{"id":420,"date":"2022-03-16T17:52:44","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T17:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/about2.cashortrade.org\/2022\/03\/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-ticketing\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T16:53:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T16:53:14","slug":"john-oliver-last-week-tonight-ticketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cashortrade.org\/about\/blog\/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-ticketing\/","title":{"rendered":"John Oliver Takes on Tickets on Last Week Tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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On the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, <\/em><\/strong>the main story was a 20-minute-long expose shining a light on some of the ticketing industry’s shadiest practices. We know first hand the impact that inflated secondary-market prices, ticket brokers, and monopolies like Ticketmaster have had on the industry and how it’s effected fans. It’s exactly these unfair practices that take advantage of music fans that inspired us to build CashorTrade. Seeing a light shone on the fight we take up every day at CashorTrade to such a wide audience hit us swiftly as both inspiring, and infuriating.<\/p>

The issues addressed by the late night host begins discussing the touchy topic of increasing ticket prices<\/strong>. One fan clip shows a woman reeling after an unsuccessful ticket on-sale, something we all know too well. The fan goes on to say, “I just spent the last hour and fifteen minutes trying to get Pink tickets. If you don’t want to sit behind the stage, you’re looking at $500 per ticket. Who can afford that?!<\/em>“. It’s true, the price of tickets have gone up; Oliver goes on to say, “The average price for a popular concert has more than tripled<\/strong> since the mid-90 s, vastly outpacing inflation, and that is before<\/strong> they hit the resale market<\/em>“<\/p>

Next the segment dives into the topic of fees <\/strong>on tickets scalped on the resale market, providing a little insight to where the downright exorbitant Ticketmaster fees come from, and who is profiting off them. Oliver cites fees on a Tyler the Creator ticket that clock in at 78% of face value<\/strong>, and fees adding up to $16.41 on a $15 monster truck rally ticket. They go on to say that the high Ticketmaster fees, that are often a surprise to fans checking out trying to secure tickets, are determined in collaboration with Ticketmaster’s clients (the artists, venues, promoters & artists) share in a portion of the fees they collect.<\/p>

They go on to cover the fact that it’s nearly impossible for fans to score tickets at face value at on-sale, citing Ticketmaster’s completely opaque marketplace which allows for brokers to create hundreds of ticketing accounts, and the use of bots that buy up tickets to flip before real fans have a chance to. “Every time ticketing sites come up with a new technology to keep them [bots] out, they find a way around it. And once brokers have those tickets, they will flip them on the secondary market at a huge mark up<\/em>“. Which Ticketmaster, Stubhub, SeatGeek, and all other ticketing sites that allow selling tickets above face value then take a percentage of with the fees. “The New York Attorney General’s office found that ticket brokers mark up their ticket by an estimated 49% one average, but sometimes by more than 1000%, and in one case by more than 7000%.<\/strong><\/em>“<\/p>

While ticket-bots, scalping, and unfair resell markets are always hot topics of frustration in conversations about the ticketing industry, the segment on buyer\/seller transparency was one we don’t hear often. Oliver explains the massive gap between the price of a concert ticket at face value, and how scalpers & ticket companies that cater to brokers use it to their advantage. Secondary ticketing sties intentionally make it unclear who you’re buying from. It’s impossible for fans to know for certain who is selling the ticket they want to buy- whether it’s a broker with 500 other tickets listed, or if it’s a real fan just trying to recoup their loss for a show they can’t attend. Oliver states that “Sites like Seat Geak, StubHub, and surprise, surprise – Ticketmaster… Badly want you to think of them as fan to fan marketplaces. Truth is, resale sites are not just fan to fan at all. In fact a government report stated that professional ticket brokers represent the majority, or overwhelming majority of ticket sales on these ticket sites.<\/strong>“<\/p>

It goes without saying, most<\/em> resale sites have practices put in place that exploit the fans they claim to put first, and use them for profit. CashorTrade was built as a TRUE fan-to-fan marketplace, operating with full member reviews & profile transparency. On CashorTrade, you know who you’re dealing with, and you know the prices of the tickets you’re buying are face value. We built our face value marketplace to help fans stand up against these exploitative practices. So, how does CashorTrade stack up?<\/strong><\/p>

  • CashorTrade is the only face value platform on the planet<\/li>
  • Our fees are the lowest that exist (10% on a face value transaction, or free if you’re a Gold Member<\/a>)<\/li>
  • It is completely free to sell<\/strong><\/li>
  • We provide a ‘miracle ticket’ option, where tickets can be gifting to another fan for free<\/li>
  • Restricts use by scalpers by giving the seller the choice of whom to sell too<\/li>
  • Buyers and sellers gain reviews, to ensure who you’re trading with can be trusted<\/li>
  • Full support team department (9-9 7\/days\/week) for users experiencing issues with tickets<\/li>
  • Members can communicate with each other, make connections and friends!

    Watch John Oliver’s ticketing segment below.<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ul>