ENTERTAINMENT

Buying and Selling Tickets Through Online Classifieds

When it comes to buying and selling concert, sports, or even theater tickets online, most people turn to turn to Stubhub, Ebay, or Craigslist.org. While all three of these sites have their advantages, a new classfied site dedicated to event tickets may offer the best and easiest way to buy and sell you tickets, Free Ticket Classifieds.

The internet has changed a lot about the way we carry out our normal business. Just 5 or 10 years ago the most popular way to get rid of your used junk was to have a garage sale, donate it to AmVets or Goodwill, or run a classifed ad in your local newspaper. While these may still be an effective solution to your problem, the internet has increased our pool of potential customers by reaching out across the world. So if you were trying to sell your can of ‘Billy Beer’ at a garage sale you’d be lucky to get $1. Now if you market that can to customers around the world, it is surely possible to get $5, $10, maybe even $50 for that same can. More potential customers means more demand. More demand and the more you can charge for your item. This basic principal is why the popular sell-your-stuff online sites listed above have become so popular. However, it is also the reason why these services have limited use, especially when it comes to buying and selling event tickets.

Let’s start off by examing Craigslist. Craigslist is one of the most popular websites in the world with millions of visitors a day. Generally, the more exposure you can get for your tickets the better. However, with so many users and so many sellers the items you list can be burried within minutes in some of the more popular cities. In addition, with such large volumes of traffic Craigslist can’t possibly keep up with all the spam. The main problem with Craigslist for event tickets is their use of the generic ‘Ticket’ category and cities. For example, if I were selling tickets to the Bears vs. Packers game, I would need to post maybe 15 ads in order to reach all my potential customers- 1 for each city that might reasonably consider going to the game (Chicago, Rockford, Madison, Janesville, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Kensoha, etc.). Factor in the fact that these posts will likely get flagged and deleted by others trying to sell the same tickets at a higher price and that they will also be burried by all the Craiglist spam and Craigslist is not quite as desireable as once thought.

At Ebay, you won’t have to deal with many of the problems associated with Craigslist. The main problem with Ebay is that in an auction style format you have very little control over the price of the tickets. Although you can modify the ‘reserve’ to set a minimum level you will sell the tickets for, this will not do you much good if your auction ends close to the actual event you are selling. Perhaps the biggest inconvience of using Ebay is that you are required to complete the transaction several days before the event. While that can be an advantage, often times ticket prices increase as you get closer to the event and there are less tickets on the market. In addition, Ebay will offer nothing to those looking to make a last minute sale. Lastly, Stubhub offers up a boatload of problems to people looking to buy and sell tickets.

Much like Ebay, Stubhub requires that you sell tickets well in advance of the event. So if you decide to sell late in the game, Stubhub will be of no use to you. Perhaps the most troubleing part of Stubhub ticket fraud is a big problem. While Stubhub does have their so-called ‘Fan-Protect Gaurantee’, you moneyback after you already missed the event is not an appropriate consolation.

So what is one supposed to do to sell your concert, sports, or theater tickets? Well a new site where you can post free ticket classified ads has recently opened its doors – FreeTicketClassifieds.com. What is unique about Free Ticket Classifieds is that classified ads are sorted by the event or team, and not the city where the tickets are being sold. This makes finding tickets to that Bears – Packers game much easier than looking in the tickets section of every mid-western city. Perhaps what is the nicest about this new site is the fact that it is entirely dedicated to event tickets and each ad is reviewed to ensure the site is kept spam free. By focusing just on the event ticket niche Free Ticket Classifieds is able to control the quality and content of the site to ensure a rewarding experience for all.

About the Author

Gary Glow is the author of The Ticket lodge. Gary is based out of Chicago.

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