eBay, who cancelled my auction of old Weight Watchers materials because they "aren't for resale" has no problem with scalpers.
Today, tickets for Bruce Springsteen's solo acoustic concert in Denver next month, went on sale. As far as I can tell the $75-85 (not including fees) tickets are sold out. However, that's not official since they'll probably release blocks of tickets that are being held by the promoter when it gets closer to the show date.
But of course, the scalpers already have their tickets listed on eBay, all in the $200-300 range. And I'm not sure how they're doing it since most of the better tickets are only available at will call with ID. Buyer beware, I guess.
I read in today's Rocky Mountain Post that U2's fans blocked similar scalper sales by buying up all the tickets and reselling them to other fans at face value. And U2 in the past has sold tickets only through their fan club, which has cut down scalping as well.
But I think the only way to combat scalping is if eBay develops some guts and makes a policy of only allowing people to resell tickets at face value, plus a minimal service fee for shipping and handling.
In the meanwhile, I'll be scanning the airwaves for Springsteen ticket contests. But worse comes to worse, I'll have the Devils & Dust (due out April 26th!) CD and DVD and will enjoy the music of my fellow New Jerseyian from the comfort of my living room.
