Scoring World Series Tickets Gets Easier

[JoeBatterz]

New Laws Loosen Restrictions

On Reselling Over the Internet;

A Timely Change for Sox Fans

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Scoring World Series Tickets Get Easier

 

Full Article is above, excerpts are below:

 

New state laws that loosen the rules on scalping tickets online could mean more available seats for die-hard baseball fans desperate to attend this year's World Series. A host of changes, including the legalization of a secondary ticket market in the Chicago White Sox's home state of Illinois, are intended to thwart fraudulent selling by creating a larger pool of ticket resellers -- perhaps even bringing down the oftentimes astronomical prices for scalped seats.

 

One Illinois provision was passed in May when White Sox fans could only dare to dream about a World Series berth for the first time since 1959. It lifted the ban on nonlicensed individuals reselling event tickets online for more than face value. Ticket prices on the secondary market dwarf those found on Ticketmaster, the White Sox's official vendor, mainly due to limited supply. While the top price for a Ticketmaster ticket to the first game of the World Series in Chicago was less than $200, a ticket has already sold for $7,500 through online ticket reseller StubHub Inc.

 

In a move timely for baseball fans, the biggest recent change has been in Illinois, where the legislature removed its ban on individual Internet ticket auctions. Prior to the move, only licensed brokers could charge more than face value. But now, those selling tickets through approved online channels such as eBay and other legitimate resellers can also post their tickets and ask for prices greater than face value as well.

 

Since restrictions on ticket reselling typically apply to sellers in the state where the event is held, the Illinois change is rippling through the overheated market for World Series tickets.

 

On Tuesday, official tickets for White Sox World Series home games reportedly sold out in about 18 minutes through Ticketmaster, and tickets for the remaining games are expected to disappear just as quickly.

 

But online ticket resellers continue to report frenzied business. StubHub, based in San Francisco, says the number of White Sox tickets sold on its site the day the team clinched the American League championship was 57% higher than the number of Red Sox tickets sold when Boston won a spot in the World Series last year.

 

Online ticket reseller RazorGator reports a 50% increase in traffic overall. "The change in the law opened up a whole new piece of the market," says David Lord, the Beverly Hills-based company's president and chief executive.

 

While the law's removal has led to booming business for the online ticket-resale market, estimated at $2 billion by StubHub, the effect on prices so far has been mixed. With supply up, some resellers are predicting lower prices. On StubHub.com, tickets were selling for slightly lower prices Tuesday than four days prior to the start of last year's World Series by about $20, or around 1% less of their then $1,623 average price. But prices are slightly higher on RazorGator, in part because the company serves many corporate clients who tend to be less discerning about price, Mr. Lord says.

 

But even if ticket prices don't fall significantly, the strength of the secondary market could spell a bit of good news for consumers. Unlike some independent scalpers, these resellers guarantee the safe sale of the tickets by checking both the buyer and seller for fraud prior to transactions. They also typically allow you to purchase advanced tickets for later games that may not happen, which can be a money-saver because it helps buyers avoid last-minute markups.

 

The opportunity to purchase advanced tickets helped Debbie Chouinard, a 52-year-old restaurant owner from Kankakee, Ill., land two tickets to Game One with little hassle through StubHub. Confident that the White Sox would pull through, she bought two tickets for $999 each, hours before it was certain that the White Sox were headed to the World Series.

 

Besides sites like StubHub.com, consumers have other options for landing last-minute seats. TicketsNow.com, of Crystal Lake, Ill., opens its site only to licensed state resellers. Since licensed brokers may not be bound by state caps on reselling, buyers may end up paying more. But these tickets are backed by a 100% guarantee and their 10% fee is slightly lower than the fees charged by some other resellers such as RazorGator, which usually tacks on fees of around 25%.

 

But the changes in the marketplace mean that holding out for last-minute tickets may not be wise. Since online auction sites push secure advanced ticket sales, they may already be taken. And there is likely to be more than enough demand to keep prices high until the very end.

[kapkomet]

 

How nice, the laws changed so the scalpers can't make $10,000 a ticket instead of $5,000 a ticket that they are making now. Boy, that helped a LOT.