Missouri State Fair Warns People Against Latest Ticket Hoax

Things are getting exciting with the approach of the Missouri State Fair. I know a lot of you look forward to it every year, and part of the reason is because of the concerts!

So when this message came through from the Missouri State Fair, I thought I'd better say something.  Apparently they've been hearing some reports from fans about fake tickets to the concerts this year.  From their Facebook page:

Public on sale begins on May 20 at 9 am through Etix. Don’t get scammed and avoid speculative ticketing at all cost.

 

Wait, What's Speculative Ticketing?

This is something I actually have experience with!  I managed to avoid getting scammed, but it can be hard to tell what's what sometimes.  Speculative Ticketing is a process that rebuyers and scalpers use.

Have you ever heard about a concert that was coming out in a few months, and the tickets aren't on sale yet - but for some reason, someone's got a pair for sale?  That's "Speculative Ticketing".  It's where someone SAYS they have tickets for a certain section of a concert.  Let's say they list online tickets for a show, saying they have four tickets to sell for an event, in section C, row 4.  Then, see it and go, "Great, I'll take two!" You buy your ticket and wait.   When the Official sale happens, the scalper goes and buys tickets somewhere in that section (usually the cheapest they can find) and sends you THAT ticket.  Not the specific ticket you bought, but the cheapest they can get so they can pocket the difference in price.

I saw this a lot for two shows I was very interested in going to recently.  Full disclosure, one of them was this.  Ticket sales for this were..... well, difficult.  Very high demand.

As soon as that tour was announced, people were trying to get as much money out of fans as they could.  While we could get into Ticketmaster and their problems... let's just concentrate on the issue at hand.  People were listing tickets for these shows for literally, and I swear I'm not joking,  thousands of dollars over the asking price.   

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So what happens if the scalper can't get tickets in the section you "bought"?  They either send you another lesser value ticket and hope you'll accept it, or give you a "refund", which you may or may not get before the show.  They're banking on the fact that you're not going to check the exact seat, and that you're not going to want to go through the process again so close to the event.  And if you find out a week before the show that the ticket you thought you bought isn't right... it's not like you can do anything about it without missing the show.

So How Do You Avoid This?

Well, the easiest way is to make sure you're buying direct.   There are only two official ticket sources for this year's Grandstand shows: Missouri State Fair's Official Site and Etix. Now if you're buying from someone you know or something, that's a completely different thing. But if someone's trying to sell you tickets NOW for shows that aren't officially on sale til May, then... well, that's a scam.

So be careful out there, and wait til May to get your tickets!

Scammingly yours,
Behka