US senator demands clamp down on Obama ticket touting

A US Senator is urging websites like eBay not to accept for sale touted tickets for Barack Obama's swearing-in as president. Dianne Feinstein is running the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and is hoping to get a bill passed which would make such ticket touting a federal crime. Tickets for the …

[Jason Harvey]

Bah... if people want to spend money...

let them. It will probably be televised and you'll get better angles from TV anyhow. Record it off the TV if you want to savor the moment.

that said, I do like the idea of scalping being made illegal for certain venues. Shows catering to children comes to mind. When you have to pay 4 and 5 times the ticket price to get a seat at a popular kid show because scalpers bought up all the tickets, the scalpers should be held accountable. It would be very telling for scalpers to get theirs and have none of their tickets sold at an even that has supposedly "sold out" and then have only half an audience.

[Anonymous Coward]

Careful of precedent

Why shouldn't someone be able to sell on their ticket if they don't want it? I know Ticketmaster hates it, (they like to be the only ones driving up the price with 97% service charges) and scalpers take tickets wanted by others, but so what?

http://news.cnet.com/Ticketmaster-sues-eBays-StubHub-over-sales-tactics/2100-1030_3-6178001.html

In general I believe I should be able to resell anything I buy and that is commerce and free market.

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you mean "should happen"

You're not in on the great conspiracy, are you?

[Eduard Coli]

"Free" market

Not that anyone had the choice but the big "O" and if not him directly his cadre have the same problem as the despised Repub's, they are rich.

[Spencer Wold, Jr.]

Scalp the scalpers...

I believe that if the tickets are free, they can only be given away and for the other tickets, they should be restricted from being sold for any amount over face value...that is face value or less, less is better as there is no licensing or other method of controlling the revenue flow. Strict ticket restrictions is how it should be handled in my opinion.

I would love to be a part of the celebration, how do I acquire a ticket or two?

I am so pleased that I have an opportunity to help Barack Obama, Our President, make a difference for Our Country, the United States of America and humanity.

[Hud Dunlap]

@ Spencer Wold, Jr

You have got to be kidding!? A gift is a gift. Once it is given to you it is your property to do as you wish. This whole issue is typical Democrat. You don't do what we consider proper we will through you in jail. You don't say what we like we will throw you in jail. I am referring of course to the "hate crime" statutes. Statues that would have thrown Malcom X in jail.

Obama is not the President. He is the President elect. And he has already stated that he is going to use Executive Orders to bypass Congress " because it is too slow".

If you thought Bush was bad just wait and see what bad really is.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Hud

Please don't spread disinformation. The only thing Obama has said about executive orders is that he's going to rescind the most egregiously authoritarian ones that Bush has put into place - many of which do exactly what you accuse Obama of doing - "going around" Congress.

He's also going to take a look at Bush's "signing statements" - you know the ones I mean. Where after Congress passes a bill, sometimes taking months of negotiation between committee members and then being consolidated into a single bill by the leadership of both the Senate and the House, Bush signs it and adds a "statement" - often completely contradictory to the substance of the bill.

I'm glad to see a Republican who supports Malcolm X's right to free speech, though. You're a rare breed!

[niya blake]

@Hud Dunlap

Show me proof.

"Obama is not the President. He is the President elect. And he has already stated that he is going to use Executive Orders to bypass Congress " because it is too slow".

[Daniel]

@Hud Dunlap

I was waiting for some jackass like you to speak up over the executive orders item.

Every report I've seen - and I've read quite a few - is in reference to his using executive orders to REVERSE THE EXECUTIVE ORDERS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. Yes, because congress is to slow. So what? He's just reversing 8 years of despotic rule by Bush.

Ultimately, I don't have very high hopes for Obama. However, after nearly a decade of the worst president in U.S. history, I'm welcoming him with open arms. If he manages to be just slightly better than horrible, he'll be an order of magnitude better than what we've had.

-Daniel

[Andy Worth]

@Hud Dunlap

While I agree that on a personal level people ought to be able to sell on these tickets if they wish, I also agree that sites like Ticketmaster (as an example) have actually increased the price we have to pay for most event tickets. These large sites operate massive buying operations, leaving less tickets for the people who actually want them, then sell them on at up to double the original value.

This essentially means that any popular event is sold out in ridiculous time, but strangely enough if you want to pay £200 for a ticket then you can get one. A prime example was the Reading festival this year, where within a couple of hours of going on sale the tickets were all gone, but the majority went to "ticket touting" websites who were selling them on for double the price.

Some people like to argue that this is the point of capitalism, which may be true, but in realism it is just basic greed and these sites contribute nothing positive to the process of buying tickets to the average person.

[michael]

the problem in a nutshell

is it should be a persons right to sell on his property but it is not a comercle bussness to buy all the tickets and then sell them on to fans and this is a problem

no I do not have a solution but I at least know what the problem is

[Anonymous Coward]

Best system ever for ticket sales

The old Grateful Dead mail-order tickets. They'd announce on their web site that tickets for an upcoming show would be open for mail order on, say, July 10th. You could order up to 6. Several days after the 10th, they took all of the orders with postmarks of the 10th and started filling them. If there were tickets left over, they went to the ones postmarked on the 11th (rarely happened). If you didn't get tickets, you just got your money back, all in plenty of time for the show. What kept scalpers away (mostly)? PEER PRESSURE! If you had extra tickets at the show, you could sell them for face value or give them away, but if you tried to turn a profit, people would mostly just pass by and call you a greedy a--hole.

Probably wouldn't work for any other sub-group of the general population, though.

Sweet-looking tickets, too.

Sorry, drifting off-topic. Too long since the last show.