Second year in a row I had to buy 3 single day passes for myself and my wife. Not fun paying over $300, when I could have paid $210. Then, the hotel I was trying to book apparently sold out one of the days I requested as I was typing my information in. Had to book Fri-Sun at the Omni Parker.
Keep on trying within the next few days / weeks. Hotels in the past few years were very much so in flux. I switched twice last year.
Stuff like ebay sales links infuriates me. Particularly because it's numerous people buying purely for the purpose of scalping, not just "oh I ended up with extras".
So now if I wanted to go all 3 days, it's impossible without shelling out $150-$300 to a scalper. Disappointing because I had a good time last year and was looking for to going, but since I missed the 10 minute window I guess.. I won't?
Stuff like this LINK infuriates me. Particularly because it's numerous people buying purely for the purpose of scalping, not just "oh I ended up with extras".
So now if I wanted to go all 3 days, it's impossible without shelling out $150-$300 to a scalper. Disappointing because I had a good time last year and was looking for to going, but since I missed the 10 minute window I guess.. I won't?
Those are totally against Ebay's TOS. I would not link those, just to be safe?
If you have an EBay account, go ahead and report every single one. Their delivery window is impossible and violates their standards of professional conduct: "I agree not to sell, trade, produce, or advertise tickets that I do not have in my possession."
None of them possess their tickets. Let Ebay infract every single one of their accounts.
Stuff like ebay sales links infuriates me. Particularly because it's numerous people buying purely for the purpose of scalping, not just "oh I ended up with extras".
So now if I wanted to go all 3 days, it's impossible without shelling out $150-$300 to a scalper. Disappointing because I had a good time last year and was looking for to going, but since I missed the 10 minute window I guess.. I won't?
Your best bet is to ignore unofficial channels like eBay, StubHub, Craigslist, etc. The more that people buy from these ridiculous "sales," the more likely they'll keep doing this in the future. In addition, you have no guarantee that those badges are legitimate.
zerzhul on
While I agree that being insensitive is an issue, so is being oversensitive.
Please do not link to third party badge sales posts. It does nothing but drive traffic their way. Report them for violating ebay's ToS. We definitely all know they exist.
Stuff like this LINK infuriates me. Particularly because it's numerous people buying purely for the purpose of scalping, not just "oh I ended up with extras".
So now if I wanted to go all 3 days, it's impossible without shelling out $150-$300 to a scalper. Disappointing because I had a good time last year and was looking for to going, but since I missed the 10 minute window I guess.. I won't?
Those are totally against Ebay's TOS. I would not link those, just to be safe?
Safe for whom? I mean, I can imagine a few people around here that I would feel distinctly unsafe disclosing a return address to.
As mentioned, I won't be purchasing from a scalper for a lot of reasons, I just won't be going as a result. Same situation 2 years ago, got lucky enough to get 3 individuals last year, but having this happen yet again this year is kinda souring me on the whole experience. Just seems like there should be a better way. I can't always be glued to my computer/phone 24/7.
Stuff like ebay sales links infuriates me. Particularly because it's numerous people buying purely for the purpose of scalping, not just "oh I ended up with extras".
So now if I wanted to go all 3 days, it's impossible without shelling out $150-$300 to a scalper. Disappointing because I had a good time last year and was looking for to going, but since I missed the 10 minute window I guess.. I won't?
3 single days were up for an hour or two. That's what I ended up with.
Please do not link to third party badge sales posts. It does nothing but drive traffic their way. Report them for violating ebay's ToS. We definitely all know they exist.
Wait wait wait wait. What if there were some reporting mechanism for ticket scalpers? These people are selling them on eBay, and they sell other items as well. It seems all you would have to do is buy a low-price item from these jerks, get the return address and report them. If there were some mechanism that would prevent the passes from shipping to these addresses... then... can it be stopped?
Heck, I'd buy a small item from one of these dealers if it would mean that Penny Arcade could stop them.
As of now, we probably can no longer assume that the website will update days in advance before tickets going on sale. I believe this is the first time everything went up at once. So for future PAXs, we have to remain on heightened alert at all times
Anyway, I got my badges,but I will apply for Enforcer when that becomes available. Been attending PAX for a while, so I'm ready to help contribute
Wait wait wait wait. What if there were some reporting mechanism for ticket scalpers? These people are selling them on eBay, and they sell other items as well. It seems all you would have to do is buy a low-price item from these jerks, get the return address and report them. If there were some mechanism that would prevent the passes from shipping to these addresses... then... can it be stopped?
Heck, I'd buy a small item from one of these dealers if it would mean that Penny Arcade could stop them.
The only thing you can really do is to go report those listings. For eBay, you report the item and file it under:
The practice of scalping has been going on since long before PAX
Wait wait wait wait. What if there were some reporting mechanism for ticket scalpers? These people are selling them on eBay, and they sell other items as well. It seems all you would have to do is buy a low-price item from these jerks, get the return address and report them. If there were some mechanism that would prevent the passes from shipping to these addresses... then... can it be stopped?
Heck, I'd buy a small item from one of these dealers if it would mean that Penny Arcade could stop them.
The only thing you can really do is to go report those listings. For eBay, you report the item and file it under:
The practice of scalping has been going on since long before PAX
I actually reported them under presales. They're much harder on banning sales that happen outside of a 30 day window before the event than they are on ticket resales.
If people are curious, I got the tweet notification and IMMEDIATELY jumped in the queue on my phone. Then, I ran over to the computer and within a minute or two had jumped in the queue there, just in case my phone browser failed me. While I was able to get 3-days on my phone, by the time my computer had gotten me into the checkout line 3-days were gone.
Rough time difference: two minutes.
ETA: Just in case you get the wrong idea, once checkout had gone through on my phone I didn't buy any tickets on my computer. I'm not a monster!
eBay allows you to resell tickets all you'd like, just so long as it complies with local laws. Only five states make it illegal to resell tickets for an increased price.
So, yay. MA is one of them. I've found one seller in MA already and reported that. I don't know exactly how much eBay is going to look into the matter. But I've reported all of his listings.
THANK GOD the wait is over. I can sleep soundly tonight haha, now we just have to wait 5 months T_T
I also wanted to comment on the exceptional customer service. I accidentally placed 2 orders because I received a 404 instead of a confirmation the first time I tried to buy tickets (but apparently it went through) and so I placed a second order and had to call and cancel the duplicate order. The customer service representative was very understanding, and very calm, cool, and collected among the chaos.
The REAL reason they have less and less 3 day passes to sell is simple: They make a lot more money selling single days because 105$ vs (3x50$)
If they say anything to the contrary they are lying.
They could charge a whole lot more based on the demand and make a lot more money. This theory does not hold water.
Thats what they do every year. They cant just double the price in one go because that would be too obvious. On top of that there is less and less 3 day passes available every year that is the way they use to rise the price. You said it yourself that next year there will likelly be no more 3 day passes.
Raising the price a couple of bucks year on year is hardly jacking it up to take your sweet sweet dollars.
My local boardgame convention in a tiny space costs $25/day for like 400 people. As another example, for a four hour post pax party at prime this past year, the venue and some appetizers were going to cost $45/person. For four hours.
PAX is still cheap, even at $150 for a weekend. But hey, I highly encourage you to vote with your wallet and stop going if it's outside your budget, or if you just think they are gouging.
Im so happy I can stop stressing now However, I had a scare. Around 1pm when it went live, despite my routine of checking like a mad woman every hour on the hour... it slipped my mind, and I was on the phone with a client at work. I get off the phone at 1:10 and see my iphone is swarmed with texts and tweets!! I just about had a heart attack. Thank god my boyfriend was one of those texts saying he was getting the tickets. We didn't get 3 day passes (sadly, I dont care about the price but I like have one pass to keep track of, and I keep all my previous year badges to collect) but we got individual day passes. Booked my hotel and we are good to go! Just gotta do to the transportation now. Thank you Pax people for doing this before the holidays. You rock!
I'm glad it happened today, with me having the day off. Had to run errands, though. I was in line at Dunkin when it went live. I know everyone in line with me got a kick out of seeing me freak out and run to a table to see me stare incessantly at my phone for, like, 15 minutes. Hehe
Got 3 single days for all of our party members but one who missed his Saturday pass, so was very lucky, I had just returned to PC from lunch. Got rooms at the Element, it's about as close as you can get. See you all at PAX!
I got right in the queue the moment I saw the notification on my phone. Luckily I was literally about to take my break at work. I managed to get two three day passes. One for me and one for my friend. I almost had a hard attack at one point though. While putting in my credit card information, I must have accidentally hit return on my phone. It took me back to Twitter and out of the ticket site. Luckily it had saved my order so I was good to go.
expected tickets today, but when noon my-time came and went, I assumed it wasn't today. booked with clients all day and Boom, 37 text messages -_- thankfully my team was on top of things and we have tickets and a place to sleep. Now to watch the hotels like crazy. Super curious how Aloft and Element are
Yeah, as the prices on ebay show even if they doubled the prices they'd still sell all the tickets. They don't so that it can remain a convention that most people can afford, which I think is really kind. It does mean that tickets sell out faster. No solution here except to expand the available space, which isn't possible in the near future. Selfishly I would love to see them do it at the Javits Center in New York some day, but it's not like my city's hotels have any space anyway.
I spaced it entirely and only managed to get Friday and sunday badges, but that's okay with me I'm going to have a great time no matter what.
Also remember, pax reclaimed badges from suspected scalpers for prime, they might do the same for east if its really getting that bad.
I am pissed, I was waiting for the past three weeks.....watching every day. I got the first tweet and saw it had dropped 6 minutes and I thought I was home free. Que said not to refresh on my iPad and I was driving home from work and within 11 minutes, so this is roughly 17 minutes. I got second tweet all 3 day passes sold out!?!?!? I thought wtf, at least I can get 3 singles at full price, but no, I got another tweet Sat day passes sold out and I just got pissed off. I managed to get tickets for 2012, same reason did not make it for 2013 & 2014. Now with this Bull Shit again and I'm local and I'm not gonna waste my time on this show again. I hope all of you have a great time, what a fucking scam.
The thing that shocked me the most is that tickets went on sale before the site updated with "Soon" and the Countdown time start. I said if they were going to go on sale in November it'd be this week or the week after next to avoid the holidays. Guess I was right. Phone was exploding while I was in queue and couldn't respond to any of them because I didn't know if swapping apps on the phone would kill my queue spot. MY buddy got us 3 day passes so I am stoked.
The hotel site on the other hand did not go so smoothly. I don't get the point of a queue with a time limit, if you can't book what they are showing is available. I don't mind the intercontinental, but really would have preferred Seaport/Westin again. At least PAX is a month later this year and should be nicer weather. Just happy to be going to PAX again!
The thing that shocked me the most is that tickets went on sale before the site updated with "Soon" and the Countdown time start.
I think this was done to help combat the scalping issue. If they announce when tickets go on sale, guess who have a whole team of people waiting to snag tickets?
Well I've had a crazy enough week as it is, had power issues at home so we got notified on mobiles, but I think with the 4g there was some lag, as one of ours dinged and mine did a minute later, and a minute is everything in the PAX game. I'd like to think if we was on a browser, we'd have got 3 days, like the last four years, but the main problem was the mobile site saying we would be redirected at our turn, however, after waiting over 10 mins, we realised we had to refresh, even though it said not to. At least we got three single but man, that price difference over technical problems. I don't see why they just didn't go away with 3 days like prime, at least everyone is on a level playing field then. As for hotels, I also had to problem of queue errors so I've not booked anything yet, hoping for a local one to pop up, got a seaport last minute this year. Loved it, but the element looks interesting with kitchenette. So we'll see.
Purple, glad you got your passes, as normal I was stuck in queue too long as well so missed out on 3-days which I haven't gotten since 2014's show, I wonder if it's a particular browser issue. Would be REALLY nice if it showed your place in line in the queue like OnPeak does, and ring a loud bell when you are in, even though OnPeak had its own issues. I'll let you know how our Element stay turned out after PAX. We normally stay in the Seaport but wanted to try this instead. The free breakfast and kitchen are nice but we will also have a lack of room service for dinner. We did that only once in the Seaport, but it was nice as an option when you are wiped out after a long day. Only thing I see as unusual is that the Westin had no rooms available either before passes went live, or after via OnPeak, and so I'm unsure how that got full with not being to reserve a room there via any means at any time (well, after August). Perhaps that many folks reserved all the rooms at std rate prior to August when I checked? Unless there are that many PAX and vendor staff to fill it up. But now there are four other hotels nearly as close, and I think all of them are probably as good or better than the Westin, so it's not a big deal.
OH I get that, what I mean is that every other time the site would say soon for upward of weeks prior to going up and the countdown to pax timer would be up. I'm pretty sure this is the first time in a few years that it didn't happen for PAX East. I'm totally against scalpers, although funny enough, my first pax east ever was either 2012 or 13 and I got my ticket a month before pax on eBay for cost.
Yeah read that article, what a crock of shit. If PAX wanted to help the individual they would go to 2 per customer/IP address but they will only say the numbers work best the way they are doing it. Things are not improving they have only gotten worse. So PAX makes out great, the scalpers double their money and they minions that try to attend have to play with either group selling tickets and we get screwed.
The issue with going to 2 per customer is families- by doing so, they make it extremely difficult for 2 parents to go with their kid, or mom or dad to go with their 2 kids, etc (or 2 parents, 2 kids...any permutations thereof).
4 tickets per buyer seems to be the happy medium between not screwing over families/large parties (I coordinate a 4-person crew for this) and still not letting folks buy vast numbers to scalp.
And again, remember that these ebay auctions, etc are by far the minority. They sell thousands upon thousands of tickets (Attendance before they stopped tell us the numbers was around 70K people)- a couple hundred tickets to scalpers is a drop in the bucket. The scalpers still suck, though.
Yeah read that article, what a crock of shit. If PAX wanted to help the individual they would go to 2 per customer/IP address but they will only say the numbers work best the way they are doing it. Things are not improving they have only gotten worse. So PAX makes out great, the scalpers double their money and they minions that try to attend have to play with either group selling tickets and we get screwed.
Let's take the scalpers out of the picture for a moment (considering they are supposed to make up for 1% of ticket sales). I have a good feeling that people would still be feeling screwed if they didn't get their tickets. My point is that there is no way possible for them to make everyone happy. If they held PAX in a giant field that could accommodate triple the numbers they do now, you'd still have people upset.
Le_Goat on
While I agree that being insensitive is an issue, so is being oversensitive.
And again, remember that these ebay auctions, etc are by far the minority. They sell thousands upon thousands of tickets (Attendance before they stopped tell us the numbers was around 70K people)- a couple hundred tickets to scalpers is a drop in the bucket. The scalpers still suck, though.
Not only are these ebay auctions in the minority, some of them might not even be legit.
I don't understand why it's either 3 days or nothing for some. There are still Friday and Sunday tickets. Two days of PAX is better than 0 days of PAX. Even if you're traveling to Boston, there are lots of awesome things to do around the city in between those days. Plus, you might even end up lucky and find someone selling a face value Saturday badge when their friend's plans change.
I mean I'm sure that some people are going to get upset no matter what you do if they don't get tickets when they wanted. Personally I was a bit late to the party yesterday, yet still managed to snag 4 sets of individual passes as well as solid hotel for all 4 of us. It's a bit further out than I would like and sure I'd love to have 3 day passes, but the reality is that I was a bit late. I am still going and will enjoy hanging out with my friends while I'm there. There's 11 of us total, yet we all managed to get passes. I'd say that's working as intended.
Some people will miss out. I recommend looking into other conventions if attending PAX is too frustrating for you. Or perhaps go to PAX South which didn't sell out for quite a while. They're taken what steps they can to minimize scalping and judging by the fact that last year, I only saw two people selling passes outside and they barely had any, and I'd say they're doing reasonably well.
Posts
Now, as for scalpers that got them? For them I have reserved different feelings. Feelings like scorn and derision seem appropriate.
Keep on trying within the next few days / weeks. Hotels in the past few years were very much so in flux. I switched twice last year.
So now if I wanted to go all 3 days, it's impossible without shelling out $150-$300 to a scalper. Disappointing because I had a good time last year and was looking for to going, but since I missed the 10 minute window I guess.. I won't?
Those are totally against Ebay's TOS. I would not link those, just to be safe?
None of them possess their tickets. Let Ebay infract every single one of their accounts.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC2.A0.H0.Xpax+east+2016.TRS0&_nkw=pax+east+2016&_sacat=0
Safe for whom? I mean, I can imagine a few people around here that I would feel distinctly unsafe disclosing a return address to.
3 single days were up for an hour or two. That's what I ended up with.
Sorry, good point.
Heck, I'd buy a small item from one of these dealers if it would mean that Penny Arcade could stop them.
Anyway, I got my badges,but I will apply for Enforcer when that becomes available. Been attending PAX for a while, so I'm ready to help contribute
The practice of scalping has been going on since long before PAX
I actually reported them under presales. They're much harder on banning sales that happen outside of a 30 day window before the event than they are on ticket resales.
Rough time difference: two minutes.
ETA: Just in case you get the wrong idea, once checkout had gone through on my phone I didn't buy any tickets on my computer. I'm not a monster!
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter140/Section185D
So, yay. MA is one of them. I've found one seller in MA already and reported that. I don't know exactly how much eBay is going to look into the matter. But I've reported all of his listings.
I also wanted to comment on the exceptional customer service. I accidentally placed 2 orders because I received a 404 instead of a confirmation the first time I tried to buy tickets (but apparently it went through) and so I placed a second order and had to call and cancel the duplicate order. The customer service representative was very understanding, and very calm, cool, and collected among the chaos.
Thats what they do every year. They cant just double the price in one go because that would be too obvious. On top of that there is less and less 3 day passes available every year that is the way they use to rise the price. You said it yourself that next year there will likelly be no more 3 day passes.
My local boardgame convention in a tiny space costs $25/day for like 400 people. As another example, for a four hour post pax party at prime this past year, the venue and some appetizers were going to cost $45/person. For four hours.
PAX is still cheap, even at $150 for a weekend. But hey, I highly encourage you to vote with your wallet and stop going if it's outside your budget, or if you just think they are gouging.
Also remember, pax reclaimed badges from suspected scalpers for prime, they might do the same for east if its really getting that bad.
The hotel site on the other hand did not go so smoothly. I don't get the point of a queue with a time limit, if you can't book what they are showing is available. I don't mind the intercontinental, but really would have preferred Seaport/Westin again. At least PAX is a month later this year and should be nicer weather. Just happy to be going to PAX again!
zerzhul gave out a link to an article which helps explain a lot of things, and it's worth a read: http://www.geekwire.com/2015/how-penny-arcade-manages-pax-ticket-sales-and-why-your-crazy-idea-to-fix-them-wont-work/
OH I get that, what I mean is that every other time the site would say soon for upward of weeks prior to going up and the countdown to pax timer would be up. I'm pretty sure this is the first time in a few years that it didn't happen for PAX East. I'm totally against scalpers, although funny enough, my first pax east ever was either 2012 or 13 and I got my ticket a month before pax on eBay for cost.
4 tickets per buyer seems to be the happy medium between not screwing over families/large parties (I coordinate a 4-person crew for this) and still not letting folks buy vast numbers to scalp.
And again, remember that these ebay auctions, etc are by far the minority. They sell thousands upon thousands of tickets (Attendance before they stopped tell us the numbers was around 70K people)- a couple hundred tickets to scalpers is a drop in the bucket. The scalpers still suck, though.
PSN: L00nyEclip
Steam: Loony Eclipse
Twitter: @Loonyeclipse
Not only are these ebay auctions in the minority, some of them might not even be legit.
I don't understand why it's either 3 days or nothing for some. There are still Friday and Sunday tickets. Two days of PAX is better than 0 days of PAX. Even if you're traveling to Boston, there are lots of awesome things to do around the city in between those days. Plus, you might even end up lucky and find someone selling a face value Saturday badge when their friend's plans change.
Some people will miss out. I recommend looking into other conventions if attending PAX is too frustrating for you. Or perhaps go to PAX South which didn't sell out for quite a while. They're taken what steps they can to minimize scalping and judging by the fact that last year, I only saw two people selling passes outside and they barely had any, and I'd say they're doing reasonably well.