There are several dozen World Series tix up for sale on eBay right now. New York law prohibits the resale of tix for more than face value, so how does the bidding process work? I mean, wouldn’t the first person on eBay who bid the face value automatically win the tix? And why bother posting on eBay anyway? Why not in the local classifieds?
I think I smell a loophole when I see a posting such as “2 World Series Game 3 tix with Yankees Cap”. This way, the seller can claim the $9000 bid was really for the cap and not for the tix.
As I understand it, you can auction them off if you start the auction with the actual face value of the tickets. You cannot ask for more than the face value, but if someone is willing to offer you more, than it’s okay.
A similar situation is it’s not okay to offer anyone money for sex, but if you want to give someone a “green thank you,” that’s perfectly legal. What’s illegal is asking for it.
I have a friend who sold some concert tickets on e-Bay recently with the explanation that the people he bought the tickets for originally had backed out and he was stuck with them and just wanted to recover his money. He ended up getting twice the face value and no admonishment from e-Bay.
The advantage to selling the tickets on eBay, as opposed to listing them in the classifieds, is that with eBay, you reach a larger audience. There are lots of people who would like to see the game who live in other states. Also, with eBay, it’s more profitable (with regard to the haggling).