Dude, I've Got These Sweet Floor Seats...Fifty Bucks, Bro...

Don't buy from scalpers. Repeat, don't buy from scalpers.

Jesus, you'd think people would get this by now. Read on:

Ticket Trouble at the John Paul Jones Arena
Reported by David Douglas
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

All over tickets bought online could cause concert goers to be turned away at the John Paul Jones Arena this weekend.

If you go online to get seats to a concert there is a "right way" and what ticketers might call "the wrong way." Because if you buy tickets from a reseller you might get a deal that is not music to your ears.

Rachel Charron and her friend had two tickets to see Kenny Chesney. “I had one ticket that I sold because she wanted to upgrade. We upgraded to fourth row seats. From then you go to eBay, you buy tickets, you go to the show, there was never any question about it," said Charron.

No question, that is, until Charron and her friend arrived at the door.

"They scanned them and asked how we had purchased them and my friend said she got them on eBay. And they said since they were sold on eBay for more than face value of the tickets that all the tickets that had been purchased that way had been cancelled," stated Charron.

Link

There is a reason why you shouldn't buy from ticket brokers, whether it be for sports or concerts. Actually, there are a lot of reasons. One, they charge obscene prices, partly to cover their costs, but mostly to make a buck. Two, they don't control tickets for the venue, so if they job you, you're screwed. Three, if you didn't buy from the team/ticket vendor, oops, sorry, you didn't buy from us, so we can't help you. Four, scalpers can sell you bogus tickets and you'll never know it until you get to the gate and your tickets get rejected (especially these days, when everything's bar-coded).

I don't have much sympathy for people who get screwed like this. It sounds like the particular situation in this story ended well, but a lot don't. And in the end, there's no one else to blame but yourself if you do do it.

Don't buy from scalpers. End of story.