By Emily Wolff

When trying to decide where to buy and sell event tickets it can be overwhelming. There are so many sites, and each comes with their own benefits and disadvantages. Aside from that there can be sites that advertise that they sell event tickets, when really, they are just a scam. Not knowing what a site has to offer can hinder someone from using it in the future. 

Ticketmaster is the largest ticketing service in the world. Many artists decide to sell their tickets through this hub and will offer pre-sale opportunities for fans that sign up. Ticketmaster started doing this due to the backlash of bots taking over the sites and reselling flooding the market.  Out of all of the ticketing sites, Ticketmaster is the most thorough when checking the reliability of tickets that someone may be trying to sell. However, because they are so thorough it can be difficult to upload tickets to sell, and sometimes the seller can be denied. Ticketmaster also has incorporated surge pricing during an event release day. Eager fans may go to select a ticket and to their dismay the price has tripled. Depending on how many tickets the website has and the demand, the price will skyrocket. Many point blame to the artist, but Ticketmaster is behind the price gouging. Avid concert attendee Gabriella Mariaca states “There are so many times that I go to click on the ticket and add it to the cart and the price is not what I originally saw. It’s really frustrating.” 

Another widely used ticket site is Seat Geek. Some sports centers like The Barclay’s Center only use Seat Geek to sell events they are hosting. This can deter fans that have had a bad experience with the site from attending an event. There have been many complaints with the lack of customer service Seat Geek provides. There is a chance that if someone has a problem with the event they want to go to, buying, or selling a ticket, they may not receive the guidance they are looking for which can be their first and only experience with the site. Seat Geek also leaves it up to the seller to send over the tickets to those who have purchased through the site. This is not ideal because it is up to the seller’s discretion as to when they will actually send over the ticket, and if they even will. While Seat Geek also provides fees on all of their ticket sales like their competitors they are not hidden. People want to know what they are paying for upfront before they make it to checkout. In comparison to Ticketmaster it is a more seamless experience when uploading tickets to sell. 

Some venues across the world sell their tickets through AXS. This is a mobile ticketing site that requires that their app is downloaded to access their tickets. Venues will not allow a  print out of the tickets when checking into the event. There are people who do not have smartphones,  may forget their phone,  have the battery die, or not even have cell reception. This is limiting a whole population of people. Sarah Weingarten who recently attended an event hosted through AXS states “I didn’t have the best experience with the AXS app. It glitched when I went to get into the event, and I ended up missing thirty minutes of the concert. I will not be attending another concert that uses AXS.” Despite all of this AXS does guarantee that all of their tickets are checked before they are sold. This gives people who are purchasing some piece of mind when buying tickets from their website. 

Ticket sites are not limited to the ones listed above; these just happen to be some of the more popular options that are available. All of these sites are competitors and are going to try and make themselves more marketable. It can be beneficial to someone’s experience and wallet to check through all the sites to see what gives them the cheapest and most reliable option when available. There are going to be certain events that can only be purchased through specific sites and that needs to be considered.