Presale rules

USA and Canada (April 1 - June 4, 2009). Special concert for fans in NYC (February 19). Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
sharney55
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Presale rules

Post by sharney55 »

Are presale tickets truly "nontransferrable"as the guidelines say? You may have to show ID and credit card to pick them up, but how does that keep them from being resold? Or just given to someone else to use?
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tomsakic
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Re: Presale rules

Post by tomsakic »

Yeah, that's true - but in that case you can do that only before the show, in front of the hall. this will prevent people (mostly internet mafia) to buy many tickets in advance and resold them thru various websites etc. as they did before (incl. Beacon Theater show).
sharney55
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Re: Presale rules

Post by sharney55 »

But I think you can pick up tickets from the box office far in advance of the show, which still leaves plenty of scalping opportunities. Or is that not correct? I hope somebody who knows can answer this. I think the most this system accomplishes is just to slow down scalping, particularly when its done from locations that are distant from the venue.
sharney55
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Re: Presale rules

Post by sharney55 »

Below is how Tom Waits handles it. It looks like you actually need ID to get into the venue, not just pick up tickets. Here's something the Cohen tour could adopt (if they haven't already) if they're really serious about stopping scalpers, for presale and all other tickets:

"At the majority of [Tom Waits] shows...Ticketmaster uses their "Paperless Ticket" system. Prior to entering the venue, fans must simply provide their credit card which was used to purchase the tickets, along with a government issued ID. The fan’s accompanying guest must be present at that time. An attendant will swipe the credit card and provide a receipt for the transaction."
dashford
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Re: Presale rules

Post by dashford »

sharney55 wrote:But I think you can pick up tickets from the box office far in advance of the show, which still leaves plenty of scalping opportunities. Or is that not correct? I hope somebody who knows can answer this. I think the most this system accomplishes is just to slow down scalping, particularly when its done from locations that are distant from the venue.
Depends on what you mean by "far in advance". Most box offices don't open for "will call" pickups until an hour or two before show time. That leaves only scalping out on the street at or near the theatre as an option, where you risk getting nabbed. Most reselling happens well in advance of the show and far away from the venue.

But that's not the real point. Doing the pre-sale this way makes it *very* difficult for a ticket re-seller, scalper, etc. to buy a block of tickets during the pre-sale. They can only do it two tickets at a time, and they need a separate individual for each sale. These businesses depend on volume to make a profit, and obstacles like this pretty much deter them -- it's just not worth the effort to them. Of course you'll still have individuals trying to sell singles or pairs of tickets at hugely inflated prices, but the main concern are the businesses that buy and sell large blocks of tickets.
sharney55
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Re: Presale rules

Post by sharney55 »

Thanks for enlightening me. My ignorance shows my age. Cohen's are the only "pop" concerts I go to any more, and of course things have changed with ticket selling in the past 15 years.
ausfall00
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Re: Presale rules

Post by ausfall00 »

My pass experiences with will call at various venues here in New York, is that you are not even allowed to pick up "hard tickets" before the show, especially for shows in which there is a high demand for tickets. You show up at the venue and the buyer's name is on a list, whom is usually asked for ID and credit card before admittance.
dashford
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Re: Presale rules

Post by dashford »

sharney55 wrote:Below is how Tom Waits handles it. It looks like you actually need ID to get into the venue, not just pick up tickets. Here's something the Cohen tour could adopt (if they haven't already) if they're really serious about stopping scalpers, for presale and all other tickets:

"At the majority of [Tom Waits] shows...Ticketmaster uses their "Paperless Ticket" system. Prior to entering the venue, fans must simply provide their credit card which was used to purchase the tickets, along with a government issued ID. The fan’s accompanying guest must be present at that time. An attendant will swipe the credit card and provide a receipt for the transaction."
Interesting -- as the quote suggests, it's a proprietary Ticketmaster system that was used for a majority of the Tom Waits shows. It's not really the artist or the artist's management that "handles it" this way.

In any case, Ticketmaster isn't selling tickets for all of LC's dates so it's not really an option for, say, Boston or Philadelphia.
sharney55
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Re: Presale rules

Post by sharney55 »

I would generally defer to your more extensive knowledge in these matters, but it appears, just from quick, casual Googling (e.g. "Waits anti-scalping"), that Waits and his management are asserting their influence in these matters.

That quote I gave (from LA Weekly) was prefaced with: “In keeping with Waits’ longtime desire to allow fans the best possible access to his shows, the Waits’ organization is again implementing an anti-scalping program to assure patrons that their tickets can only be purchased at face value (plus normal surcharges and handling fees).”

In any event, the two-ticket rule for the Cohen shows seems fair enough. Is that just for presale or for all tickets?
aaronou
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Re: Presale rules

Post by aaronou »

What if my Mom is buying tickets for my birthday?! She's not going! I am so stressed out ... yet excited. :)
sydnrusty
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Re: Presale rules

Post by sydnrusty »

that's a good point. i'm pretty sure you're mom is going to have to show up at the will-call window to pick the tickets up and hand them over to you. unless you have a credit card in your name with which you can just buy the tickets and have your mom reimburse you the money for them.
blwolcha
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Re: Presale rules

Post by blwolcha »

sharney55 wrote:Below is how Tom Waits handles it. It looks like you actually need ID to get into the venue, not just pick up tickets. Here's something the Cohen tour could adopt (if they haven't already) if they're really serious about stopping scalpers, for presale and all other tickets:

"At the majority of [Tom Waits] shows...Ticketmaster uses their "Paperless Ticket" system. Prior to entering the venue, fans must simply provide their credit card which was used to purchase the tickets, along with a government issued ID. The fan’s accompanying guest must be present at that time. An attendant will swipe the credit card and provide a receipt for the transaction."
I went to one of these Tom Waits shows, and insofar as the system was designed to preserve "nontransferability", I think it worked pretty well. You walk up directly to the entrance and hand your credit card to an agent who swipes it through a handheld device. The device prints out a receipt with your seat numbers on it, and the agent hands it to you and allows you to proceed into the venue. I suppose one could try a line like, "I need to go meet my wife around the corner," then proceed away from the entrance and scalp the ticket or transfer it over to the "buyer", but I didn't see that happening at all and I imagine the agents are instructed to usher the party in immediately after handing them the receipt. I'm pretty sure there was a no re-entry policy, too, so once you entered you couldn't exit and then transfer the receipt.

One curiosity is the fact that brokers have already popped up "selling" these tickets:

http://www.concertticketcenter.com/Resu ... nard+Cohen

A pretty unfortunate thing, I must say. But their unfortunate game could work, in theory, I suppose, so long as you bought from them before the sale. Maybe they re-use your credit card info to make the purchase, then send you a receipt and instructions to bring your credit card to the venue? Is this legal? Is there any way to stop them from doing it?
kenbloom
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Re: Presale rules

Post by kenbloom »

If this works like Tom Wait's shows, you will not get your tickets until the night of the show and you must have the credit card that you purchsed the tickets with and ID. You will be immediately ushered into the show. This minimizes the ability to transfer the tickets to anyone else. My wife was able to get me one ticket to Tom Waits in Oh as a gift. I couldn't use it because the ticket was purchased with her credit card and only she could claim it and use it. Therefore, I couldn't go and there were no refunds or exceptions.
kenbloom
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Re: Presale rules

Post by kenbloom »

aaronou wrote:What if my Mom is buying tickets for my birthday?! She's not going! I am so stressed out ... yet excited. :)
My wife was able to get me one ticket to Tom Waits in Oh as a gift. I couldn't use it because the ticket was purchased with her credit card and only she could claim it and use it. Therefore, I couldn't go and there were no refunds or exceptions. You will need to buy the tickets in your name with your credit card or take your mom with you.
Marcello
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Re: Presale rules

Post by Marcello »

hope that doing it this way the peolple who are rally going for the love of music and Leonard get the chance to go, it's so disappointing to get the 'sold out' announcement and then see tickets on other sites at ridiculus prices
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