Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

[Fiver]

Best guesses for what will be announced on Jan 4th for ticket details? Post predictions here. Closest guess or correct answer wins one billion burner bucks*.

I predict no tiers, $375 flat rate.







*burner bucks only redeemable at the Empire general store.

[FIGJAM]

Tears, tears, TIERS!!!

[bmix]

I agree with everything you said:

• No tiers (still keeping low-income/scholarship program)
• $375/ticket (although I would say $350; very slight difference)

And to add in a couple of things, I predict:

• General Open Sale date: January 16th, 10am PST
• Names on tickets with ID required to enter

That last item is because of something I noticed on the Tickets page:

Ticket orders are fully transferrable and eligible for name changes.

This could mean nothing at all. They may just be reassuring early buyers that they won't get stuck with a $650 ticket if they don't go. However, I think they're going to do names on tickets due to some of the feedback from last year's dust-up. Just a hunch.

[trilobyte]

You may care to read the recent blog post that specifically states that name on ticket won't be happening.

[BAS]

I'm going to predict that the only tickets this year will be the holiday tickets. That way the event can be small and intimate.

I feel very secure in how accurate my prediction is...

[Humin]

$500. If you guys think BMORG will release tickets at %50 the holiday price I think you will disappointed.

[TT120]

I wonder what everyones price limit would be? Is $650 too much? $750? $1000? At what price point would you just say "Fuck it", I'll do something else?

I would probably call it at $501.

[shroom]

I say $395 no tiers......sounds less painful than $400.

[Dr. Pyro]

My guesstimate would be $365, no tiers, with low-income and scholarship tix available, though personally I think "low income" tix are absurd. To go to Burning Man on the cheap is expensive; to go "expensive" isn't that much more expensive. And no names on tickets. That's just a bad idea no matter how you look at it. People change jobs, get sick, have lives, an so on, and to force them to eat a ticket when it's no fault of their own (let's say your spouse dies the second week of August, you should just be out of luck?) Bogus.

[Dr Helix]

I have been saying $500 on another thread about this, but in thinking more about it $450 sounds about right. And I agree with those who say no tiers. Don't need them anymore as the enticement to buy early and save is replaced by "make sure you GET a ticket before they sell out"

[BoyScoutGirl]

Hmm... I guess I'll go with somewhere between shroom's and Doc Pyro's guesses: $380.

I thought I read somewhere something that hinted that the tiers will still be in place, but my gut says not.

[International Incident]

$350 no tiers

But a higher price on low income tickets and staff priced tickets

[laffingblonde]

Closed out a retirement account, since the career path has collapsed, worth $440 after taxes figuring that would be plenty for a ticket. Will be rather disgusted if it's not.

though personally I think "low income" tix are absurd.

Fairly upset that the gentrification of black rock continues reinforcing opinions like this. Only affluent fools who either haven't struggled or don't remember it could hold such a stupid opinion. A couple hundred extra dollars to someone who makes a meager living is enormous, allowing extra planning for the community or simply going hungry less leading up to the end of august. A low income ticket would've meant a 15% drop in the price of my week in black rock last year (didn't apply, just worked to pay the way in (thank you step)). The culture of our city is built by the people who work their ass off all year to get there and bring something incredible. It isn't wealthy fools buying their way to a week of care free indulgence as awesome as RV fortress theme camp was last year spewing generator fumes in my face.

Hopefully a flat tier, reasonably priced (low to mid $300s) will prove to many burners on the fence that you haven't sold all the ideals this annual exercise supposedly represents. Still waiting to see a balance sheet of income vs. expenditures...

[5280MeV]

Oooh, oooh, I wanna play!

Coachella VIP Ticket 2012 - $665
Burning Man 2013 "Holiday" Ticket - $650

BM2013 / Coachella2012 Ratio = 97.74%

Coachella Pass 2012+ Car Camping = $367.50

Therefore:

BM 2013 Main Sale Ticket = $359


Simple algebra.

[dangerous]

Oooh, oooh, I wanna play!
Coachella VIP Ticket 2012 - $665 Burning Man 2013 "Holiday" Ticket - $650
BM2013 / Coachella2012 Ratio = 97.74%
Coachella Pass 2012+ Car Camping = $367.50 Therefore: BM 2013 Main Sale Ticket = $359
Simple algebra.

my how very elegant!

[socks]

If the Mayans are wrong it will be one ticket price of 475.00

[BBadger]

BMorg will be working with a goal of 63,000 peak participants, but will allocate 62,000 tickets for sale.

- 3,000 in Holiday presale tickets (known)

- 45,000 will be allocated to the main sale.

- No tiers. Single price @ $320/ticket (on average lower than last year's ticket cost).

- 4,000 tickets for LIT

- Remaining ~10,000 tickets indeterminate to see how the situation evolves (for directed nepotism and all that). Tentatively, remaining tickets will sell for $420 each.

Curveball:

- STEP will allow tickets to be transferred in a directed manner, but only after the program closes in mid-June or July.

[International Incident]

BMorg will be working with a goal of 63,000 peak participants, but will allocate 62,000 tickets for sale.

- 3,000 in Holiday presale tickets (known)

- 45,000 will be allocated to the main sale.

- No tiers. Single price @ $320/ticket (on average lower than last year's ticket cost).

- 4,000 tickets for LIT

- Remaining ~10,000 tickets indeterminate to see how the situation evolves (for directed nepotism and all that). Tentatively, remaining tickets will sell for $420 each.

Curveball:

- STEP will allow tickets to be transferred in a directed manner, but only after the program closes in mid-June or July.

Hey BBadger, I think you have to factor in heaps more BMORG tickets for art projects, staff (eg Emergency services, DPW, GPE etc), and others - these run into the thousands.

[BBadger]

Hey BBadger, I think you have to factor in heaps more BMORG tickets for art projects, staff (eg Emergency services, DPW, GPE etc), and others - these run into the thousands.

I actually think you're right and that my projections are somewhat high. I'm revising it to:

- 61,000 peak participants

- 60,000 tickets allocated for the sales

- 45,000 open sale @ $320/ticket

- 3,000 Presale

- 4,000 LIT

- Remaining 8,000 as before.

- Total max population: ~64,000

I'm using the nomenclature for peak/participant population used last year, where they claimed the target projection was 58,000 peak participants, with 57,000 allocated:

40,000 in the main sale
10,000 directed distribution (formerly open sale)
3,000 presale
4,000 LIT

= 57,000 tickets

Later they sold an additional 1000 tickets because the maximum population was increased to 60,900. So yes, about 3000 allocated to "staff."

[pink]

Closed out a retirement account, since the career path has collapsed, worth $440 after taxes figuring that would be plenty for a ticket. Will be rather disgusted if it's not.

though personally I think "low income" tix are absurd.

Fairly upset that the gentrification of black rock continues reinforcing opinions like this. Only affluent fools who either haven't struggled or don't remember it could hold such a stupid opinion. A couple hundred extra dollars to someone who makes a meager living is enormous, allowing extra planning for the community or simply going hungry less leading up to the end of august. A low income ticket would've meant a 15% drop in the price of my week in black rock last year (didn't apply, just worked to pay the way in (thank you step)). The culture of our city is built by the people who work their ass off all year to get there and bring something incredible. It isn't wealthy fools buying their way to a week of care free indulgence as awesome as RV fortress theme camp was last year spewing generator fumes in my face.

Hopefully a flat tier, reasonably priced (low to mid $300s) will prove to many burners on the fence that you haven't sold all the ideals this annual exercise supposedly represents. Still waiting to see a balance sheet of income vs. expenditures...

Only affluent fools? I remember the last time I was struggling. It was last year. This year not so much. But I'm thinking of doing the presale simply because I don't want to go through the crap I did last year, and for me, not going is not an option, and the sale is going to take place during the time of year when im making most of my income. I really don't need the stress.

I'm lucky enough to live fairly close. And when I figure in the price per day, I'm figuring on a two week trip, since I'm busy building the city and helping to create an awesome camp and bring something incredible. Last year I didn't buy presale, but a presale ticket was what I ended up buying from a friend after I lost in the lottery. So why go through the stress?

Poverty doesn't make you any burnier. Just poorer.

[Dr. Pyro]

Closed out a retirement account, since the career path has collapsed, worth $440 after taxes figuring that would be plenty for a ticket. Will be rather disgusted if it's not.

though personally I think "low income" tix are absurd.

Fairly upset that the gentrification of black rock continues reinforcing opinions like this. Only affluent fools who either haven't struggled or don't remember it could hold such a stupid opinion...

I think "scholarship tickets" are fine. My opinion is based on reality and is not a stupid opinion. How "low income" do you have to be to qualify? I'm making tens of thousands of dollars less per year than in 2007. Do I qualify? No, of course not. To me cost is not an object. To you blondie, perhaps it is. But to disparage an opinion with such a lack of tolerance of another opinion, is so very, uh, Liberal of you.

[Sail Man]

24.95 per, and if you act within the next 4 hrs a set of premier ginsu knives will be thrown in at no additional charge except for a shipping and handling charge of 450.00.

[mshaman]

I'm calling it tiers, $350 in the cheapest tier, and the majority going for $500. Remember Larry and the gang are cashing out in the transition to nonprofit: The piggy-bank of about $6M cash on hand + whatever surplus the event can generate over the 3 years. If I recall, this is the last year of the transition; it wouldn't be surprising to see a surge in ticket price to ensure a comfortable retirement for the board. Not saying it's right, just saying it is.

[wh..sh]

Later they sold an additional 1000 tickets because the maximum population was increased to 60,900. So yes, about 3000 allocated to "staff."

Did they even sell out in 2012? It sure didn't seem like it.

[illy dilly]

Last year there was mention that the lowest tier of tickets were below Infrastructure Cost per Person, I think those tickets were $320? So, if their are Tiers, I would imagine that the lowest tier would be about $340 and the highest about $450, with a tier some place in the middle.

Personally I hope tickets don't go on sale until later in the year, shortening the time between ticket purchase and Event. If tickets were sold in April, May, or June it would eliminate a few months in which plans, jobs, and living situations can change. Which I believe would eliminate some of the "buy a ticket now, and I'll figure out if I'm going later."

Though, hopefully last August showed everyone that sitting on a ticket, thinking you can sell it at anytime, is not a good idea.

I'm clossing my fingers that they are working on better ticket sales computers and programming, so there isn't a huge server crash like years past.
Its been mentioned on eplaya before, and though I only know only a little about 'Cloud' computing, leasing some space/processing power from a Cloud Service Provider for 24 or 48 hours seems like a pretty good idea. In Ticketing (BMAN LLC's ticketing friends) would still be able to process the orders and manage the sales, but it would also reduce the chance of an epic server crash.

[bmix]

You may care to read the recent blog post that specifically states that name on ticket won't be happening.

Yep, I missed that. Thanks for the pointer.

[BBadger]

24.95 per, and if you act within the next 4 hrs a set of premier ginsu knives will be thrown in at no additional charge except for a shipping and handling charge of 450.00.

BUT WAIT...

If you order in the next 10 minutes, we'll send you not just one, but TWO tickets for the price of one...



... just pay separate shipping and processing fees.

Later they sold an additional 1000 tickets because the maximum population was increased to 60,900. So yes, about 3000 allocated to "staff."

Did they even sell out in 2012? It sure didn't seem like it.

They did sell out of the first 57,000, but I'm not sure if that extra 1000 was completely sold out as it came pretty late. I thought they may have gone into STEP, and I think everyone who wanted a ticket in STEP got a ticket in STEP.

[danibel]

Jeez. I hope all the $500 dollar guesses are wrong. I think that is the number that has me looking to sell the cargo van and all my other BM gear and use the funds to go on a trip to Brazil at the end of August 2013. I would pay as much as $400 for a ticket, but really, not much more. I have paid lowest tier (actually I didn't pay the last two years, my sweetie bought my tickets) twice and then second lowest tier my first year - so under $300 so far. I think $320 - the cost of putting on the event is a somewhat fair price for a flat ticket.

I predict (and pray I am right):

$320 per. No tiers. Max tickets 2 per person. Max tickets 4 per address.

[knowmad]

$360 Flat
No Tiers but Theme Camp Rates
Low-income/scholarship
Multiple Pre-sale events,Max tickets 2 per person. Max tickets 4 per address.
Scalped tickets at a premium, Lots of belly aching.

All though the Latest ticketing announcement explained that the Lottery was a bad Idea(Duh) It said very little on how the Scalper issue had been remedied. Supposedly because there was a lot of participation in the Step Program and because of Preregistering. Even though the Population Cap has been Raised, The Demand/Cap Gap I believe remains the same, By "Deterring" a Rush of those willing to Shell out extra for holiday tickets in hopes that there will be ample tickets for the General sale makes me believe that the bar has been raised all around. There will be a Slight increase in the Low income tickets to provide a relief for the Poor-Desprate, What the Holiday-Ticketing Announcement also didn't address was How theme camps will handle the ticket crunch. I suspect that there will be some sort of provision in the Jan$ announcement in regards; possibly along the line of Long time established theme camps can buy tickets at a slightly higher rate at the time of Theme Camp registration, factors on limits and prices subject to Camp history, Size, how well they conform to the Theme Camp Guidelines and affiliation with Art installations.

And it will be DUSTY, and HOT!

[BBadger]

The increased price of those presale tickets, which will add about $700,000 if all are sold, might help offset reducing the average price loss of selling at $320 (last year's average was $326.25). With more tickets sold it'll also increase funds, perhaps not necessitating a price increase. There is still that Pershing Country increased law enforcement charges though; it might offset any gains from other sources.