I happen to be the proud possessor of three extra tickets to a concert tonight. If I were to sell them in front of the venue at cost, would I be performing an illegal act?
You might want to read the small writing on the back of the ticket.
I think this is usually governed on a local level.
A lot of places won’t allow resale period. Impossible to enforce. More places won’t allow resale in a 250 yard radius of the arena. Some places (New Jersey included) allow resale but only if it’s less than a 20% markup.
Realistically, you’re not going to get your chops busted too much by anyone for trying to sell at cost, unless the arena has gestapo security going on.
But wishbone is right, check out the back of the ticket first.
Depends where you live… where you are standing… and what you charge for them. If you charge face value (or less) and aren’t physically on the property where the event is going to occur (like across the street) I think you are safe… but YMMV. Any lawyers out there?
It most definitely varies by jurisdiction. Last fall, I had two extra tickets to the Oklahoma-Nebraska game (48yd line!) and wanted to sell them. I called the Norman Police Department and was told that so long as I was not standing on University property (over which they had no jurisdiction, anyway, so they refused to give an opinion on that), I could sell them for what ever price I could get for them. I was also told not to impede traffic, i.e. not to sell them to a person sitting in a car on the street. I ended up standing at Campus Corner and selling them for $250 each.
OTOH, my cousin was busted by the Oklahoma City Police Department a couple of years ago for selling tickets to a CHL championship playoff game across the street from the Myriad in downtown OKC for a few dollars over box office price. OKC has a scalping ordinance while Norman does not. There is no state statute, either. A check of local ordinances and state statutes will tell you what is legal where you plan to sell the tickets. Most libraries will have a copy of both. Sometimes, you’ll need to go to the City Clerk’s office to see the city ordinances.
Oh, yeah, IANAL, but my dad, who is, told me long ago that nothing prevents anyone from finding out what the law says. Scalping ordinances are one of those things you really shouldn’t need a lawyer to understand.
In Florida, you can’t sell tickets for more than some nominal amount ($1?) over face value … unless of course you’re TicketMaster or the like, then you can charge a whole bunch more. Of course, They are providing a ‘service’ - but isn’t the guy outside the arena providing a service? You get the ticket where you need it (the arena) when you need it (game/show time), no need to worry about losing your ticket before the show.
I’ve personaly scalped tickets for many years in several states, its not illegal. If it does happen to be illegal
I can’t imagine a cop in the world who would take you in for selling tickets at face value.
When I was a teenager I would goto baseball games and buy the extra tickets off of people for under face value. Then
I would turn around and sell them at face price to keep from getting arrested.