The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent
vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums
here.
We now return to our regularly scheduled PA Forums. Please let me (Hahnsoo1) know if something isn't working. The Holiday Forum will remain up until January 10, 2025.
Posts
I understand compensation. I am generous with it.
I'm sorry if I push your some of your buttons Mcdermott.
I just don't see everything I do as an hourly wage or base myself off some pay scale.
Ignore them and eventually they will lose business and hopefully just stop harassing people imo.
according to the doctrine of First Sale (Title 17: Chapter 1 U.S. Code) an artist, publisher, manufacturer or creator of a given product is only guaranteed the right of first sale on that item, and not from any future transactions.
You can resell your shirt with the pax logo you just cant sell it saying you made it, you are simply reselling it.
I deem this discussion to be very intelligent.
Scalpers extract the TRUE value out of the badges. If you want to look at it this way, scalpers are a healthy part of the economy. If PA wanted to put the scalpers out of business, they would have to charge considerably more... and they would look like they were greedy profiteers. But the scalpers are a symptom of nice people.
Try going to SXSW, where the tickets cost at a bare minimum $375 for early bird film-only, $900 for an early-bird platinum badge, and $1250 for a walk-up platinum. Try Googling "SXSW Scalpers" and then do "PAX Scalpers". It's like night and day...
Yep, it's the market value. Supply and demand, Introductory Economics kind of stuff.
People pay more for parking their cars at PAX than they do for the event.
Because of the nature of the event, making it profit-driven destroys the spirit of the event. That's the real issue: since PA is not profiting nearly as much as they could be, someone else is.
The only thing we can do to make scalpers not profit is to not buy from them.
PA can make a small number of day passes available at the door which would undercut the scalping considerably if it was not announced beforehand. The scalpers buy ten passes only to get to the event they think is sold out and see that there are passes available. Maybe it wouldn't work so great because once the reserve is sold then scalpers are in business again...
I had a couple friends who had other plans on Sunday so they sold off their pass for $20 on Saturday.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
MH3U Monster Cheat Sheet / MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
No kidding, the overflow garage was only $10/day payment up front. I carpool with 4 people each day and we trade off driving so I was only out about $15 for transportation costs only because we did BYOC and needed to be in the main garage for loading purposes.
Bazinga!
I for one am glad the scalpers are there (to a degree). It just means that I will always have a way into PAX if other plans - which had gotten in the way - free up last minute and I'm able to go suddenly. The problem is that they were shady and aggressive/rude. I wonder if pax reg could start a used ticket exchange or something at the door that you could go to, to tell registration that you are done for the weekend so that they can sell additional badges on a first come basis. I'd definitely be in favor of that.
I parked up the street on Capital Hill for $6 each day. It was a 5 minute walk to the convention center. In fact on Sunday I grabbed a street spot for free. You just have to get there early enough to look around.
No, this is like the guy who rings up a dozen preorders of the hot new game at the only game store in town for a hundred miles and also buys the extra copies the store orders as soon as the store opens, then stands outside or craigslists it for a $10-$250 profit. See the difference?
Scalpers aren't just this wonderful positive force that "balances" the market. They can function just as well in a balanced market by unbalancing it by causing an artificial scarcity of the properly priced product/service that shouldn't exist in the first place so that they can charge a higher price.
Used game markets, on the other hand, function in an *opposite* manner, by causing a *surplus* of the item in question, reducing its price.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
MH3U Monster Cheat Sheet / MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
This actually isnt true... Although the enforcers were probably trying, they weren't succeeding. I saw one of the scalpers turn down an offer of $60 dollars for a single day pass. He told the girl he was charging $80 per day, and to go get 20 more dollars.
That person then needs to learn how to use amazon. Honestly if some kid who could not be bothered to buy a pax pass for the some 8 months registration was open for then i say take him for all hes worth. This is not blizcon where passes sell out in seconds this is pax where passes are on sale for months and are cheap. Now if you you want to say they are in my way or annoying fine but don't cry about the poor poor people who could not be bothered to buy a pass. This is pax shit sells out yo.
<Qs23> I just need to get my dicks in a row
<prox> i work for dicks
#paforums_pax, all about the dicks.
While i agree with you in theory, with some 30k passes being sold it would very hard to run into said condition. At least at this point in the game.
<Qs23> I just need to get my dicks in a row
<prox> i work for dicks
#paforums_pax, all about the dicks.
Sadly, scalping is in fact perfectly legal in seattle.
Relevant law. Market price =! face value.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
As for the scalpers, I understand that some people may feel the need to "hustle" and "get theirs", but it doesn't make it right. I had to buy six one day passes as opposed to two three day passes because of a glitch in the system that said they had sold out of three days when they had not actually sold out yet. Of course when I found out it was too late and I ended paying significantly more. Any one of those passes that the scalpers had could have been mine.
Also, by reselling passes to random people on the street it does not allow for PA to accuratley account for how many people are actually attending PAX and can lead to problems for PAX when trying to plan out space and venues for next year.
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
For the people standing outside, this is not how it works. I can guarantee you not a single one of them purchased tickets in advance. I used to know a guy who put himself through school scalping, and in my poorer days I would buy tickets to sporting events from scalpers because they were cheaper. Scalpers make money by buying below market and selling at some price above that (even below face.) They are extremely unlikely to tie up money for several months that they could use to operate at other events.
There is no shortage of below face buying opportunities for them. People always end up with extra passes for whatever reason, and sometimes that happens at the last minute. At that point it can be a hassle to find a buyer and get your money back, so people are willing to take whatever they can get. For people who want to go to the show, the value of passes is much higher -- they will pay well above face because they perceive that it is their only option. I was surprised to see scalpers outside because I didn't expect there to be many people in this latter group. People show up to sporting events without tickets because they know that tickets will be available from scalpers, but who would expect scalpers to be at PAX?
Believe me, I can't stand when people buy up something scarce with the intent to re-sell it. It took me forever to get a wii back in the day because I refused to pay those leeches, but that's really not what was happening here.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Don't take this as me trying to stifle discussion, it's just that this discussion isn't really going anywhere. Every point that could be make has been made. Hopefully a solution to this problem will happen before next year's PAXes.