The author makes the point that "the ticket scalper enables the team to get their money earlier through ticket presales." This sounds fine but now the ticket is going to be a much higher price then last minute attendees of the event would have otherwise paid, had those very same tickets been available at the box office at the event. I'm sure that most entertainers would much rather have people show up at their events, over getting paid for tickets in which might not guarantee an occupied seat. Wouldn't this also keep the prices of the ticket up artificially? Had those tickets not been baught by scalpers and also not baught by those who are actually going to attend the event, it would have sent a signal that people aren't interested in going and that the prices need to come down. If the tickets are being sold but people aren't attending the events, due to increased prices charged by the scalper, it seems to me that a mixed signal is going to be sent.
I'm not taking a side on eather case, just trying to wrap my head around this one.
ticket scalping is just a special case of the general phenomenon of speculation. so i would encourage you to look there to understand issues surrounding speculation, and then you will be best placed to consider the narrow case where what is being speculated on is 'demand for tickets'
Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid
Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring
jmorris84: I'm sure that most entertainers would much rather have people show up at their events, over getting paid for tickets in which might not guarantee an occupied seat. Wouldn't this also keep the prices of the ticket up artificially?
I'm sure that most entertainers would much rather have people show up at their events, over getting paid for tickets in which might not guarantee an occupied seat. Wouldn't this also keep the prices of the ticket up artificially?
You could go as far as to claim that the ticket prices were originally lower than the market price. There is no doubt that there is higher demand for tickets than supply, meaning there is always a shortage of tickets. This occurs when the price is set lower than the market price. Scalpers unveil the real price. Scalpers are not interested in keeping the tickets after the game, as the tickets themselves contain no value. They are interesting in selling the tickets, and so their price is completely dependent on the demand for tickets. If there is high demand, they will sell the tickets for a high price, and if demand is low they will sell them for a lower price.
jmorris84: This sounds fine but now the ticket is going to be a much higher price then last minute attendees of the event would have otherwise paid, had those very same tickets been available at the box office at the event.
This sounds fine but now the ticket is going to be a much higher price then last minute attendees of the event would have otherwise paid, had those very same tickets been available at the box office at the event.
Undervalued goods do a diservice to everyone. A market price rations things much more fairly. A market price means that whoever really, really wants to attend can do so. Thus the people who want to attend the most, are the ones who end up attending. Have the price unrealisticaly low, and a bunch of only mildly interested people will attend, while a part of the real fanaticos stay empty handed due to the shortage caused by prices bellow market value.Take the Grand Canyon rafting lottery for example. People who live for rafting can not come near the Grand Canyon, meanwhile every year thousands of average people who know almost nothing about rafting get to go for free.The ticket scalper takes away tickets from mildly interested people and gives them into the hands of real fans (who are willing to pay more).