Ticket Agencies offers advice on what to look out for when using a ticketing service. There is reference to legal advice and codes of practice and an explanation of why ticket agencies charge more than the face price of the ticket. Also links to the most popular agencies.

Welcome to Ticket-Agencies.com

What are ticket agencies?

It is a much used term and means different things in different countries. In it's simplest form, it is someone (or some organisation) that sells tickets. It is sometimes known as a ticketing service. It could also be just a business that serves other businesses, but it is most likely to be an organisation that serves the public. The tickets are sold either at list price (eg.ticketmaster), at discounts (eg. broadwaybox.com) or at inflated prices by the brokers in line with their perceived demands and which should be used along with a "health warning" and only if you absolutely want to see something !

Codes of practice & legal stuff for ticket agencies

It might be a good agency if it is affiliated to recognised associations. An example is http://www.tixtravel.com/about_us.htm who claim to be associated to ASTA, IATAN, ARC, ARTA, CLIA, NACTA, OSSN and others. In Australia, there is a code of practice for ticket agencies by the Australian Entertainment Industry Association.



In these circumstances there ought to be a contractual relationship between ticket agencies and the principal producer of the tickets. Such a contract should cover the agreed arrangements of the agency to distribute tickets and any power of attorney to other parties. This is a boring legal area and may be persued elsewhere, but if you are unsure about using a particular agency, then do your research and check them out.

Types of ticket agencies

There may appear to be different agencies for different events, but in practice, there are a relatively small number of ticket agencies that cover a large number of events. These will include mainly sporting events, arts & theater but can be extended to include holidays, travel and other entertainment. Buying tickets in the US through on-line agencies is big, there are a lot to look at so don't forget to shop around. There are much fewer agencies in the UK - I have listed the most popular ones on the right.

How can they sell tickets at higher prices ?

According to "Which ?", ticket agencies are adding up to 28 per cent to the price of theatre tickets, and they are also flouting their own rules by failing to make clear charges and small print. Agencies appear to take a huge slice of this by negotiating an allocation of tickets and selling them on at a profit.

But for some events, particularly large-scale national concerts, ticket agencies are the only way to buy a ticket. Indeed, in certain countries, this is seen as morally acceptable since the agency does the work in securing the tickets. The consumer on the other hand is often the one short on time and will therefore pay extra for the ticket.

It pays to shop around different ticket agencies, as prices vary. Buying direct from the box office is the best bet, as some don't levy fees, but if tickets are only available through an agency, always ask the face value of the ticket. If they can't or won't tell you, don't buy the ticket, as you have no way of knowing how good a seat you're getting. It's then your decision whether to pay the price demanded by the ticket agencies.

Is it illegal to buy tickets for more than face value?

In most states, it is legal to buy tickets from ticket agencies. If you are a resident of New York or Florida, there are certain restrictions about purchasing tickets for more than their face value. Please ask your agent for further details.

So how much is a ticket worth ? - read and weep

ISN'T A TICKET ONLY WORTH THE PRICE STATED ON THE FACE OF THE TICKET (THE FACE VALUE)?

First things first: There is NO SUCH THING as Face "value" unless the event is cancelled. Why? The venue ticket agencies will not issue a refund to you, and you can't cash it in like a savings bond, so if there is a very small chance that the event will be cancelled (most major events do not cancel without a make-up date), or virtually no chance that the event will be cancelled (such as the Super Bowl), then there is no way to get your money back without reselling it on the secondary market. Therefore, the only value is the market value, period.

A ticket may therefore be considered to be like any other asset; a commodity which is owned by the bearer of such (the seller), and can be bartered, sold or exchanged easily (good liquidity), in much the same way that people sell real estate, cars, jewelry, stocks, bonds, stamps or other collectibles such as art or coins.

So what does the face price mean? Simply put, if the promoter or the venue ticket agencies will not refund the ticket unless the event is cancelled, and there's virtually no chance of a cancellation of a particular event, the face price means absolutely nothing. The only price that counts would be the secondary market price, which is usually considerably higher than the face price, but can sometimes be lower. In these circumstances, this can be said with virtually all major sporting events and most concerts by major artists.

It's funny that some people object to paying MORE than face price for tickets from ticket agencies, but have no problem with paying LESS than face price. If the face price truly meant anything to these people, they would object to this, but they sure don't!