Selling tickets

May 28, 2007 12:41 PM

Posting for a friend: I have a ticket to [a one-day music festival] but I can't afford to go (can't afford the travel or hotel). How can I sell the ticket? The booking paper I have says it'll be delivered to me "no later than 48 hours before the performance" - surely too short a time for eBay selling. How do other people do this?
posted by reklaw to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

craigslist
posted by Methylviolet at 12:46 PM on May 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh yeah, this is in England. And how would Craigslist help? It's surely a logistical problem, ie. not having the tickets in time to post them to someone else.
posted by reklaw at 12:49 PM on May 28, 2007

Arrange to sell the ticket to a local, but specify that you'll have to meet them within the 48 hours to exchange the ticket for money? It's certainly more secure than scalpers, and saves people a trip to the venue where they might end up disappointed. Furthermore, no one else will have tickets in advance anyway, so it won't necessarily seem totally shady.
posted by mdonley at 12:51 PM on May 28, 2007

How close is the event? Ticketmaster promises that you'll have the ticket 48 hours before the event, but I usually receive them in the mail weeks ahead of time.
posted by chrisamiller at 12:58 PM on May 28, 2007

Did you confuse "no later than" and "no earlier than"? "Sometime between now and two days before" is plenty of time to sell it, even if you have to overnight it.
posted by mendel at 1:02 PM on May 28, 2007

I was going to post what chrisamiller did. Often, the tickets will arrive a week or two in advance, if you booked well ahead of time.
posted by HighTechUnderpants at 1:15 PM on May 28, 2007

Yep, chances are the ticket will arrive ahead of time. I see that Ticketmaster 48h rule as a bit like a 'best before date' - if it hasn't arrived 48h before, then let us know, but otherwise, don't bother us, customer.

I'd also point you towards face value ticket exchange Scarlet Mist if you're not out to make a quick buck and fancy helping out someone who's looking for a ticket.
posted by emtanner at 1:53 PM on May 28, 2007

I don't know how it is in the UK, but at the last festival I went to in Australia, they deliberately sent the tickets at the last minute, so that people couldn't scalp them. So that may be the situation there.

I'm with Mdonley: put the tickets on sale and specify that they will be available for pickup just before the day of the festival. So you will have to sell them to someone in your area. Hopefully demand is high enough that people will be willing to buy on those terms.
posted by Infinite Jest at 2:33 PM on May 28, 2007

I have my tickets in hand for a show in October. You'll have it soon to sell.
posted by clh at 11:11 PM on May 28, 2007

I used to work for a ticket tout. Festival tickets came in well ahead of time 90% of the time, and we always posted Special Delivery. Even if you only get it 48 hours before, 9am SD post will get it to your buyer on time. Sell to a local and meet them if you're still worried.

People are surprisingly willing to pay for a promise of a ticket 'when it comes in'.
posted by corvine at 6:13 AM on May 29, 2007