If scalping is in, then I am out.

Pistol Pete

I got the horrible news that one of my fellow teachers was murdered this morning. While not nearly as bad, I was very upset when I learned that PAX East 2014 tickets were already selling out before I got home. I have been spending my day getting trained down to educate and care for incarcerated juveniles. Hoory for a rewarding job. Boo to restricted internet access.

I can't believe what I'm seeing. Just look at what scalping is taking place.

Scalping nonsense like this is why I don't bother trying to get tickets for professional sports. It appears the same thing is happening to PAX East tickets. I have been to every PAX East, and I was fortunate to be an Omeganaut in 2011. Given the current state of PAX East affairs, 2013 will be my last PAX East.

gwidion

Scalping occurs with any event that draws a lot of people. It's unfortunate but inevitable. I don't think there is much they can do on the forums, and this has been brought up a lot in main post about tickets and hotels.

KoalaBro2

Two notes about scalping. First, there is no guarantee that those scalpers even have tickets. Someone else has noted that there is a 2 month limit to bring complaints against sellers on Ebay, meaning that someone who sold tickets today could fail to deliver them when the passes actually go out in late March, and you wouldn't even be able to leave negative feedback. It's a very simple crime with virtually no risk. So, assume that most Ebay sellers do not actually have any tickets at all at this stage.

Second, Khoo has stated on Twitter that they will be going through their sales records and cancelling orders which they determine to be due to scalpers. So even if a scalper has tickets now, the order may well be cancelled and the tickets released back to the public.

Pistol Pete

Thanks for the reply. I have a new baby, so there is no way I could afford anything beyond face value. You do have a good point about how risky buying tickets on eBay is.

KoalaBro2 wrote: »

Second, Khoo has stated on Twitter that they will be going through their sales records and cancelling orders which they determine to be due to scalpers. So even if a scalper has tickets now, the order may well be cancelled and the tickets released back to the public.

I hope so. I wonder if they'll give a heads up for that release. My workplace bans cellphones and limits internet use, so I will have to plan ahead.

Ohy

KoalaBro2 wrote: »

Second, Khoo has stated on Twitter that they will be going through their sales records and cancelling orders which they determine to be due to scalpers. So even if a scalper has tickets now, the order may well be cancelled and the tickets released back to the public.

Wait, what? I bought 7 tickets for 6 of my friends. Is there a possibility that I might get canceled? Now I'm worried.

zepherin

Ohy wrote: »

KoalaBro2 wrote: »

Second, Khoo has stated on Twitter that they will be going through their sales records and cancelling orders which they determine to be due to scalpers. So even if a scalper has tickets now, the order may well be cancelled and the tickets released back to the public.

Wait, what? I bought 7 tickets for 6 of my friends. Is there a possibility that I might get canceled? Now I'm worried.

Well generally they allow 5 tickets per transaction, but I wonder if it would be productive or destructive to send a message to khoo about it.

Deiser

If one legitimately wants to buy tickets for friends, maybe they need to re-apply the whole name thing where each pass is associated to a name. That way people can buy tickets for friends, but it'll be much more difficult to scalp.

KoalaBro2

I have no idea what algorithm Khoo uses to determine that passes may have been purchased by scalpers, but I would assume that, yes, there is definitely a strong possibility that anyone who bought more than 5 passes may have their order cancelled. I suggest contacting PAX to see if you can get your passes cleared: pax_questions@paxsite.com or 877-674-8241

(Messaging Khoo on the forums is a potential way of contacting him as well, but given the volume of issues he's handling right now, I would think that using the official channels is likely to yield better results...)

The Unquestioned

I'm confused - wouldn't this be solved by requiring name registration for badges? You wouldn't be able to buy tickets for others, but it would probably go a huge way towards fighting scalping. Most other, if not all, major cons do this. I know E3 does, for example.

TheAggroCraig

The Unquestioned wrote: »

I'm confused - wouldn't this be solved by requiring name registration for badges? You wouldn't be able to buy tickets for others, but it would probably go a huge way towards fighting scalping. Most other, if not all, major cons do this. I know E3 does, for example.

So you want people to ID you at the door? It just won't work with something as massive as PAX. Selling badges is no different than selling tickets for the world series, just with those events it's expected nowadays.

It sucks, but it happens, and there's nothing anybody can do about it right now.

Ohy

[quote="zepherin;28235480"
Well generally they allow 5 tickets per transaction, but I wonder if it would be productive or destructive to send a message to khoo about it.
[/quote]

That's a good idea. I did two transactions so I was freaking out having to wait on two virtual lines. I was thinking only five of us would go out of the 7.

KoalaBro2 wrote: »

I have no idea what algorithm Khoo uses to determine that passes may have been purchased by scalpers, but I would assume that, yes, there is definitely a strong possibility that anyone who bought more than 5 passes may have their order cancelled. I suggest contacting PAX to see if you can get your passes cleared: pax_questions@paxsite.com or 877-674-8241

(Messaging Khoo on the forums is a potential way of contacting him as well, but given the volume of issues he's handling right now, I would think that using the official channels is likely to yield better results...)

I'll try calling, thanks!

cardkid123

I don't like the name idea. I'm buying tickets for a group of 4. 1 of my friends last names I don't even know how to spell and I dont even know another one of them. A lot of people are actually buying 5 tickets and have multiple people also buying 5 tickets so that a big group can go. Names would make that actually have to be organized and difficult to do.

Doji

TheAggroCraig wrote: »

The Unquestioned wrote: »

I'm confused - wouldn't this be solved by requiring name registration for badges? You wouldn't be able to buy tickets for others, but it would probably go a huge way towards fighting scalping. Most other, if not all, major cons do this. I know E3 does, for example.

So you want people to ID you at the door? It just won't work with something as massive as PAX. Selling badges is no different than selling tickets for the world series, just with those events it's expected nowadays.

It sucks, but it happens, and there's nothing anybody can do about it right now.

I've been to Bonarroo for the last three years... 80,000 people attend every year on a farm. This year Bonarroo REQUIRED you to register your name with the wristband beforehand to enter, although you could still freely sell your tickets before registration.

What they need to do is link them to the credit card that purchased them with ways of transferring it in case of credit card/ID theft, or expiration before the show. That way there would be no scalping. They did this at the last Mumford & Sons concert I attended. They scanned my credit card and that was my access to the show. No one else could have used my ticket without my credit card, so there were no scalpers.

PS - Do we know if they are doing anything about the ticket scalpers on EBay today? They should immediately contact EBay and request that ALL sales closed and sellers banned. That's probably not possible, but it would go a long way to helping the rest of us who missed out because of the scalper bots.

erzhik

It was 5 tickets per credit card/billing address, not per transaction. If you used two different credit cards with two different names with different billing address, there won't be a problem. But if you purchased more than 5 tickets using same credit card, then there might be a problem. So it's 5 tickets not per transaction, but per credit card/billing address.

zerzhul

Apparently you didn't get the memo when I closed this and merged it the first time.