That is a really annoying, discombobulated headline.

And anyone who doesn't get tix through StubHub is a goddamn sucker.

Norad: And anyone who doesn't get tix through StubHub is a goddamn sucker.

WTF, do you work for them or something? StubHub sucks donkey balls. They charge additional fees through the nose, plus delivery fees, plus a percentage of sale price to the vendors. There is no way they are a good deal, evar.

Although you can get tickets there that you probably can't anywhere else (season ticket, front row, platinum card, club seats, etc.)

Norad: And anyone who doesn't get tix through StubHub is a goddamn sucker.

StubHub? I was looking for tickets for something recently. I looked at Ticketmaster, and they were not selling tickets for this event. StubHub had them as "the official ticket outlet" for $350 a pair or something. When I finally found the REAL official ticket outlet (this was a small local venue), the tickets were $50 each, plenty were available, I got about 16th row.

Whamdangler: Norad: And anyone who doesn't get tix through StubHub is a goddamn sucker.

StubHub? I was looking for tickets for something recently. I looked at Ticketmaster, and they were not selling tickets for this event. StubHub had them as "the official ticket outlet" for $350 a pair or something. When I finally found the REAL official ticket outlet (this was a small local venue), the tickets were $50 each, plenty were available, I got about 16th row.

Yeah well Oral B is the official toothbrush of NASCAR but you don't see that being enforced either, do ya?

And-1: WTF, do you work for them or something? StubHub sucks donkey balls. They charge additional fees through the nose, plus delivery fees, plus a percentage of sale price to the vendors. There is no way they are a good deal, evar.

I could ask you the very same question, are you slobbing Ticketmaster's schlong or what?

Huh? Are you smoking crack?

Here in the Midwest, Stubhub undercuts anything TM has to offer by a whole lot of cash. I'm talking sports tickets.

Concerts? That's a different kettle of fish.

What about venue charges? Past two tickets I bought for shows at House of Blues Chicago, the service and venue charges nearly doubled the price of the ticket.

this will be a big shift. livenation owns most of the large venues in the country. if they start pulling rank and signing acts, TM will be in a heap of trouble. good thing they bought tickets-now, they will still rake in cash in the scalping side of things.

and the no fee thing TM is doing is pure BS. they even admit that they just put the fees on the 'invisible' side of the transaction. in other words, they hide it in the ticket price.

I used to buy my tickets and ABCDs for local venues mainly because I like having an actual ticket as a souvenir of the show. Now that nobody buys CDs anymore, I apparent have to go through TicketBastard and pay extra fees or just show up at the venue and get a hand-stamp and cut my skin off if I want a souvenir.

Norad: I'm talking sports tickets.

Yeah, me too. And I am not 'slobbing Ticketmaster's schlong' like you are StubHubs. I am happy to admit that Ticketmaster sucks donkey balls too - especially the extra charge they make me pay for printing my own freaking tickets.

But StubHub is inflated over any other price I have ever seen, for any event I have looked at, so you boosting for them blows my mind a little.

In fact, I am always keen to find cheaper tix, so to be sure I just checked for Denver vs Miami NBA for next week.

- StubHub has Sect 126 (Center court right) Row 3 for $197 ea. + $16.95 FedEx S&H + 10% commission. Total for 2 tickets at their checkout - $450.35

- Ticketmaster has Sect 124 Center court left) Row 3 for $145 ea. + $6 convenience fee + tax (no delivery fee - standard mail is free, or $2.50 to print them yourself). Total for 2 tickets at their checkout - $305.40

These are essentially the same tickets (check the seat map^{^}), but they cost $150 extra at StubHub.

This is typical of my experience of StubHub. Overpriced to start with, then they add additional fees, and a commission as well.

But, you know, YMMV.

And-1: This is typical of my experience of StubHub. Overpriced to start with, then they add additional fees, and a commission as well.

But, you know, YMMV.

what you do is wait from 2 days up until the day of the game. most games by that point will have very cheap tickets, which is basically people selling off whatever they have left. you can usually get good tickets for less than face value unless its a really big game.

same principle works if you use the scalpers on the street. me and my friends used to see yankee games for 5 bucks a seat in the lower levels by arriving at the stadium in the 2nd or 3rd inning.

I used to work for Ticketbastard, so....sorry, can't do it. That cliche is SO tired!

Doesn't StubHub just resell other peoples tickets, so the price the sell them for kinda depends on how much people are wanting for their tickets?

bales: what you do is wait from 2 days up until the day of the game. most games by that point will have very cheap tickets, which is basically people selling off whatever they have left. you can usually get good tickets for less than face value unless its a really big game.

Ah, you see this is interesting. I did not know that. Makes more sense if you are getting last minute tix, owners want to get at least something for them. Good tip! Mostly I like to get tix to popular games, for NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB in Denver, so maybe that does not work as well for the popular tix. But sounds like a good strategy for other games - and in recession times, might be able to get some good tix too. Cool.

bales: and the no fee thing TM is doing is pure BS. they even admit that they just put the fees on the 'invisible' side of the transaction. in other words, they hide it in the ticket price.

Urge to kill... rising.

I live close enough to buy tickets at real box offices, and if this starts affecting my price, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I haven't dealt with ticketmaster in any way, shape, or form for years and they still find a way to fark me.

Ticketmaster deserves being impaled on a rusted signpost.

Recently bought tickets for a concert at the end of January. Seats were $42, "Convenience fee" was $15. TM definitely doesn't deserve a fee of 1/3 of the ticket price.

Also, I've never understood the whole "we will send you the tickets for free, but if you want to do the work yourself and print them, give us money" thing.

Ticketfarker's convenience fee is convenient only for Ticketfarker. There is nothing convenient about buying tickets from them, especially when the tickets to the concert you want to go to are sold out within the blink of an eye.

Craigslist is always good day of show when people are feeling the need to dump their tix.

Britney Spears "Toxic VIP Experience" ticket goes for $549.50 and includes an invitation to a preshow party, a ticket to the show, a backstage tour, a "tour gift item," laminate tour pass and free parking, among other add-ons.

Yeah, right.

Wow, you changed S's to dollar signs? You are so farking edgy, and totally not adolescent.

Treble: Ticketfarker's convenience fee is convenient only for Ticketfarker. There is nothing convenient about buying tickets from them, especially when the tickets to the concert you want to go to are sold out within the blink of an eye.

Agreed. If I could get tickets within the first 30 rows of the front section when I log in 10 seconds after the tickets go on sale, I wouldn't mind paying a couple of bucks extra.

Overall, though, I have no real problem with ticketmaster/livenation. I've never gotten screwed out of tickets I've ordered, and the one show that was canceled was refunded without issue. It's nice to be able to see schedules and order tickets from dozens of smaller venues in one location.

Ordered tickets on stubhub once, and paid twice the face value. Knew what I was getting into going in, but it still hurt.

Stubhub is a glorified scalper.

I've used Stubhub only once, and got a really good deal on seats, but other times that I've gone on to look for seats they've always been ridiculous prices.

Ticketmaster is just as bad, if not worse but in a different way. I just bought some times from them about a month ago and paid over $100 in fees, about $16 per ticket extra just for the "convenience" of using their terrible website. And that is without any shipping or printing off ticket. I went to a ticketmaster location to pick them up, as it was the only free option that I trust (If you have them mailed "regular mail" they wait until the last minute to mail them). The time before that I got tickets as soon as they went on sale for a concert and I ended up with the second row from the top, in the very last section, basically looking straight at the side of the stage. I emailed them afterwards and asked wtf was going on, and they said that the organizers told them those were the best sections (for the price bracket I selected). I'm pretty sure they just farked up and used the hockey distribution, as they were pretty close to centre ice, and there were a whole bunch of unsold tickets in sections that didn't have good views for hockey.

I don't see how this will help the consumer. Won't live nation just be selling tickets to concerts they are promoting at venues that they own? So no competition therefore same over inflated prices as with TM.

And-1: bales: what you do is wait from 2 days up until the day of the game. most games by that point will have very cheap tickets, which is basically people selling off whatever they have left. you can usually get good tickets for less than face value unless its a really big game.

Ah, you see this is interesting. I did not know that. Makes more sense if you are getting last minute tix, owners want to get at least something for them. Good tip! Mostly I like to get tix to popular games, for NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB in Denver, so maybe that does not work as well for the popular tix. But sounds like a good strategy for other games - and in recession times, might be able to get some good tix too. Cool.

This works for concerts too. About two weeks before the event promoters, publicists, and record companies have submitted their list for the band's guest list a.k.a. who gets tickets. They usually have left over tickets and they release them to the public.

These are some of the best tickets in the house because record companies use them to close business, publicists give them to concert reviewers, promoters give them to clients, etc.

Then the day of the show the stage is finally set up and the venue decides they can release more tickets because they can squeeze an extra row in there or the side of the stage are not blocked like they thought.

Remember no show is ever really SOLD OUT. It just takes diligence and patience to get great tickets.

um - for the last few years you could buy tickets for livenation shows on livenation.com, and before that clearchannel.com.

- been doing print promo for livenation/clearchannel shows for a while now, and is still a good idea to list ticketmaster.com, only *after* livenation.com.

I recently bought some tickets to a concert at a Livenation venue.

Checked the price on Ticketmaster.

Then checked the price on Livenation.

Same farking fees, same farking price.

So basically instead of getting ass raped by Ticketmaster I'll be getting raped by Livenation?

No thanks, I'll just drive to Cincinnati and go to the box office. With gas as it is right now, it'll STILL be cheaper that way.

I went to a concert a while back and fought as hard as I could to avoid "convenience" charges. But there was no way to do this.

Even buying direct from the venue, weeks in advance, I ended up paying an extra $1. (Yeah not much, but it's the principle of the thing.)