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.
I have much less of a problem with the "at cost" sales on ebay that go up a month or so before the date. People's plans, and finances, change. With the lead time, and the "pre-charge" for the passes, and the general "no refund" policy....in THOSE instances, I don't consider the folks scalpers. They're simply people trying to get their money back because of some sort of life change.
It's the folks selling tickets NOW, for crazy inflated costs, that I'd like to punch square in the face.
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pilferkMaster of UnlockingCTRegistered Userregular
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.
I can spoof an IP address for my machine(s), via free VPN or other methods, in about 30 seconds. I could literally have 12 devices going in my house, alone, with different IP addys, coming from different ISP IP banks. And I'm hardly a scalper collective member nor would I be using anything that requires a ton of technical expertise. That limit would actually be far less effective than the current physical address limit, I think. And for scalper collectives? They'll have a few dozen PO boxes, etc, at their disposal for badges.
There is no perfect system, really.
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pilferkMaster of UnlockingCTRegistered Userregular
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.
Agree. 4 full sets of badges "feels" about right.
Limiting to 2 also increases overall web traffic, significantly. Because where you have one person trying to get tickets for their group of 4 people...now you likely have 2 or 3 or 4 people doing the same thing.
I have much less of a problem with the "at cost" sales on ebay that go up a month or so before the date.
worth mentioning, "at cost" doesn't necessarily mean "face value". don't forget, ebay takes 10% of your final sale price, paypal takes a cut, shipping isn't free.
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pilferkMaster of UnlockingCTRegistered Userregular
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.
Agree with this, too.
"Different' isn't necessarily more fair. It's just a different distribution (ie: moving badges from one persons hands to another). And you introduce either timing or different logistical issues into the process.
Demand > Supply. There are always going to be people ticked off they couldn't get badges. The system isn't perfect...but really NO system is. You can't make one that's perfect. I think it's as good a system as they are capable of putting up.
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pilferkMaster of UnlockingCTRegistered Userregular
I have much less of a problem with the "at cost" sales on ebay that go up a month or so before the date.
worth mentioning, "at cost" doesn't necessarily mean "face value". don't forget, ebay takes 10% of your final sale price, paypal takes a cut, shipping isn't free.
Yeah, but "at cost" isn't double face value+, either....and on sale the day passes went on sale.
For a 3 day pass, "cost" would be roughly $120 ($105+10+5 shipping). That leaves out the paypal fee, though.
If I were selling, I'd also likely eat some of that, since the goal is really just to get most of my money back due to whatever life change is preventing me from going, not turn a profit. But that's just me.
For those who are upset that they missed out on Saturdays, they are popping up on the ticketing page once an hour. They only last for a few minutes, but I've been able to "cart up" 3 times and helped some friends get tickets.
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pilferkMaster of UnlockingCTRegistered Userregular
For those who are upset that they missed out on Saturdays, they are popping up on the ticketing page once an hour. They only last for a few minutes, but I've been able to "cart up" 3 times and helped some friends get tickets.
This is likely the result of their "anti scalper" routines cancelling multi address/CC orders that break the "4 per" rule. We saw this last year, too, and I think they commented that THATS what it was.
For those who are upset that they missed out on Saturdays, they are popping up on the ticketing page once an hour. They only last for a few minutes, but I've been able to "cart up" 3 times and helped some friends get tickets.
How are you catching it? And are you just talking about the showclix page?
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AnarCHrisTrash LordNew York CityRegistered Userregular
I set twitter notification for Khoo and official PAX way back in October, so once the link went live yesterday, I managed to pick up 2 3 days badges within minutes.
I'm a fan of the surprise sales tactic. Cuts down on scalping and made for a smoother experience.
For those who are upset that they missed out on Saturdays, they are popping up on the ticketing page once an hour. They only last for a few minutes, but I've been able to "cart up" 3 times and helped some friends get tickets.
Just successfully did this so thank you for the heads up it was most appreciated ... had to grab an additional for my daughter who was visibly upset that I was not including her in my plans this time around. Dad now rocks .... beats the "you suck" message I got on my windshield this morning ... lol
PAX East 2016 .... gots my Passes [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Packed [..] .... ok we're all good !!!!!
I set twitter notification for Khoo and official PAX way back in October, so once the link went live yesterday, I managed to pick up 2 3 days badges within minutes.
I'm a fan of the surprise sales tactic. Cuts down on scalping and made for a smoother experience.
This. Got the notification and the passes I wanted at the time (in retrospect needed a fourth as noted above). Attending with some new friends, should be fun. Will be there in amble time for the MMT !!!!
PAX East 2016 .... gots my Passes [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Packed [..] .... ok we're all good !!!!!
So me, my sisters, and my older sister's boyfriend go to pax every year. This year we weren't able to get 3 day passes because of the surprise site update, but we managed to get 4 sundays yesterday. Today I managed to get 4 saturday passes from the extras, and I want to buy fridays now that I managed to get the saturdays. I just want to make sure, its 4 tickets per day max right? So I should be able to buy 4 Sundays, 4 Saturdays, and 4 Fridays without my order getting canceled, right? I just need confirmation before I place my order for Friday passes.
So me, my sisters, and my older sister's boyfriend go to pax every year. This year we weren't able to get 3 day passes because of the surprise site update, but we managed to get 4 sundays yesterday. Today I managed to get 4 saturday passes from the extras, and I want to buy fridays now that I managed to get the saturdays. I just want to make sure, its 4 tickets per day max right? So I should be able to buy 4 Sundays, 4 Saturdays, and 4 Fridays without my order getting canceled, right? I just need confirmation before I place my order for Friday passes.
It is 4 people's worth of passes per day. 4 of each day should be fine, as would 4 3-days.
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.
Now, I can't speak for anyone else, but at least for me this generally doesn't fly. Personally, if I'm flying somewhere for a particular purpose, lets just use PAX for example, its not worth it to me to spend money on airfare and 2-3 nights in a hotel to go to a convention for a day or day and a half. Especially if that off day is smack in the middle of the weekend. Touristy stuff only gets you so far, especially if its a city you've been to quite a few times. All that being said, I was in a similar situation last year and grabbed a Saturday pass close to that weekend, so I guess it depends how badly you want to go. But I can certainly understand anyone who has to make travel plans saying, "Well if I can't get at least Friday and Saturday I'm not going."
For those who are upset that they missed out on Saturdays, they are popping up on the ticketing page once an hour. They only last for a few minutes, but I've been able to "cart up" 3 times and helped some friends get tickets.
How are you catching it? And are you just talking about the showclix page?
I dont want to share my secrets with scalpers, so PM me and I'll share more.
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pilferkMaster of UnlockingCTRegistered Userregular
So me, my sisters, and my older sister's boyfriend go to pax every year. This year we weren't able to get 3 day passes because of the surprise site update, but we managed to get 4 sundays yesterday. Today I managed to get 4 saturday passes from the extras, and I want to buy fridays now that I managed to get the saturdays. I just want to make sure, its 4 tickets per day max right? So I should be able to buy 4 Sundays, 4 Saturdays, and 4 Fridays without my order getting canceled, right? I just need confirmation before I place my order for Friday passes.
As zerzhul says, you should be fine. It's 4 peoples worth of passes for the full weekend. So either 4 three day passes or 4 passes for each day (Fri, Sat, Sun).
You MIGHT get a CS phone call because mult orders to same address with same cc#. My second year, I had to do things that way, and I got a phone call from their CS just to sort of verify my identity and make sure it was all legit. They didn't cancel orders or anything...or even put anything on hold. They just wanted to check in. But that was a LONG time ago (East 2011).
If anyone reading this is trying to decide, I think just Friday and Sunday is worth it. Reclaimed passes will come up for sale, buy a Sat pass on site, sleep in on Sat and be fully rested for Sat night parties, play games offsite with others, explore the city, people watch outside, etc. Sure 'worth' is a relative term, but unless that one particular panel that you HAVE to see is on Sat, then you'll have all the same experiences on Fri and Sun.
So me, my sisters, and my older sister's boyfriend go to pax every year. This year we weren't able to get 3 day passes because of the surprise site update, but we managed to get 4 sundays yesterday. Today I managed to get 4 saturday passes from the extras, and I want to buy fridays now that I managed to get the saturdays. I just want to make sure, its 4 tickets per day max right? So I should be able to buy 4 Sundays, 4 Saturdays, and 4 Fridays without my order getting canceled, right? I just need confirmation before I place my order for Friday passes.
It is 4 people's worth of passes per day. 4 of each day should be fine, as would 4 3-days.
Based on the ticket website it looks like:
PLEASE NOTE: In order to keep things fair, we currently have badge limits of 4 per household (per badge type).
Example. I got 3day passes for myself and friends. I also picked up some Saturday passes for my kids and my friends kids. (all are are over the age of 6)
I almost didn't pick up the Saturday ones and tried to get some Sunday ones later on the cheap, but wanted to make sure I could bring my boys.
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SkeleVaderYour Friendly Dark Lord of DestructionRegistered Userregular
It seems like the Friday badges lasted longer this year. I wonder if that confirms that they had less 3 days and more individual days... unless I'm talking out my butt which is entirely possible.
It seems like the Friday badges lasted longer this year. I wonder if that confirms that they had less 3 days and more individual days... unless I'm talking out my butt which is entirely possible.
Last year, Friday Badges sold out in 28 days.
This year, 2 days.
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SkeleVaderYour Friendly Dark Lord of DestructionRegistered Userregular
It seems like the Friday badges lasted longer this year. I wonder if that confirms that they had less 3 days and more individual days... unless I'm talking out my butt which is entirely possible.
Last year, Friday Badges sold out in 28 days.
This year, 2 days.
Also, this is the fastest Fridays have ever sold out for East.
2016: 2 days
2015: 28 days
2014: 9 days
2013: 134 days
2012: 154 days
2011: ~164 days
2010: 350 days
It seems like the Friday badges lasted longer this year. I wonder if that confirms that they had less 3 days and more individual days... unless I'm talking out my butt which is entirely possible.
Last year, Friday Badges sold out in 28 days.
This year, 2 days.
This graph is of the sellout times for each kind of East pass. The y-axis is in minutes with a log scale. Sunday 2016 isn't on there yet because it hasn't sold out. But it'll likely be very close to where Friday is.
There is a certain subreddit you can check when we get close to PAX with people selling at a limit of $5 over face value. I won't link to it, but it is just honest people whose plans suddenly changed.
The 11 minutes for 2016 3-days can't be correct. I got into queue right away, and had my passes within minutes. My purchase receipt arrived in my email at 1:09 PM and I got the tweet at 1:03 PM. And when I bought my passes, the 3 days were already gone. So it was certainly less than 11 minutes unless the site lied when it told me there were none left. In my notes I was in queue prior to 1:05 PM so I actually wasn't in queue as long as I thought but certainly within two minutes of opening. But was 6 or less minutes for sure as I have the receipts, both of them at 1:09 PM. So somewhere prior to 1:09 PM they sold out, or the site told me they were.
Yeah, that graph is super inconsistent. The 9 minutes for East 15 was when they *first* displayed as sold out, which was 6 minutes for East 16. I don't know why they have it set to ~20.
Yeah, that graph is super inconsistent. The 9 minutes for East 15 was when they *first* displayed as sold out, which was 6 minutes for East 16. I don't know why they have it set to ~20.
I set it to whatever is in the Master Spreadsheet (more accurately, what I transcribed from it).
Ah Purple that may be it! Took up to ten minutes for everyone to actually buy them, but the site wouldn't let me buy one as they were in carts already. The tweet about being out came way after my purchase was completed.
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SkeleVaderYour Friendly Dark Lord of DestructionRegistered Userregular
The sell out time I put on the spreadsheet comes from the tweets. Those times are only rough approximations because of how the queue system works.
I started seeing the "sold out" pop up 7 min after the tweet, but I also saw more 3-days continually popping up 28 min after the tweet. Basically 3-days sell out almost instantly, but we have to put some number down so I use the tweet.
The sell out time I put on the spreadsheet comes from the tweets. Those times are only rough approximations because of how the queue system works.
I started seeing the "sold out" pop up 7 min after the tweet, but I also saw more 3-days continually popping up 28 min after the tweet. Basically 3-days sell out almost instantly, but we have to put some number down so I use the tweet.
And on a plot like this, it's about the year to year trends and the big jumps in sales. I like accuracy more than the average person, but we just don't have it here. So I use what there is. I made it to show people the general shape and trend of demand. I do find it very interesting that Saturday is in much higher demand that even Friday (Sunday I get). And Prime doesn't really have that split. I think it indicates how isolated East is physically so people are more likely to go for just one day. And if you go for one day, Saturday is the obvious choice.
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I have much less of a problem with the "at cost" sales on ebay that go up a month or so before the date. People's plans, and finances, change. With the lead time, and the "pre-charge" for the passes, and the general "no refund" policy....in THOSE instances, I don't consider the folks scalpers. They're simply people trying to get their money back because of some sort of life change.
It's the folks selling tickets NOW, for crazy inflated costs, that I'd like to punch square in the face.
I can spoof an IP address for my machine(s), via free VPN or other methods, in about 30 seconds. I could literally have 12 devices going in my house, alone, with different IP addys, coming from different ISP IP banks. And I'm hardly a scalper collective member nor would I be using anything that requires a ton of technical expertise. That limit would actually be far less effective than the current physical address limit, I think. And for scalper collectives? They'll have a few dozen PO boxes, etc, at their disposal for badges.
There is no perfect system, really.
Agree. 4 full sets of badges "feels" about right.
Limiting to 2 also increases overall web traffic, significantly. Because where you have one person trying to get tickets for their group of 4 people...now you likely have 2 or 3 or 4 people doing the same thing.
The servers already choke on the traffic volume.
worth mentioning, "at cost" doesn't necessarily mean "face value". don't forget, ebay takes 10% of your final sale price, paypal takes a cut, shipping isn't free.
Agree with this, too.
"Different' isn't necessarily more fair. It's just a different distribution (ie: moving badges from one persons hands to another). And you introduce either timing or different logistical issues into the process.
Demand > Supply. There are always going to be people ticked off they couldn't get badges. The system isn't perfect...but really NO system is. You can't make one that's perfect. I think it's as good a system as they are capable of putting up.
Yeah, but "at cost" isn't double face value+, either....and on sale the day passes went on sale.
For a 3 day pass, "cost" would be roughly $120 ($105+10+5 shipping). That leaves out the paypal fee, though.
If I were selling, I'd also likely eat some of that, since the goal is really just to get most of my money back due to whatever life change is preventing me from going, not turn a profit. But that's just me.
This is likely the result of their "anti scalper" routines cancelling multi address/CC orders that break the "4 per" rule.
How are you catching it? And are you just talking about the showclix page?
I'm a fan of the surprise sales tactic. Cuts down on scalping and made for a smoother experience.
Just successfully did this so thank you for the heads up it was most appreciated ... had to grab an additional for my daughter who was visibly upset that I was not including her in my plans this time around. Dad now rocks .... beats the "you suck" message I got on my windshield this morning ... lol
This. Got the notification and the passes I wanted at the time (in retrospect needed a fourth as noted above). Attending with some new friends, should be fun. Will be there in amble time for the MMT !!!!
Now, I can't speak for anyone else, but at least for me this generally doesn't fly. Personally, if I'm flying somewhere for a particular purpose, lets just use PAX for example, its not worth it to me to spend money on airfare and 2-3 nights in a hotel to go to a convention for a day or day and a half. Especially if that off day is smack in the middle of the weekend. Touristy stuff only gets you so far, especially if its a city you've been to quite a few times. All that being said, I was in a similar situation last year and grabbed a Saturday pass close to that weekend, so I guess it depends how badly you want to go. But I can certainly understand anyone who has to make travel plans saying, "Well if I can't get at least Friday and Saturday I'm not going."
I dont want to share my secrets with scalpers, so PM me and I'll share more.
As zerzhul says, you should be fine. It's 4 peoples worth of passes for the full weekend. So either 4 three day passes or 4 passes for each day (Fri, Sat, Sun).
You MIGHT get a CS phone call because mult orders to same address with same cc#. My second year, I had to do things that way, and I got a phone call from their CS just to sort of verify my identity and make sure it was all legit. They didn't cancel orders or anything...or even put anything on hold. They just wanted to check in. But that was a LONG time ago (East 2011).
Based on the ticket website it looks like:
Example. I got 3day passes for myself and friends. I also picked up some Saturday passes for my kids and my friends kids. (all are are over the age of 6)
I almost didn't pick up the Saturday ones and tried to get some Sunday ones later on the cheap, but wanted to make sure I could bring my boys.
Edit: Yep, and they tweeted right after I posted.
Last year, Friday Badges sold out in 28 days.
This year, 2 days.
Also, this is the fastest Fridays have ever sold out for East.
2016: 2 days
2015: 28 days
2014: 9 days
2013: 134 days
2012: 154 days
2011: ~164 days
2010: 350 days
Trade me pins, yo: https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Lazorz
I set it to whatever is in the Master Spreadsheet (more accurately, what I transcribed from it).
I started seeing the "sold out" pop up 7 min after the tweet, but I also saw more 3-days continually popping up 28 min after the tweet. Basically 3-days sell out almost instantly, but we have to put some number down so I use the tweet.
And on a plot like this, it's about the year to year trends and the big jumps in sales. I like accuracy more than the average person, but we just don't have it here. So I use what there is. I made it to show people the general shape and trend of demand. I do find it very interesting that Saturday is in much higher demand that even Friday (Sunday I get). And Prime doesn't really have that split. I think it indicates how isolated East is physically so people are more likely to go for just one day. And if you go for one day, Saturday is the obvious choice.
Friday seems to be popping back up very frequently. Saturdays come up once in a while. Have not seen any 3-days pop back up.
Awesome, dude!
PSN: L00nyEclip
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Twitter: @Loonyeclipse