When was the last time you paid face value for a ticket to any concert or sporting event? Depending on where you go to buy them, some tickets will ultimately cost more than 100% of their original price. A fan has to be fast and lucky to buy a ticket from the original outlet or the venue holding an event. Since most of us just aren’t that vigilant, we buy them from a second market retailer who beat us to the original buy. After we get over the shock of how much more we paid to watch a pro basketball game, we’ll sometimes joke that the second market ticket business is a good bet! No joke. It really is.
Whether it’s individuals trying to make some extra money on a pair of tickets or a company that buys up whole blocks of the venue for resale, people have figured out that there is big money in the ticket business. Some venues try to limit the number of second market vendors who buy from them, but at the end of the day, they need to sell out an event, and this is one way to guarantee that all payment guarantees to entertainers are met. Even if the customer grumbles about the price, there’s not a whole lot he can do, but pay the extra money for the ticket.
If you can live with that kind of business, than you stand to make a considerable amount of money. Even being a ticket handler who serves as an internet outlet, for an add on fee, can be profitable. Many clubs and venues are using companies, like Brown Paper Tickets, to handle all pre-sales. The customer pays about seven dollars extra for the service. Since most people won’t wait until performance night to buy tickets, the second market is a good business bet.