if scalping is illigal for tickets why isnt it illegal for other things?

Question

im wondering because i saw some guy selling rock band for 4,000 dollars on ebay

Answer 1

scalping tickets is not illegal. its only illegal within a certain distance of the arena.

Answer 2

The argument for tickets, which you will see does not apply to video games or anything else is this:

1 - The venue only holds so many seats, so there are only that many tickets.

2 - It may well be that the market, left to its own devices would mean people would pay, say $1000 for each seat (face value say $10)

3 - If the face value was set at $1K, and ti could be and still sell out, then few fans would be able to see the event. Only people who could afford $1K could see it. The artist or performer may feel that is not in their (the artist's) best interests, even though they are paid based on how much all of the tickets sell for (lost music sales, good will, and merchandise sales, etc.)

4 - Scalping is not in the venues interest because they profit on the first sale of the ticket, not the last one (but venues and sports teams are rapidly trying to change this point). If they sell me a ticket for $10, and make $5 from that, and I sell it to you for $1K, and make $990, well, that is going to strike them as "problematical" and a chance to make more money.

5 - But because of 3, they can't charge $1000 and make $995.

The traditional solution is to ban resale of tickets over face value, or some limited amount over face value.

It is essentially a regulation on a supply and demand imbalance.

Fro non-ticket items tangible , the market is not so constrained in supply usually. Items are not date constrained, and they are easily replaced by other identical items. Not only that, but more can be made if needed. Not so with tickets.

So there you have it.

I haven't mentioned related information, such as airline and hotel pricing when the supply is over the demand, and the supply can be bought long in advance of the actual use, but once the plane takes off or the night comeson, the inventory is wasted forever if it is unsold...hence travel sites like priceline or hotels.com or the craziness in trying to buy an airline ticket.

And you have barely heard of it yet, but restaurants are moving the same way - pay in advance like a hotel or flight, and get some kind of discount or extra service for your reserved time.

Which might sound a lot like a coupon, and you would be right about that -economically, there is a very fine line between all of these types of transactions where there is limited supply, both in quantity and time available to use.

Answer 3

It all depends on local laws.

Your local government may have anti-scalping laws, they may not. What laws they make are up to them - if you don't like them, you run for office and then write new ones.

Richard

Answer 4

ya, i dont know. guess because the music and movie industry has more clout in government. guess the more money you have or make the more above the law you are

Answer 5

What they do on e bay is still scalping.