The Law of Supply & Demand

So, I spent the next 30 minutes surfing the broker sites - mostly out of disgust, cussing... Cussing them, cussing Jeb Bush for making scalping legal, wondering about the fuzzy logic that really thought this would be better. They were right in their assumption that this would create competition, but as to lowering prices... not even close!

Surprisingly, they didn't realize that with a finite supply of something, the laws of supply & demand don't apply. Why can a one-of-a-kind painting sold at auction in Christie's worth more than a mass-produced print sold at Wal-Mart? Besides the subjective qualities, it's supply. The masterpiece is worth more because there aren't anymore, while the print isn't unique and more can always be produced, so there's nothing to drive the price higher.

The same is true with concert tickets and the limited supply - most of the time. Sometimes an artist will throw a monkey wrench into the works by announcing additional shows (affecting the supply - which should lower the price) but that doesn't happen often - unless you're The Police or The Rolling Stones.

So, 30 mins. after the show is sold out, I'm watching demand slowly deplete the tickets that are showing on the broker's websites. My daughter's birthday approaching, knowing how much she wants to go to this concert, I jump. I find 2 tickets (Upper level, 4th row) for $150 each and I buy them. If I have to deal with snakes, I want to stick the ones with the least poison.

I chose StubHub (owned by eBay). They guarantee all of their tickets sales.


FanProtect for Buyers
* You will get your tickets in time for the event.
* Your tickets will be authentic and valid for entry.
* You will receive tickets comparable to or better than
the tickets you ordered, or your money back.
* You will be refunded if the event is canceled and
is not rescheduled.

So, at least I'm assured that I won't lose my money. But if I get to the show and the tickets do end up bogus, no amount of money will console my daughter if we have to stand outside that show, with all of her excited anticipation, unable to get it in. So far everything is looking aboveboard, I already received the tickets. They are the actual ticket machine printed ones, not the highly suspicious laser-printed PDF e-tickets.

While I don't condone their business, I can't fault their business practices. Trying to add customer service and piece of mind to a situation that often holds neither.

We'll see how it goes. I'll be filling you in on November 21st about my experience at the Hannah Montana show. Weeeeeee!