Ticket reselling and you

For the past eight years, I have been a box office manager for two separate performing arts venues in Durango. I have my fair share of ticketing stories, although you probably need to be in the ticketing world to find them interesting. No matter your background, what you will find interesting, or even alarming, is the rise in ticket reselling for events in Durango. What do I mean by ticket reselling? You may have heard or even used the term “scalping” to refer to this practice, but I do not use that phrase. Ticket reselling, when done by a business or an online entity, purchases tickets from venues and then resells them online at a premium. This can be done on a small and large scale, either by hand or by bot. If the resale prices were reasonable, this would not be setting off many, if any, alarms. However, these tickets are often resold at many times the retail price.

In addition to the higher price, tickets bought through a reseller’s website impedes the venue’s ability to provide the best customer service possible. Folks who buy from secondary markets do not receive emails, notifications or reminders for upcoming shows because they are not in the venue’s system.

What is in the venue’s system is the information the ticket reselling businesses opt to give, which is typically incorrect or misleading. I rarely see these fields get updated with the ticket buyer’s info. Venues are also not able to guarantee that a ticket bought from a reseller will work once presented at the door. This does not happen often, but when it does, it is a headache for guests and can spoil their experience. 

An easy question to ask is, “Is this legal?” In 2024, the state of Colorado passed the ticket consumer protection act, HB24-1378. Intended to help ticket consumers like you, this legislation protects a person who buys tickets from a friend or family member from being turned away by venues. But when this legislation applies to everyone, it becomes an opportunity for ticket resellers to take advantage of consumers. As long as that business presents its product (tickets) in a way that is not “deceptive,” the ticket reseller is free to charge any price they see fit.

HB24-1378 considers a business or person as deceptive if they:

• Use an internet domain or subdomain name that contains the name of the venue, event, individual or entity scheduled to perform, or a name that is substantially similar to those names without prior written authorization;

• Use, without prior written authorization, an internet website to display a text, image, graphic, design or internet address that is substantially similar to an operator’s internet website;

• Sell a ticket to an event without disclosing the total cost of the ticket, including any service or other fees that must be paid, or displays service charges and fees less prominently than the total price of the ticket;

• Make a false or misleading disclosure of subtotals, fees, charges or any other component of the ticket price or increase the price of a ticket after the first time the price is displayed, with certain exceptions.

If you find yourself with a price-inflated ticket, and the website or person you bought it from did any of this, you may be able to have that charge reversed through your credit card company. Otherwise, my hope is there will eventually be limits on how much can be profited off resold tickets, especially when the venue still has plenty of tickets available at the original cost.

Now that you’re familiar with this practice, I want to help you navigate your future ticket purchasing experience. The biggest tip would be to purchase directly from the venue. If you’re unsure if a venue’s website is authentic, as per the CO Ticket Consumer Protection Act, only the venue may use their logo on their website and their name in the URL. But remember, this protection is only given in the state of Colorado. Events in other states may have different laws that protect consumers in different ways. You can also subscribe to a venue’s email system, giving you access to the website link, box office phone and upcoming shows.

The second biggest tip I would give is to know that Google and other search browsers do not generate “natural searches.” Instead, they place the websites who pay them advertising money at the top (Google notes these websites as “sponsored” in your search.) Ticket resellers are apt to utilize this service. For example, for an upcoming event at my venue, there are three different sponsored ticket-reselling websites listed before ours.

With ticket purchasing becoming more online-based, it is important to keep ourselves educated about how to navigate this world. I hope this helps save you from some future headache, sheds some light on this issue and keeps a few more dollars in your pocket.