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Real fans thoughts on this its a new problem that we have to solve


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i think you should go the same way as a famous rather large music festival has done and have names and addresses on the tickets after you sgn up as a member to the ticket shop & have id to show on the door of the event with your ticket ;-)

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well nobody likes ticket touts.. and there has been some fine ideas on this in this section already...i think the more ideas and suggestions people can come up with gives S.M better discussion to come up with an solution for the future thou nothing is 100%.

and its a fine line from people being secure and safe and still having a good time to an over-kill big brother event but the more people that attend the more chance of something happening god forbid ( theft, injuries, fire even terrorism) so control of event becomes an even greater need.

 

i like the idea of pre-registration (specially for gold & weekend ticket holders), photo on entry tickets etc

 

heres some other ideas from other cons that might be useful or not?

 

create an members only- ticket buying- so people have to register first(with photo id) before they can buy tickets.

and maybe(for a fee as part of membership) have a membership pass which people show at door with entrance ticket,

 

spot checks for right ID for tickets made in all queues not just entrance(so people have to keep hold of entrance tickets at the event all day).

and this news posted at event & websites beforehand to discourage people buying from unofficial sources with penalty's in place for both buyer & seller

 

encourge early ticket sales(specially for gold and weekend tickets) by selling as part of a package with a designated seat for the weekend, so people buy early to get better seats for talks to be announced in the future and with an option to purhase same seat for next year(with a discount maybe to reward loyal customers)

Problem with the seat thing is different people may want to or not want to go to different talks. also people may spur of the moment a couple of month's before the event decide to come because someone they really want to meet is announced or they have only just got the money.

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I think you need to somehow differentiate between people who bought a ticket & now can’t go, & someone buying a number of tickets solely to sell on. Last year I bought a photoshoot at double the price from a similar site to ebay along with a standard day ticket direct from Showmasters.

 

This year I bought a ticket for all 3 days well in advance, but knowing I’d be unlikely to want to or be able to go on all 3 days. It hadn’t dawned on me back then that it might sell out, I just wanted to make sure I could get auto’s/shoots that I wanted & accepted I'd lose out financially if I missed a day. I had a look at my tickets the other night with the thought of selling one that I don’t need, but with a list price of around £15 I decided it wasn’t worth bothering, though of course it hadn’t dawned on me then that with it selling out, that people would be that desperate & would pay well over the odds for just an entrance ticket (though bearing in mind I paid double for a shoot, I guess I should have realised!).

 

A few rock festivals have the buy back facility so people can go on a reserve list so maybe this is something that could be brought in next year so that people like me this year could sell back a ticket they don't require & that people like me last year could buy one without someone else profiting massively.

thats why we need the buy back scheme. so those that find they cant attens can get their money back from showmaster and their ticket was voided to them.

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At least you're looking to do something about it unlike other organisers!!!

 

It's a tough one because people buy tickets then can't always go so the only thing they can do is give the tickets away or I guess sell them

 

Maybe there is a limit already but 4 per customer or something? or order? It makes it awkward for big groups but could cut down the number of tickets bought?

 

Spot checks is a good idea but if tickets have been bought as gifts potentially the people turning up won't have ID relating to the booker?

 

E tickets can be sent to a 1000 people so buying one of these is extremely risky, maybe its better having proper tickets or wristbands or something rather than having some hard tickets early on then e tickets after X amount have been sold, this is likely more costly (well it is I know haha)

 

Buying back tickets is a good idea so in theory the only tickets for sale on ebay would be touts looking to cash in.....

 

Also loads of people (me included) have missed out on tickets so if people 'sell them back' then we have an option of getting lucky last minute

 

It might be worth having a counter on the page showing how many tickets are left?

 

This might spur people (me definitely included) to buy their tickets much sooner when they start to dwindle down :)

 

(Sorry long post!!)

i like the idea of a counter showing ticket numbers left. i like the idea of a buy back system and i like the idea of spot checks.

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Another con i know puts your name on and that seems to work. If your buying the ticket for another person then you need to specify

I think thats a good idea

 

I agree. i think having a name on the ticket would be good. for people getting tickets as gifts there should be an option that says buying as gift and then put the name of the person the ticket is going to. that way the ticket will have the name of the person who uses the ticket on it so that way SM could still do spot checks.

Edited by stargate geek emily
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I agree it can't be stopped but SM have to limit the number of tickets being resold. If everyone bought two tickets, one for themselves and one to sell at an inflated price, where would that leave fans? If you are not quick enough to buy a ticket, then an inflated price one would be your only option.

 

I agree with your sentiments, however look at it from another perspective:

 

You buy entrance tickets weeks in advance. You make plans, sort out work, arrange train or other travel.

Then approx 1-2 weeks before the event, the guest(s) you wanted to meet cancels. Your entire weekend is potentially in disarray. There may be no other reason you were planning to attend the show.

 

I have been in this situation at least 3 times before. In terms of getting compensated for pre-paid entrance tickets, SM basically said, I'm paraphrasing obviously, but "tough luck, you're stuffed."

With no refund or resale policy for entrance tickets, this has been a long time coming.

I totally agree it needs to be outlawed. One way of doing that is tracing & cancelling the tickets sold on unauthorized sites, as is done successfully in many other events.

 

thats why we need a buy back system.

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£99.00 for a ticket!!!! its the real fans that suffer from these touts and other people who bulk buy tickets to make some money from innocent fans,first- there should be the name of the person printed on the ticket, second- the person named on the ticket must provide i.d such as a passport or driving license,and third- any person with fake tickets or more than one ticket should be banned from all showmasters events!! I know this will mean more people checking tickets and maybe longer waits in the queue but hopefully it stops this from happing at future showmasters events.... keep up the good work showmasters.... !!!!

I don't entirely agree with you though - no one is suffering, because no one 'needs' to buy a ticket. We're not talking medicine to cure some disease here, we're talking about a relatively cheap ticket to an event that's been on sale for months. I paid double the value last year for a photo shoot because I hadn't been before & saw it too late to go through the normal channels & I was prepared to pay over the odds.

 

However I do think with it selling out now & only likely to get bigger, a sell back scheme would be helpful

 

I dont agree with the more than 1 ticket as people may have bought a ticket for their friend or family member. and that person may not be turning up at the same time as the buyer. so no we shouldnt stop people having ore than 1 ticket we need to stop people from selling extra tickets.

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Hello Showmasters,

 

Congratulations on making your event so successful :coolthumb: It's unfotunate that some unscrupulous people are trying to take advatage of your success by reselling tickets at high prices :(

 

I wish I could offer some brilliant suggestion that would prevent it, but probably anything I could think of you already have, or someone would find a way around....

 

Here are a couple of suggestions I thought of, though for next year. Maybe they would help limit toutes (is that really what you call them? We call them scalpers here, but I think it's the same idea)

 

1. Limit the number of tickets are person can buy in one transaction. I just checked in Eventbright and it would let me order 30 Friday tickets if I wanted to. What legimate person needs 30 tickets? I would say limit it to two or three. This may not stop the toutes, but would at least slow them down. Yet it would still let couples or small groups of friends order together. Also if you noticed you had 10 orders of three tickets come from the same address, it would be suspicious and could be investiagted....

 

2. Right now when you buy a ticket you put in the Name of the purchaser. My suggestions is to also have a box where a person can put "Name on Ticket" and make it a required field, one for each ticket bought. For many people who are buying tickets for themseles it would merely mean typing their name twice (not a big deal - although I'm sure some would grouse...) It would, however, help alleviate the panicked messages we are seeing about "I bought the ticket for my spouse, child, bff, bae, etc. can they still use it if I'm not with them?". When a person buys the tickets they can put those people's names on them. That way if there is a problem you can check the ticket name against I.D.. If someone buys a ticket off of eBay, then they are running the risk that they will get asked for I.D. and it won't match the name on the ticket.

 

3. The worst people are those who are going to sell illegimate tickets. I can see some bad people buying one ticket and then selling it multiple times. There is nothing really you can do to prevent that and it's not your fault, but you can help prevent some people getting taken in by giving them lots of warning. When the tickets show as "Sold Out" on your website put a disclaimer underneath that tickets are not-transferable; tickets purchased from secondary sources may not be honoured at the event. You could also add a line similar to that to your tickets, or maybe include something about "You may be required to show photo I.D. that matches the name on this ticket or be denied entry". Like I said, this probably won't stop the unscrupulous, but at least it will hopefully stop some people from making foolish purchases on eBay (yes I know that some people will still do it anyway no matter how often warned, but when they do it also gives you more ammunition for when you have to tell them, sorry - this ticket has already been scanned through you cannot use it). This way if I bought a photo ticket for my best friend Fred and now suddenly he can't go, I could go with my new best friend Joe. Yes, his name won't match the name on the ticket, but since we're not unscrupulous people and are only using the ticket once, it won't even be noticed. My neighbour, though, who foolishy bought his ticket from a scalper on eBay, however, has to hope that the scalper was honest and didn't sell the ticket to five other people since it would come back as an error and his ID would not match the ticket (so he would be SOL).

 

4. As you suggested you would do, offer a buy back program so honest people have a way to return their tickets, get their money back and let other people legitmately have them. However, as you also mentioned the time right before the show is your busiest time. Therefore I suggest having a cut-off date maybe two or three weeks before the show when you can no longer return your tickets. Yes I know some people won't be happy because life happens and things could happen right before the show, but there needs to come a point when we, the customer, need to recognize that there are limits to how much we can expect. This might take some pressure off the sell outs as there wouldn't be any "wasted" tickets (ie tickets bought but then not used), or at less there would be fewer. (Although I suspect the numbers of tickets bought that now a person realizes they can't use would actually be quite low, since up to this year it has been all sales are final.)

 

5. Continue to work with eBay and similar reselling sites. Tell them that tickets are not transferable (and would not be honoured) and ask them to take the auctions or listings down. Mention on your rules and regulations that tickets are not resellable and any tickets that are resold will be null and void. And if anyone is foolish enough to post a picture that shows the barcode or some other identifying information about the ticket - cancel it in your system.

 

6. Post lots of warnings about fake tickets and scams around your entry so people will know they will not be honoured. Yes I'm sure someone will find a way to make fake tickets, even with their own names on them, so when these get scanned and you get an error reading you can point to the warnings about fake tickets and remind them caveat emptor.

 

Anyway, I don't know if any of those ideas are of any use to you or not, but they were all I could think of. Again, congratulations on how popular you have made your show. It looks like it will be a fantastic one! I can't wait to see it next week.

I like 3,4,and 5- 3 because if you can put the users name in a box then for those buying tickets as gifts for people then the ticket will have the correct name on ti an people wont have to worry about spot checks being incorrect.

4 because it will mean only the touts will be selling tickets on ebay and then you can cancle their tickets

5 because if ebay know that you don't allow resell then they can more easily take down tickets as they wold know they were touters

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To combat 2nd hand ticket sales you could have some sort of card system. Similar to the diamond pass card. You get the card when you buy entry and all the photoshoots,talk etc are linked to that card number. That card would be all your tickets.

That way you can't really sell on photoshoots or talk, but you would have the option to sell back.

 

Originally I was thinking you could have a showmasters app for phones and all your ticket codes go on the with no option to print out, but then there's a few things that can go wrong with that like battery and not every has or wants a smartphone.

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I would go down the card type route personally, but instead of card just have a unique qr or scannable code and everything you buy gets loaded onto your account. You can print your unique id or have it on your phone. Your app would let you view all you've bought and you just have one ticket to carry around.

 

You turn up for rose leslie photo and the person scanning has set their scanner for rose leslie and once scanned your unique code it knows your here for rose and marks that off in your account.

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I would go down the card type route personally, but instead of card just have a unique qr or scannable code and everything you buy gets loaded onto your account. You can print your unique id or have it on your phone. Your app would let you view all you've bought and you just have one ticket to carry around.

 

You turn up for rose leslie photo and the person scanning has set their scanner for rose leslie and once scanned your unique code it knows your here for rose and marks that off in your account.

i like the idea only problem is for those that buy entry tickets as gifts for people. how on earth would they get all their photo shoots and talks?

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The lanyard passes from events like DSTL and Hallowhedon, where each photo/auto gets punched out, are maybe the way to go.

 

You could have a lanyard with multiple passes on it - say the top one has your photo and your name, plus any gold/silver, etc.. Behind that on the lanyard could be a pass for any photoshoots, say 10 per pass. If you have bought 16, you'd have two of these passes, one with 10 on, the second with 6.

 

That way, each visitor would have something around their neck proving what they'd bought and who they are. You couldn't resell these, as 1) each photo would only be valid with the ID pass, and 2) there'd be insufficient time to resell. For anyone buying presents or making it easy by buying one order for them and their girlfriend/boyfriend/family, it shouldn't be a problem as you'd just have to upload a photo of them. To ensure the right photos went onto the right ID pass lanyard (when doing multiple people), make it like Sherlocked, where you buy entry and then add photos on.

 

So:

1) I buy entry to the event online.

2) I receive my unique order code.

3) I go to the website, enter my unique order code and add on any photos/extras I want.

4) A week* before the event, the passes are printed, and I receive a lanyard chain with (1) photo ID top pass and (2) a photo pass with X photos on it.

5) I go to the event, crew can easily check photo to face, I enter.

6) At each photo shoot, the crew punch out the hole next to the name on my photo pass

 

If you're doing orders for multiple people e.g. family, it's still fine - each entry you buy in step 1 would generate an order code. And chances are you have a photo of them.

 

The only issue would be for late guest announcements... Maybe reverting back to the in person shop?

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I would go down the card type route personally, but instead of card just have a unique qr or scannable code and everything you buy gets loaded onto your account. You can print your unique id or have it on your phone. Your app would let you view all you've bought and you just have one ticket to carry around.

 

You turn up for rose leslie photo and the person scanning has set their scanner for rose leslie and once scanned your unique code it knows your here for rose and marks that off in your account.

i like the idea only problem is for those that buy entry tickets as gifts for people. how on earth would they get all their photo shoots and talks?

 

 

Each person attending LFCC must have a unique account/ID. You could still buy tickets as a gift and then load them onto your friend/family members unique id as a gift.

 

 

 

 

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these resellers of tickets need to be punished!

i still feel the only way forward is to copy the big American conventions and have this event as membership/registration only! (also for security)

and have a ticket buy back scheme! (mainly for entrance tickets)

 

so people have to register their checkable details(including some sort of bank/credit card and e-mail address) once registered only then can they buy tickets.

and all tickets would have buyers name & members number on it.

and if buying for other people those people will need to be registered as well(like children) and input their names and numbers to be printed off on their tickets but linked to the buyer.

 

and if anyone is found guilty of breaking any rules (like reselling tickets) -they could be banned from all future events easily by not been able to register ever again!

 

also you could take it up another level as well - by having a members photo I.D pass made for each member(for a small fee) and no ticket would be valid without a members pass, and this would be easier then to do I.D and ticket spot checks.

 

Membership is vague. Are you talking membership for a year? What if few people are announced and you decide to skip any SM events that year?

 

People wait to see whether they need a day ticket or weekend ticket, until they have a better idea of how many guests are coming and on which days. You think they'd really gamble on a prepaid membership?? If that's the route it goes, I'm done.

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What do we need to have on us in case we are spot checked? I'll have my credit card and passport, is that enough to verify?

 

Yes.

 

 

So we do have to bring ID to next weekend's event? Not wild about the idea of carrying my only ID, which is a passport.

 

 

Jason said that there will be spot checks. If you run into one of these yes, you'll require ID. So I'd bring some form of ID, yes. Do you at least have the card you have used to purchase the tickets?

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What do we need to have on us in case we are spot checked? I'll have my credit card and passport, is that enough to verify?

 

Yes.

 

 

So we do have to bring ID to next weekend's event? Not wild about the idea of carrying my only ID, which is a passport.

 

 

Jason said that there will be spot checks. If you run into one of these yes, you'll require ID. So I'd bring some form of ID, yes. Do you at least have the card you have used to purchase the tickets?

 

 

Was reading the entire 14 page thread and trying to post as I went along. Saw a later comment about other ID which answered my question, but decided to keep going rather than stop, go to the end, delete my post and backtrack to the spot I'd been at...

 

I've got the card I used (I don't think it's changed since then). I can bring a letter with my address on. Hell I've got a work pass with my name and photo on, if anyone really needs to see who I am. TBH though, I've been going long enough there are sufficient crew who know me and if I'm stopped chances are it'd be one I know.

 

Proof of address and a bank card is required by Post Office collection offices. If they're happy to hand out potentially valuable parcels to someone with a bank card and letter, hopefully SM are happy to let me in for a photo :D I have a habit of losing my passport when it's in my tiny flat - the thought of carrying it around in a huge venue where I repeatedly have to leave my bag...

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What do we need to have on us in case we are spot checked? I'll have my credit card and passport, is that enough to verify?

 

Yes.

 

 

So we do have to bring ID to next weekend's event? Not wild about the idea of carrying my only ID, which is a passport.

 

 

Jason said that there will be spot checks. If you run into one of these yes, you'll require ID. So I'd bring some form of ID, yes. Do you at least have the card you have used to purchase the tickets?

 

 

Was reading the entire 14 page thread and trying to post as I went along. Saw a later comment about other ID which answered my question, but decided to keep going rather than stop, go to the end, delete my post and backtrack to the spot I'd been at...

 

I've got the card I used (I don't think it's changed since then). I can bring a letter with my address on. Hell I've got a work pass with my name and photo on, if anyone really needs to see who I am. TBH though, I've been going long enough there are sufficient crew who know me and if I'm stopped chances are it'd be one I know.

 

Proof of address and a bank card is required by Post Office collection offices. If they're happy to hand out potentially valuable parcels to someone with a bank card and letter, hopefully SM are happy to let me in for a photo :D I have a habit of losing my passport when it's in my tiny flat - the thought of carrying it around in a huge venue where I repeatedly have to leave my bag...

 

 

There are no dead set rules at the moment, at least if there are no one told me. :lol: So I doubt this would be a problem.

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Come on Showmasters, some listing CLEARLY has the QR code and name of the buyer. Set an example and cancel these orders.

 

Ebay are now directing buyers to it's partner company, StubHub which is even worse as the seller is anonymous and they add a premium which they keep as comission.

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Come on Showmasters, some listing CLEARLY has the QR code and name of the buyer. Set an example and cancel these orders.

 

Ebay are now directing buyers to it's partner company, StubHub which is even worse as the seller is anonymous and they add a premium which they keep as comission.

 

And who tells you they are not cancelled? ;)

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The Batches could be changed to say A, B, C etc, instead of 1, 2, 3, etc.

 

1, 2, 3, etc. is confusing when there are two photo shoot slots and a lot of people with Batch 2 are thinking they have to go to the second time slot. Obviously, you can go anytime after your batch is called,but it would be clearer.

 

Maybe you could say photo shoot 1 for batches A, B, C etc. and photo shoot 2 for all batches.

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The Batches could be changed to say A, B, C etc, instead of 1, 2, 3, etc.

 

1, 2, 3, etc. is confusing when there are two photo shoot slots and a lot of people with Batch 2 are thinking they have to go to the second time slot. Obviously, you can go anytime after your batch is called,but it would be clearer.

 

Maybe you could say photo shoot 1 for batches A, B, C etc. and photo shoot 2 for all batches.

I like the Batches, But they should be Renamed, Camel Batch 1, Camel Batch 2 and Camel Batch 3... So Easy :smile:

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Come on Showmasters, some listing CLEARLY has the QR code and name of the buyer. Set an example and cancel these orders.

 

Ebay are now directing buyers to it's partner company, StubHub which is even worse as the seller is anonymous and they add a premium which they keep as comission.

 

And who tells you they are not cancelled? ;)

Lol....I would so love to be there when the buyer tries to gain entry....

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The Batches could be changed to say A, B, C etc, instead of 1, 2, 3, etc.

 

1, 2, 3, etc. is confusing when there are two photo shoot slots and a lot of people with Batch 2 are thinking they have to go to the second time slot. Obviously, you can go anytime after your batch is called,but it would be clearer.

 

Maybe you could say photo shoot 1 for batches A, B, C etc. and photo shoot 2 for all batches.

 

Then people would get confused with the photo session areas.

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