Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

Re: Concert Tickets: Scalping?

In my humble opinion, ticket "scalping" is but free market capitalism writ small.

In localities and situations where it is allowed or overlooked, I have paid higher than face; I have also paid much lower than face, for example $10 to see the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden when it was pouring rain and the scalpers had overbought, guessing wrong as to the demand. In those days it was like the stock market; the price of any given ticket could and did fluctuate wildly.

In California, selling tickets at any price is OK if conducted off the grounds of the venue.

Regardless of local laws or the lack thereof, the cops are not going to approve of selling or buying tickets at the venue and they may react unpredictably, at best confiscating your tix and at worst issuing a citation. Next time you have or need extras, go across the street, use stubhub, or get to know a ticket broker. If the situation warrants and you have to do the deal at the venue, hide between a couple of parked cars, keeping your personal safety in mind. Almost certainly there will not be a police sting or trap targeting individuals such as yourself, but there is the risk of getting ripped-off, just as in any street transaction with a stranger.

Don't buy bar-coded print-your-own tickets printed on regular paper, lest they be photocopies of a ticket that's already been scanned and used for entry. Likewise, no halfway intelligent scalper will buy those kind of tickets from you, any offer to do so is too good to be true and is therefore a scam.

If most of the people you encounter are looking to buy tickets, raise your asking price, if they are offering to sell, lower it.