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


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Surprised some people are so naive that they're shocked about this. It's always happened to a degree.

 

Many concerts I go to now have your name on the ticket and require you to show photo ID. Works well and you just need to allow a little more time to get I but they usually have one person checking ID and then someone wise scanning the ticket once that person lets you past. And they let you take one other person with you. Doesn't stop reselling completely as you just meet up with the person with ID.

 

In my view anyone who can't use a ticket should be allowed to sell back to the ticket agent at face value. There's almost no way of preventing reselling unless you name every ticket and require ID and only allow that person to use the ticket. This would however stop people buying for friends who maybe don't have a credit card. You can try and minimise it but that's all. The concert industry has been trying to address this for years.

 

I had a ticket to see Kate Bush last year. Cost me £145. My name was on it and I had to show ID and the card I paid with I think at the event. But I could have bought 2 and people were still selling their second tickets for around £1000+ for the same area I was sat. So even that didn't stop it.

 

I'm just surprised no one saw this coming especially as soon as it started selling out and people became desperate to get entry tickets but no one else has been able to find a fair way to eliminate it.

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I am not going to lie, last year I purchased a ticket for Stan lee off someone who could no longer go at cost price.

I got to see my hero

He got his money back

Then we went to lfcc on the Friday and the Saturday, did all we wanted so I posted on the fan page. 2 Sunday ticket for sale cost price. Sold to someone who didn't get in Saturday.

I got my money back

Actual fan got in to convention

You do have to stop the idiots, but the fan community on here are generally just trying to help each other out. It's difficult to know what to do.

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I am not going to lie, last year I purchased a ticket for Stan lee off someone who could no longer go at cost price.

I got to see my hero

He got his money back

Then we went to lfcc on the Friday and the Saturday, did all we wanted so I posted on the fan page. 2 Sunday ticket for sale cost price. Sold to someone who didn't get in Saturday.

I got my money back

Actual fan got in to convention

You do have to stop the idiots, but the fan community on here are generally just trying to help each other out. It's difficult to know what to do.

It is difficult because as you say it is just "real" fans buying the tickets off the scammers and sm doesn't lose money on tickets as they are already sold infact a ticket that is sold but not used WOULD cost sm money as that person would have spent money inside the venue. I think what the real problem sm mean is the fake tickets that will have fans missing out when they get turned away and the type of person who touts tickets is not always the best. These cause sm problems through no fault of their own not to mention they won't want fans of their shows getting ripped off.

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I'm not sure it's been posted but a Saturday ticket went yesterday for £140!

 

I don't know the logistics behind it but maybe start printing pictures of the buyer on the ticket like Glasto etc do. I can imagine the cost of this will bump the tickets up massively though

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I don't post often anymore, but I'd like to add my voice to the "Sell/swap" forum idea.

There would need to be a couple of very strict rules in place:

  1. This would be the only place where sale or exchange of tickets would be allowed
  2. You would be unable to list the price any higher than face price
  3. Seller would cover postage - this means that the legitimate "I can't get because of family emergency/surprise colonoscopy/etc" reasons wouldn't get the entire face value of the ticket, but would be compensated fairly enough to make it worthwhile
  4. Maybe an official Showmasters Stubhub shop for these tickets where authorised posts in the Sale/Exchange forum could be listed
  5. These rules to be printed on all tickets, making any ticket sold or exchanged via any other medium invalid.

I appreciate that there would be some additional overhead in terms of moderating the forum or listing the tickets on Stubhub, but who would buyers prefer to purchase from: AceSeller98548734, or ShowmastersOfficial?

 

Maybe this isn't possible exactly as described, but I'm sure there are parts of it that could be used.

 

 

 

 

Brendon.

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Perhaps very naïve of me but I was saddened and shocked that reading the Facebook forum this morning that someone had wanted to find out what hotel the guests would be staying at.. appreciate slightly off topic but I hope this is not news to SM and that adequate security is in place to ensure that the guests have a great time and are not bothered unnecessarily outside of the event.

This is not just a lfcc thing. Sadly people do this all over the world, unfortunately some people take it way to far.

 

 

Indeed. I actually had someone calling my home number trying to get out of me where Benedict Cumberbatch was staying for Sherlocked. Which despite the fact that this was going way too far was still kind of shocking... as this was a London based show a hotel would probably have been the last place where I would have looked for him personally. ;)

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Reading the posts on this subject it seems everyone is in favour of being able to resell your tickets via Showmasters if you cannot attend anymore.

This, in my opinion, is a good idea especially when a photo shoot for a guest sells out and somebody else has an opportunity to buy that ticket at face value.

 

I am against having a photo of the buyer on the ticket and checking for id at the entrance as this will take longer for people to get into the event.

 

I also feel that before you book any Photo shoot, Talk or Diamond pass that you are required to buy an Entry ticket first, like with DSTL as this would stop all

the moaning and groaning (the majority on FB) that happened once tickets for Saturday had been sold out.

 

I hope everyone has a great time at LFCC this year as I know I will and long may it continue into the future.

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I haven't read through the whole thing yet but whilst I understand action will need to be taken I am a bit afraid that people like myself will be frozen out of attending. I have been coming to your shows for years but not to everyone and hate the thought that it will become like SDCC and tickets sell out in the first day meaning casual attendees cannot go.

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Like the idea of a Showmaster's Marketplace type of thing. That way its on the person attending to sort but SM are fully aware of any swaps...

 

Probably a huge job to get that sorted but I am sure there is a way out there somewhere

 

JA

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I definately think that a buy back when sold out is a good idea.

 

Problem is, if you become too strict then what happens when people buy tickets as gifts for others or you buy some tickets and then you are ill?

 

I agree it needs to stop the touts, but it shouldnt make genune fans lose money as well

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Just swapping/reselling on the forum wouldn't work as most people aren't on here. An official buy back would be good. :)

 

I think put each person's name on the ticket would be good. My boyfriend brought mine and they are in his name only.

 

I quite like the idea of putting an uploaded photo of the person who's ticket it is on the ticket. Then it could be checked quicker, although there would be issues with people in Cosplay. :(

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also names on tickets doesnt stop touts, as it only needs to be the buyer that shows id, they did this for Kate Bush and the touts bought 2 tickets and sold the spare one for a fortune, met the buyer outside and showed id and went in with them, then walked straight out and sold some more!

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Is there any way to set the system up so we have our photo on the entry tickets? That could help cut down touts and make it harder to fake. Or, maybe email tickets out not sooner than 1 or 2 weeks before the event. It'd give less time for things to be put up onto ebay then.

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to the people who say putting photos on tickets (or even photo ID) is a perfect way to stop tickets to be handed over to other people..from experience (not with handing over any kind of tickets, just having to ID ourselves at places), we can say that's not exactly true. 1 in 75 births are twins, 1 out of 8 of those are identical -- see avatar -- with the limited amount of time allocated for ID'ing, people generally don't look at the details :D

If we didn't go through airport security together, we could totally pull off one going in for another.

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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)

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To be honest if people want to buy from a secondary source then let them. They should know the risks involved. Personally I NEVER buy from anyone else other than Showmasters for their events. I wouldn't risk loosing the money.

 

I see people are saying about Photos on tickets (like at Glastonbury) but that doesn't help people in Cosplay.

 

Also an extra day for registration, that would be too time consuming and costly for showmasters plus very unhelpful for people coming from a distance.

 

My idea is - if you are scanning the tickets when you go into the venue and when you have photoshoots done, why not have the scanning machine bring up the last 4 digits of the payment card and the lead person (who purchased the ticket) will have to show the card. Only have the last 4 digits thought as otherwise it will be too time consuming.. Yes I know cards expire and get lost but then you can just inform Showmasters of your new card details., and you must ensure the name matches the original purchasing name and billing address.

 

Just my thoughts!

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If you're going to check ID on entry, you'd really need to hire out an extra hall for people to queue in once they've had it checked. That way you can start checking IDs an hour or more before the show opens. Thousands of people are there well before the show opens anyway.

 

Otherwise if you're going to check ID properly it would take way too long for people to go in once doors open at 9. Concerts and sporting events can do it because doors open well before the event actually starts and people just kind of hang about.

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Yep, people can be unscrupulous when there is a chance of a 'quick buck'.

 

Having every ticket checked in combination with ID will take too long and the logistics of it all will probably mean that the price of a ticket has to double.

 

SDCC has pre-registration where you pick up your badge the day before, this system is not only good to avoid touting but also you know exactly who is in your venue and if there are any situations people can be identified (referring to some problems with cosplayers being assaulted/ harassed).

They have a member ID system going where everyone have a unique ID which allows you to purchase passes (if you're lucky)

 

Having a platform to sell/trade/cancel your purchased ticket is a great idea! I got to concerts often and on most of the fan forums people advertise the spare tickets at face value. You know the ticket will go to a fan.

 

Besides all of this I am very excited for this years LFCC and thank you SM for doing a great job and providing a great line-up!

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I've bought a ticket for my God son and my name is on it. I take circumstances such as these are acceptable due to him being a child? I don't want him turned away from his phot shoot!

 

This is all discussion for next year. You'll be fine this year.

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Simply put names on the tickets of who purchased them and ask for some kind of id when they enter. This would end the problem straight away.

Unfortunately it doesn't in the slightest. A lot of people don't have photo ID, if they don't drive or have a passport so the seller can simply provide the buyer with one of their old bills to show.

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