General reminder: Hamilton ticket scams

[orangeskittles]

An acquaintance bought some tickets off of Stub Hub that turned out to be fakes. They looked like real Ticketmaster PDFs and even scanned correctly when they went into the theatre, but when they got to the seats, there were already people sitting in them, with paper tickets that were obviously the real ones.

 

StubHub is reimbursing her, obviously, but she still didn't get to see the show and was so burned by the experience that she doesn't want to try to see it again.

 

I know most people here don't buy from third-party vendors, but just remind those you know that Ticketmaster is the best/safest choice online.

[bfreak]

I feel terrible for yor friend, but what doesn't make any sense is how the ticket would ring up for two people. Even if both had the same valid barcode, how would they let 2 of the same ones go through?

[orangeskittles]

I wondered that myself, but I don't know how the ticketing system works. Is it advanced and actually tracks duplicates and can recognize different dates and times? Or does it just track if it's a valid barcode for that venue? It could have been a barcode from legitimate tickets that they just copy and pasted on dozens of fakes for different dates, and they all work.

 

They spoke with the box office manager, who said this is happening a lot.

[CATSNYrevival]

I can't speak for how the tickets were faked but in rare occurrences the box office can mistakenly print up duplicate tickets for the exact same seat for the exact same performance and both tickets will scan so since it's not impossible for it to happen by accident it's surly not impossible for a fake duplicate ticket to scan at the door.

[Cupid Boy2]

I'm so sorry to hear that happened to her. I've been feeling crazy for contemplating paying full-price for an orchestra ticket on Ticketmaster while StubHub has some cheaper options in the mezzanine, but I couldn't risk that happening when a good deal of travel is involved for me to get to the city. Thanks for the reminder to err on the side of caution.

[Islander_fan]

I am not surprised to hear that there are fake tickets being sold for Hamilton. I am, however, surprised that someone selling said fake tickets would actually use Stubhub as their way of doing so.  

In order to sell tickets there, you have to give them your credit card info. If a buyer finds out that their tickets aren't working, and they call Stubhub, they will either get replacement tickets, or if non can be found, a refund. Either way, Stubhub won't be paying for either themselves. They would then charge the seller for that.  So, it seems whomever is selling fake tickets there is ready to shoot themselves in the foot. 

[NewsiesForever]

This is not the first time I have heard of someone buying fake Hamilton tickets on Stub Hub. Apparently this happened to a few girls and they alerted Lin Manuel to the problem via twitter. He replied that they could not honor counterfit tickets and that they should buy exclusivly from the box office. 

Stub Hub is insured if the tickets they sell turn out to be counterfit, they are required to give a refund correct? 

[starcatchers]

StubHub is required to either reimburse for or exchange the tickets. A friend and I bought tickets off of there for the first preview of Spring Awakening a few weeks ago, and when we got to the theatre the tickets showed up as having been refunded when they were scanned. We called and stubhub gave us a new pair of tickets. 

[Michael19]

As mentioned in a previous post there is no point in selling invalid tickets on Stub hub as they only pay the seller after the performance.  Accordingly I believe fraud is relatively rare on Stubhub since there is no payment when tickets are invalid.  You are far more vulnerable on Craig's list however which does not provide customer protection.  So I would not discourage anyone from purchasing from Stub hub while you need to be extremely cautious with Craig's list purchases (go in with seller; meet at their work or home).

[dramamama611]

Yes, I think it's terrible what happened...but why does it make her not want to see the show?  It's not THEIR fault the tickets were bogus.

[FindingNamo]

Some peoples' brains are just wired that way.  The cash contents of my wallet were taken in a Montreal bathhouse (great time otherwise and the nice thief left my ID and cards) and my boyfriend said, "If that happened to me I don't think I would ever be able to go to Montreal again."  And he was srz.

[ChiTheaterFan]

Michael19 said: "As mentioned in a previous post there is no point in selling invalid tickets on Stub hub as they only pay the seller after the performance.  Accordingly I believe fraud is relatively rare on Stubhub since there is no payment when tickets are invalid.  You are far more vulnerable on Craig's list however which does not provide customer protection.  So I would not discourage anyone from purchasing from Stub hub while you need to be extremely cautious with Craig's list purchases (go in with seller; meet at their work or home)."

 

Sellers actually get paid when the sale is made, but you have to put a credit card down.  (I have baseball season tickets so I sell a lot through stubhub.)  The buyer is protected, and stubhub either will give you new tickets fi they can (probably not an option for Hamilton) or refund the purchase price.  They then charge the seller's credit card.  I imagine there are people who have found a way to game the system by providing fake credit cards and stuff.

 

Incidentally, stubhub is the reason I would now  never buy a paper ticket from someone on the street either (even if clearly legitimately issued by ticketmaster).  I have realized with my baseball tickets I could easily put the barcode into stubhub to sell them (making the paper tickets no longer valid), and then still sell the (worthless) paper tickets at the ballpark.  This is obviously something I would never do because I'm not a criminal, but realizing it's possible has made me much more skeptical of where/how I buy tickets for other things.  You have to be very careful.  (This also makes me mad because I now get much less for paper tickets at the ballpark than I used to.)

 

I realize the ticketmaster resale marketplace has its downsides in terms of facilitating scalpers, but it really does provide a safer option.

[Islander_fan]

Michael19 said: "As mentioned in a previous post there is no point in selling invalid tickets on Stub hub as they only pay the seller after the performance.  Accordingly I believe fraud is relatively rare on Stubhub since there is no payment when tickets are invalid.  You are far more vulnerable on Craig's list however which does not provide customer protection.  So I would not discourage anyone from purchasing from Stub hub while you need to be extremely cautious with Craig's list purchases (go in with seller; meet at their work or home).

 

The lack of getting payment is not the reason why Stubhub doesn't have much in the way of fraud. The seller's card gets charged whatever fees stub hub had to pay to rectify the situation. So, let's say that I bought a 300 dollar ticket to Hamilton from Stubhub. The ticket is not valid and because it's a sold out show they can't offer me alternative seating. So, I get a refund. Yes, while stub hub will issue my card a refund on the spot for the 300 dollars I spent, the money isn't coming out of their pockets. They would then charge the seller 300 bucks as a way of paying themselves back. That's something unique to them. With that in place, there's very little incentive for scalpers to use that site since if they are wrong they end up paying for it.

 

[PerfidiousRaoul]

I'm new to the site, and I have recently purchased re-sale tickets for Hamilton from Ticketmaster. The tickets were pretty cheap (considering...), and after reading this thread I'm kind of panick-y. Ticketmaster Re-Sale is safe, right? I'm visiting in December from Australia so it's the only chance I'll get to see this wonderful show.

[ChiTheaterFan]

I don't know if there's a possible way to sell fake tickets through ticketmaster resale because you just go into your account and sell the tickets they sold to you.  So I think it's way safer than stubhub (which incidentally I've never had an issue with).

[Phantom4ever]

I saw Hamilton twice with tickets from stubhub.  I was especially worried the second time because the tickets (or ticket printout) had no face value on them. I called stub hub and the agent sounded so young and confused about what "face value" was.  So I let it go and decided to get to the theater super early in case the ticket was fake or if it was sold to two people.  Both times I ended up having no problems.   But I sure would prefer to buy the tickets from telecharge or ticketmaster 

[SweetLips]

Namo you obviously have a VERY understanding b/f and/or a very modern relationship.

[orangeskittles]

This wasn't meant as an anti-Stub Hub post; I've sold tickets on Stub Hub myself when I ended up being unable to make it to the performance. It was just a general warning that scammers are getting better and Hamilton seems to be their current target. Even if you get your money back and the person gets "caught", you still miss out on the show and any travel costs associated.

[haterobics]

PerfidiousRaoul said: "Ticketmaster Re-Sale is safe, right? I'm visiting in December from Australia so it's the only chance I'll get to see this wonderful show."

 

Yeah, Ticketmaster cancels the original barcodes and issues you essentially new tickets. I wouldn't worry.

[themysteriousgrowl]

 

This thread has me concerned.  I don’t have much experience buying from StubHub, but I did for HAMILTON.  Cross-checking the Ticketmaster resale seats with StubHub, I quickly found the same pair of seats offered in both places.  I bought them through StubHub, and the seats immediately disappeared from the Ticketmaster seat map.  That’s a good indication that they’re legit, right?  Would you advise going in advance to the box office and asking?  Is verifying the tickets something the box office can help with?

[haterobics]

That sounds fine. You don't have to list seats exclusively with either, and can just delete it from one site when they sell on another, so that sounds legit. Like people have said, StubHub delays payment and does put a lot of measures in to protect this sort of thing. You can always game the system, of course, but you can't do it on an ongoing basis easily.

[Famebroadway2]

Thats horrible! Same kind of thing happened to my uncle, but he was on the ticketmaster website. It somehow redirected him to a 3rd party site and he got scammed (Well, just paid too much actually). You really have to pay attention on these ticket sites. 

[KC91WFU]

I had a problem with the Ticketmaster resale last night.  Purchased one set of tickets and got another.  Not really bad seats but not the ones I selected and paid a small fortune for. Called customer service and they were completely unapologetic and had no solution. They said I must have selected the seats that I received and suggested that I must not buy tickets very often. (I guess they couldn't see my history.) Anyway, be careful with it if you use it. It might be safer to call them.

[Braniff Forever]

Do you think buying from Today Tix is safe? Safer than Stubhub? 

[LizzieCurry]

Yes. Why wouldn't it be?