

EDIT!

Oh cheesy petes, this should have gone up in Policy Discussion. Can I humbly beg a mod to move it to the right section?

+100

[tamarakay]

I agree. It seems inflated prices fly in the face of no commerce. On that alone they should be pulled.

[AntiM]

Redefining and tweaking the TOS is definitely something which has been mentioned to the BMORG. Tickets are the allowed exception to the no commerce rules, so we're stuck with it. Not a lot the mods can do at this point, and things are so batshit crazy at this time of year at HQ that nothing is going to happen this far out in a pond this size.

Something to be pursued after the event for next year. A ticket selling guideline. Or at least an explanation of the laws which allow scalping in Nevada and the legalities of banning the practice here. Personally, I think the BMORG could do it, it is their board. But I have the feeling the lawyers might look at this before any policy is implemented.

[trilobyte]

The issue, as I understand it, is that since it is legal in the state of Nevada (which governs the event), if we were to block or restrict people from selling above face (or face plus shipping) the state could construe that as 'restraint of trade' (especially if the seller was a Nevada resident). To prevent scalping, gouging, and profiteering, we'd either need to move the event to a state that doesn't allow it or just not allow any ticket sales. We can (and we have) shut down threads where the seller doesn't set a fixed price and tells people to make them an offer, under the technicality that ePlaya does not have the infrastructure or capacity to handle ticket bidding wars.

Beyond that, the logistics of enforcement would be difficult at best. Even if we pulled the obvious threads, we don't have any way to verify what somebody paid for a ticket listed on the message boards without adding additional layers of bureaucracy (and expense) to the process.

It's an unfortunate and ugly situation. I hate seeing the posts, and it bugs me that the bastards manage to sell their tickets so quickly. On the plus side, I'd say that 80-90% of the ticket sales we've seen on ePlaya this year appear to be happening at face value.

[The CO]

(written in another thread but saw activity here before posting-Yay!)


Trilo, does that really fall under restraint of trade? The board doesn't allow sales or advertisement of (basically) anything else. It seems given that there are already restrictions with regard to commerce already well established, adding some kind of limited clause to the TOS already has precedent. Additionally, it seems that a bulletin board system owned by the organization that is the original seller of all tickets should have some solid legal footing to restrict resales on same board to reasonable conditions.

I think something even as simple as "ticket sale threads listed at above face value will be removed due to philosophical differences" might do the trick.

Full disclosure: I'm so not a lawyer. Just frustrating to see some of the ass-hattery on the part of some sellers.

[The CO]

Beyond that, the logistics of enforcement would be difficult at best. Even if we pulled the obvious threads, we don't have any way to verify what somebody paid for a ticket listed on the message boards without adding additional layers of bureaucracy (and expense) to the process.

I wouldn't ask that much of the borg. Just more along the lines of when some one post the blatant markup prices, that people still wind up responding in hopefulness. Like getting rid of graffiti.

[capjbadger]

Just because the law allows it does not mean a BBS has to allow it. For example, the tech support board I ran had a TOS that included no ads for products (other than our own of course ). Legal had no issue with it at all.

Is there a law against crossposting? No.
Is it allowed here? No.

Is porn legal on an adult only board? Yes.
Does a TOS have to allow it to be posted? NO.

It is the same as me banning smoking in my home. Is smoking in a private home legal? Yes. Can I ban it in my home. YES.

We set the rules here as long as we don't break any laws.

-Badger