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sarea
I meant to post about this ages ago, but... yeah.
A few months ago,adelagia and I went full fangirl and purchased tickets to see One Direction in concert at CenturyLink Field in July. Can't wait!!! I mean, yes, we realize that we may have to befriend a few teenage girls in order to seem as if we're chaperoning them, but whatever.
This concert is also the reason I was able to pay for a new water heater (because of course it went kaput during a cold wave in November).
At the time that T. and I purchased the tickets, it was during the Citibank presale. Basically anyone who had a Citibank credit card could purchase the tickets before anyone else (and thus secure better seats). I was tasked with doing the purchasing, as T. was going to be working when the tickets went on sale (I can't remember now why I was able to do it... maybe I was working from home that day). As soon as the sale time hit, Ticketmaster was mobbed. SUCH slow load times. When I finally got in, I bought the first set of "best available" tickets I could get for 4 people (as 2 others will be joining us :D).
Then, knowing how popular 1D is, I decided to buy two more sets of 2 tickets, as insurance in case the 2 others couldn't join us after all (you could get better seats with 2 together than 4 together), and maybe on the off chance that I could make a little profit off them, which would help subsidize the cost of my own ticket. I figured at the very worst, I could sell them at the price I paid. I mean, they are One Direction concert tickets. It's practically like printing money! ;)
A day or two later, out of curiosity, I checked Ticketmaster again. I was surprised and dismayed to find that EVEN BETTER seats were available than the ones I'd gotten! I guess it's because of the venue being so large, but the fact that the concert hadn't sold out was already surprising... the fact that I could have gotten better seats by waiting than by trying to buy at the same time as everyone else was even more so.
Naturally, I didn't feel right about using T.'s credit card for another purchase, so I asked my brother if I could use his. With his blessing, I ended up buying another set of tickets, this time in Section 107.
I decided to list all my extra tickets on StubHub. I looked for the highest-priced tickets available, and went over that. I thought they were pretty astronomical prices, but I didn't want to let them go so easily. They were great seats, and this was 8 months before the concert. Even if they didn't sell now, they could later. And if in the meanwhile, they sold, all the better.
It seemed very unlikely that they would sell, given the price point I'd set. I don't know why, but many of the tickets available on StubHub were/are listed at prices LOWER than what you can get on Ticketmaster. I don't know if that many of them are bogus, or if that many people bought tickets only to realize they couldn't actually go, or what, but it seems strange. (That's factoring in the buyer's surcharge that StubHub adds.)
Weeks passed, my brother K. came to Seattle for Thanksgiving, and I barely gave any thought to the tickets. I figured they'd languish there until maybe mid-December, at which point I'd take a look at the going rates, and maybe adjust the prices if I felt like it. But I wasn't all too fussed about it, because even then, the concert would be more than 6 months away. Plenty of time to get them sold.
As K. and I were heading into Lola for lunch, however, I received a notification that both sets of Section 107 tickets had sold. I was sure it had to be a mistake. Maybe junk mail spoofing StubHub or something. Especially when I checked StubHub and better tickets than mine were still being sold. Why would anyone pay my astronomical prices for worse seats?!?! It made NO SENCE. Even as I went through the whole process of getting the tickets mailed out and awaiting payment, I still thought it had to be a mistake, or a prank, or... any number of nefarious things. I even wondered if it was a secret police sting operation, to round up ticket scalpers or something. Except I looked it up... there are no laws in Washington state (or many others) about selling tickets for prices higher than face value. Plus if it were an issue, StubHub itself wouldn't be allowed to exist.
I kept thinking the whole thing was going to turn out to be unreal, right up until the payment (minus StubHub's 15% seller's fee) arrived in my PayPal account, when it suddenly became awesomely real.
I listed the tickets on 11/8; they sold 16 days later on 11/24. Both sets were in section 107, 2 in row V, two in row Y. Both sets were sold to the same buyer. The ones in row V sold for $625/ticket, the ones in row Y sold for $600/ticket. That's right... PER TICKET. Insanity!!!!!!!!! I don't know if the buyer was just extremely wealthy and wanted to show that off, or just didn't know how StubHub worked, or what, but... it is still flabbergasting to me. The ONLY explanation I've been able to find that's even remotely reasonable is that, unlike every other ticket in those forward sections, they were physical tickets printed/mailed by Ticketmaster and sent by UPS. And that matters because: 1) They're not easily faked (there's apparently a lot of ticket forgery that happens with electronic tickets); 2) They're better in terms of memorabilia, and related to that, better in terms of gift giving. Would you pay that much over face value (with TM fees and what not, I paid about $125/ticket) for those things, though??? It seems utterly insane to me unless money were no object. And maybe for this guy, it wasn't.
So yeah. I was able to use that money to buy a new water heater. Which, you know, very important thing to have in the winter time. But also not as fun as being able to do something really awesome (like take a trip!) because of an unexpected windfall.
I keep hoping I'll get lucky again with my remaining two sets of tickets. I think lightning only strikes once. :P Plus, decent tickets are still available on TM (which I'm kind of shocked about. Where are all the 1D uber fans????), so why would anyone buy tix on StubHub for more, when they can get better seats from the original seller for less? :/ I just do not understand why good seats are still available for that concert. I mean, I realize that CenturyLink seats many more people than Key Arena, but still! 1D is a worldwide phenomenon!
Oh well. I still have confidence that I'll be able to sell the tix at face value in a worst-case scenario. If not on StubHub, then on Craigslist or my company's Sell-Buy alias. But there's still 5 months to go; I prob won't give up on StubHub until we're a month away, and after lowering the price some.
Their new album "Four"... The songs I liked right after getting it are still the songs I like best: Night Changes, Fool's Gold and Act My Age. A couple, Clouds and No Control, I really didn't like at all on first listen, but have somewhat grown on me. (Only somewhat. I still prefer almost any of their other songs over those two.)
Finally... Harry's hair. I may be in the minority, but he needs to cut it off. Not entirely, but it is so long and greasy now that I cannot take it. He used to be so attractive and now, with that hair, he's not even cute anymore. I felt the same way about the actors' hair in Goblet of Fire. I couldn't watch that movie for years because of it.
A few months ago,
adelagia and I went full fangirl and purchased tickets to see One Direction in concert at CenturyLink Field in July. Can't wait!!! I mean, yes, we realize that we may have to befriend a few teenage girls in order to seem as if we're chaperoning them, but whatever.This concert is also the reason I was able to pay for a new water heater (because of course it went kaput during a cold wave in November).
At the time that T. and I purchased the tickets, it was during the Citibank presale. Basically anyone who had a Citibank credit card could purchase the tickets before anyone else (and thus secure better seats). I was tasked with doing the purchasing, as T. was going to be working when the tickets went on sale (I can't remember now why I was able to do it... maybe I was working from home that day). As soon as the sale time hit, Ticketmaster was mobbed. SUCH slow load times. When I finally got in, I bought the first set of "best available" tickets I could get for 4 people (as 2 others will be joining us :D).
Then, knowing how popular 1D is, I decided to buy two more sets of 2 tickets, as insurance in case the 2 others couldn't join us after all (you could get better seats with 2 together than 4 together), and maybe on the off chance that I could make a little profit off them, which would help subsidize the cost of my own ticket. I figured at the very worst, I could sell them at the price I paid. I mean, they are One Direction concert tickets. It's practically like printing money! ;)
A day or two later, out of curiosity, I checked Ticketmaster again. I was surprised and dismayed to find that EVEN BETTER seats were available than the ones I'd gotten! I guess it's because of the venue being so large, but the fact that the concert hadn't sold out was already surprising... the fact that I could have gotten better seats by waiting than by trying to buy at the same time as everyone else was even more so.
Naturally, I didn't feel right about using T.'s credit card for another purchase, so I asked my brother if I could use his. With his blessing, I ended up buying another set of tickets, this time in Section 107.
I decided to list all my extra tickets on StubHub. I looked for the highest-priced tickets available, and went over that. I thought they were pretty astronomical prices, but I didn't want to let them go so easily. They were great seats, and this was 8 months before the concert. Even if they didn't sell now, they could later. And if in the meanwhile, they sold, all the better.
It seemed very unlikely that they would sell, given the price point I'd set. I don't know why, but many of the tickets available on StubHub were/are listed at prices LOWER than what you can get on Ticketmaster. I don't know if that many of them are bogus, or if that many people bought tickets only to realize they couldn't actually go, or what, but it seems strange. (That's factoring in the buyer's surcharge that StubHub adds.)
Weeks passed, my brother K. came to Seattle for Thanksgiving, and I barely gave any thought to the tickets. I figured they'd languish there until maybe mid-December, at which point I'd take a look at the going rates, and maybe adjust the prices if I felt like it. But I wasn't all too fussed about it, because even then, the concert would be more than 6 months away. Plenty of time to get them sold.
As K. and I were heading into Lola for lunch, however, I received a notification that both sets of Section 107 tickets had sold. I was sure it had to be a mistake. Maybe junk mail spoofing StubHub or something. Especially when I checked StubHub and better tickets than mine were still being sold. Why would anyone pay my astronomical prices for worse seats?!?! It made NO SENCE. Even as I went through the whole process of getting the tickets mailed out and awaiting payment, I still thought it had to be a mistake, or a prank, or... any number of nefarious things. I even wondered if it was a secret police sting operation, to round up ticket scalpers or something. Except I looked it up... there are no laws in Washington state (or many others) about selling tickets for prices higher than face value. Plus if it were an issue, StubHub itself wouldn't be allowed to exist.
I kept thinking the whole thing was going to turn out to be unreal, right up until the payment (minus StubHub's 15% seller's fee) arrived in my PayPal account, when it suddenly became awesomely real.
I listed the tickets on 11/8; they sold 16 days later on 11/24. Both sets were in section 107, 2 in row V, two in row Y. Both sets were sold to the same buyer. The ones in row V sold for $625/ticket, the ones in row Y sold for $600/ticket. That's right... PER TICKET. Insanity!!!!!!!!! I don't know if the buyer was just extremely wealthy and wanted to show that off, or just didn't know how StubHub worked, or what, but... it is still flabbergasting to me. The ONLY explanation I've been able to find that's even remotely reasonable is that, unlike every other ticket in those forward sections, they were physical tickets printed/mailed by Ticketmaster and sent by UPS. And that matters because: 1) They're not easily faked (there's apparently a lot of ticket forgery that happens with electronic tickets); 2) They're better in terms of memorabilia, and related to that, better in terms of gift giving. Would you pay that much over face value (with TM fees and what not, I paid about $125/ticket) for those things, though??? It seems utterly insane to me unless money were no object. And maybe for this guy, it wasn't.
So yeah. I was able to use that money to buy a new water heater. Which, you know, very important thing to have in the winter time. But also not as fun as being able to do something really awesome (like take a trip!) because of an unexpected windfall.
I keep hoping I'll get lucky again with my remaining two sets of tickets. I think lightning only strikes once. :P Plus, decent tickets are still available on TM (which I'm kind of shocked about. Where are all the 1D uber fans????), so why would anyone buy tix on StubHub for more, when they can get better seats from the original seller for less? :/ I just do not understand why good seats are still available for that concert. I mean, I realize that CenturyLink seats many more people than Key Arena, but still! 1D is a worldwide phenomenon!
Oh well. I still have confidence that I'll be able to sell the tix at face value in a worst-case scenario. If not on StubHub, then on Craigslist or my company's Sell-Buy alias. But there's still 5 months to go; I prob won't give up on StubHub until we're a month away, and after lowering the price some.
Their new album "Four"... The songs I liked right after getting it are still the songs I like best: Night Changes, Fool's Gold and Act My Age. A couple, Clouds and No Control, I really didn't like at all on first listen, but have somewhat grown on me. (Only somewhat. I still prefer almost any of their other songs over those two.)
Finally... Harry's hair. I may be in the minority, but he needs to cut it off. Not entirely, but it is so long and greasy now that I cannot take it. He used to be so attractive and now, with that hair, he's not even cute anymore. I felt the same way about the actors' hair in Goblet of Fire. I couldn't watch that movie for years because of it.
