LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) – Buying event tickets and reselling them at a higher price, that is what many ticket scalpers across the nation are doing to make a profit.
It’s affected event centers not only in major markets across the country, but also local venues in western Wisconsin. This includes the Pablo Center in Eau Claire and the La Crosse Center.
Pablo Center’s director of talent and booking Kathy Wright says she has seen the issue of ticket scalping impact many people, and it needs to be addressed.
“It’s so out of control and what people are doing, whether it’s what I would consider sneaky practice or people buying tickets and reselling them at astronomical levels, something has to be done because it’s out of control. The consumer doesn’t realize how much they are being taken advantage of, and it’s really killing the live industry,” says Wright.
La Crosse Center’s box office supervisor Nikki Kimpton says the amount of people who have bought tickets for events from scalpers has risen in recent years.
“I’ve definitely seen people purchasing not from the La Crosse Center, but they purchase from a secondary site, so they are paying a lot more money than they need to. I definitely see more people with scalper tickets that have issues that come to the box office the day of the show, and it’s a little bit harder to help people who don’t buy directly from Ticketmaster, so that causes an issue, too,” says Kimpton.
Scalpers have even been able to take advantage of smaller theater’s like the Viterbo Fine Arts Center in La Crosse, where some people had to pay around $90 for the recent Christmas show, much more than the original price of $26.
“Over the past I’d say three to four years, there’s been small pockets in one or two shows here and there. This year, we saw a massive increase, and it’s every single one of our shows. Our student-led productions are being targeted by these companies, our professional series, every single one of our shows all have been targeted this year,” says Viterbo Fine Arts Center director Dillon McArdle.
After a multitude of cases where scalpers were causing people to pay much higher prices on tickets for events, Wisconsin legislators introduced the SWIFTIE Bill.
Officials with multiple event centers and theatres in the area are in favor of a bill like that passing, saying it’s a move in the right direction.
“It is absolutely needed. It’s needed at the state level. It’s needed at the federal level to get these companies in line and in order to stop these highly deceptive practices that they’re doing,” says McArdle.
“I think that’s a great idea. It would make my job a lot easier, and it would keep prices more affordable for people,” says Kimpton.
Here’s an example of ticket scalping. Tickets for an upcoming Josh Turner concert at the La Crosse Center are selling for $44 on the La Crosse Center’s website. However, the same exact tickets are selling for over $85 on eventticketscenter.com.
Kimpton and Wright share what they say are the best ways to avoid being scalped.
“I would recommend to always come into the box office or go on ticketmaster.com. If you get to a site and have questions, please give us a call. We’ll help to make sure you’re in the right place,” says Kimpton.
“Always just type in pabloocenter.org and just start your ticket buying purchase there. Don’t Google it because those third-party ticket vendors are buying those sponsored links, and it’s going to come up above us. You might think you’re on our website. It might even look like our website,” says Wright.
McArdle says there are also many ways you can tell a website is trying to scalp you.
“If you see a countdown timer or a pop-up that says only one ticket left, high pressure tactics like that, that’s a huge red flag. Most organizations do not do that. Ninety-nine percent of our shows at the Viterbo Fine Arts Center, you can drill down and actually pick the seat you want to go into. So, if you’re getting really vague information and you can’t drill down your seats, that’s another big red flag,” says McArdle.
We talked to State Representative Jill Billings, one of the co-authors the legislation. She said they hope to have a hearing on the measure later this month.
It goes to show, wherever you live, you’re at risk of paying more than you should be to see your favorite event.