For Love Or Money? General Sales & Verified Resellers

Original Story by Harry Kantas (2017-11-21)

We ran an experiment today. We wrote a little program, that monitored a ticket reselling site’s U2 listings throughout the day (outside of TM), before and after the General Sales started for the public.
During the Ticketmaster General Sales, the Verified Resale tickets were also enabled, basically allowing the reselling of tickets from within Ticketmaster.
The resulting data was fed into graphs, each of which has a story to tell.

Going forward, we will refer to the non-TM sites as “resale market site”, to keep a clear distinction from Ticketmaster’s own Verified Resales, and compare the 2 sources.

Each graph consists of 3 lines, and a single point:

TD Garden, Boston, MA (21/06/2018)

After the General Sale started on Ticketmaster, we can see a small uptick in tickets available on the reseller market.
Around 250 tickets in total are available, with a lowest price of $104, and a highest of $253.
On Ticketmaster’s website, the lowest available price for a Verified Resale ticket is $150. The highest is $1022.

Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (25/06/2018)

MSG was very quickly sold out. After the General Sale started, we see the ticket quantity going down in the resale market, which implies that fans resorted to buying their tickets from there. Over 20 tickets were sold shortly after the General Sale opened to the public.
Around 200 tickets in total are available, with a lowest price of $81, and a highest of $188.
On Ticketmaster’s website, the lowest available price for a Verified Resale ticket is $123. The highest is $1897.

BOK Center, Tulsa, OK (02/05/2018)

This graph is an interesting one. As soon as General Sales started, we see a decrease in prices in the resale market. The highest price dropped from $278 to as low as $110. This is also reflected in TM’s Verified Resale listings, where the prices remain low, compared to other shows, as demand is also lower.
Approximately 290 tickets in total are available, with a lowest price of $74, and a highest of $278.
On Ticketmaster’s website, the lowest available price for a Verified Resale ticket is $66. The highest is $1238.

Bell Centre, Montreal, QC (05/06/2018)

Tickets for Montreal are sold via Evenko, a TM partner site. As a result, there Is no option for a Verified Resale via TM.
Approximately 290 tickets in total are available on the resale market site, with an uptick after the General Sales started, and since there is no Verified Resale via TM.
Prices remain quite static, with a low of $90, and a hight of $174.
Ticket prices on Evenko ranged between $42-$277.

The Forum, Los Angeles, CA (15/05/2018)

The Forum in Los Angeles is always a wanted ticket. As a result, prices were not affected by the General Sales commencing.
Approximately 210 tickets in total are available in the resale market site, with a lowest price of $81, and a highest of $182.
On Ticketmaster’s website, the lowest available price for a Verified Resale ticket is $80. The highest is $2403.

SAP Center, San Jose, CA (07/05/2018)

Approximately 270 tickets in total are available in the resale market site, with a lowest price of $83, and a highest of $170.
On Ticketmaster’s website, the lowest available price for a Verified Resale ticket is $76. The highest is $930.

Conclusion time
On all occasions, the Ticketmaster Verified Resale tickets are (far) more expensive that what’s on offer on the resale market, which is quite disturbing.
As the General Sales open up to the public, we see the resale market acquiring more tickets, which is to be expected, but prices also tend to drop, except for the popular markets.
Will the second shows that were recently announced follow the same pattern, or will the increased demand change things?
We will keep monitoring, and report back, should we notice any changes worth mentioning.

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