What is Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing?

Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing, also known as market-based pricing, is a system that allows ticket prices to fluctuate based on supply and demand. Dynamic pricing aims to price tickets closer to their true market value. Under this system, ticket prices can change frequently, often multiple times per day.

How does dynamic pricing work?

With dynamic pricing, Ticketmaster uses algorithms to analyze various factors that influence supply and demand for an event. These factors include:

• The popularity of the event or performers
• The day of the week and time of day
• The size and layout of the venue
• The number of tickets already sold
• Current ticket resale prices
• Competitor ticket prices

As demand increases or supply decreases, prices go up. As demand decreases or supply increases, prices go down. The algorithms make constant adjustments to find the optimal market-clearing price at any given time.

What are the benefits of dynamic pricing?

Ticketmaster cites several benefits of dynamic pricing for fans and event partners:

• Fairer prices: Fans pay prices closer to perceived value rather than artificially low initial prices that enable scalpers to hoard tickets for resale at inflated prices.
• More choices: Fans have access to more price points and seat locations as supply and demand shifts.
• Fewer sold out shows: Dynamic pricing helps make more tickets available to more fans by pricing out scalpers.
• Higher revenue: Artists and event partners earn more revenue from initial sales rather than having scalpers profit off resales.

By pricing tickets closer to market value from the start, Ticketmaster states that dynamic pricing creates a more efficient and transparent ticket marketplace.

What are the criticisms of dynamic pricing?

Dynamic pricing has received criticism from some fans and consumer advocates. Some common complaints include:

• Prices can change frequently, creating confusion and distrust among buyers.
• It enables Ticketmaster to charge much higher prices due to lack of competition in the primary ticket market.
• Fans have a harder time budgeting for events when prices fluctuate wildly.
• Poorer fans are priced out of high-demand events.
• The algorithms can make mistakes, leading to unpredictable pricing.

Critics argue dynamic pricing takes advantage of fans’ enthusiasm for events. They state it makes tickets feel more like stocks than a normal consumer product.

Examples of dynamic pricing in action

Here are some examples of how dynamic pricing has altered ticket prices for major concerts and events:

For high-demand events, dynamic pricing has increased some ticket prices from 3-10x their initial face values. The upside is more tickets are available to the general public, rather than being immediately snatched up by scalpers.

How does dynamic pricing impact scalpers and resale sites?

In theory, dynamic pricing makes life harder for scalpers. By constantly adjusting prices upwards, fewer tickets should be available at artificially low initial prices. This gives regular fans a fairer shot at buying tickets before scalpers can scoop them up.

However, some scalpers have found ways to benefit from dynamic pricing. They use bots to buy up tickets the moment prices dip. Then they can relist them on secondary sites like StubHub when prices rise again. StubHub also utilizes dynamic pricing based on supply and demand in the resale market.

Still, dynamic pricing appears to have reduced scalpers’ margins. The days of buying tickets for $100 and instantly reselling them for 5-10x as much are becoming rarer in markets where dynamic pricing has been enabled.

Does Ticketmaster have competitors?

Ticketmaster enjoys a dominant position in the primary ticket market, with exclusive ticketing deals with many major venues and promoters. However, some competitors have emerged in recent years.

• AXS: Owned by AEG, one of the largest concert promoters. Sells tickets for events at AEG venues.
• Eventbrite: Specializes in smaller music venues and local events. Offers self-service ticketing platform.
• SeatGeek: Originally a resale site but recently entered primary ticket market. Works with smaller promoters.
• Bandsintown: Focuses on indie concerts. Integrated with Bandsintown app followed by millions of users.

These competitors hope to take a slice of Ticketmaster’s dominance by offering lower fees and more fan-friendly policies. However, Ticketmaster’s entrenched relationships with major venues and promoters make it difficult for rivals to gain significant market share.

Is Ticketmaster a monopoly?

Ticketmaster is not a pure monopoly, since it does face some competition in the primary ticket market as described above. However, its market power approaches monopoly status due to:

• Exclusive deals with many major venues.
• Being the exclusive ticketer for Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter.
• Owning secondary resale sites like TicketExchange.
• Lack of regulatory limits on service fees.

This market dominance enables Ticketmaster to impose high fees and implement unpopular policies like dynamic pricing with little repercussion. Calls for more oversight and competition continue, but Ticketmaster maintains its commanding position in the live event ticketing space for now.

Does Ticketmaster have a minimum price?

Ticketmaster does not have an official minimum ticket price. However, very low ticket prices are uncommon for a few reasons:

• Venues and promoters want to maximize revenue, so usually avoid extremely low prices except for charity events.
• There are baseline costs involved in staging events, so prices below a certain level may cause losses.
• With dynamic pricing, prices float based on demand, making very low prices unlikely for popular events.
• Ticketmaster’s fees add a layer of costs that increase the base price. For example, a $1 ticket would become $6+ after fees.

Service and facility fees take up a larger percentage of the overall cost as the base price gets lower. These factors make tickets priced under $10-$20 very rare on Ticketmaster, except for occasional promotions.

Can Ticketmaster tickets be refunded?

Ticketmaster’s refund policy depends on the event. In general:

• Refunds are available if an event is canceled or rescheduled.
• For canceled events, refunds are automatically processed within 30 days.
• Refunds for rescheduled events must be requested within 30 days of the new event date being announced.
• For non-canceled events, refunds are at the discretion of the event organizer.
• Service and delivery fees are non-refundable unless prohibited by law.
• Refunds typically take 7-10 business days to process once approved.

If an event is still taking place at the scheduled date and time, Ticketmaster does not issue refunds itself unless permitted by the organizer. Each event has its own refund policy, which should be displayed during the ticket purchasing process.

Can you transfer Ticketmaster tickets to someone else?

Tickets purchased through Ticketmaster can be transferred to another person in most cases. However, the process depends on how the tickets were originally purchased:

• Mobile tickets: Log into your Ticketmaster account and use the Transfer option. The recipient must also have a Ticketmaster account.
• Hard stock tickets: Physical tickets can be handed off or shipped to someone else.
• Will call tickets: Go to will call together, bring the credit card used to purchase, and show ID to transfer tickets.

For mobile tickets, there is usually a 24-48 hour waiting period before newly transferred tickets can be accessed via the recipient’s account. Print-at-home paper tickets cannot be transferred as they become invalid after the first use.

Can you sell Ticketmaster tickets?

Reselling Ticketmaster tickets is allowed in most cases, with some caveats:

• Tickets can be resold at any price on secondary markets like StubHub.
• Dynamic pricing means Ticketmaster tickets don’t have a fixed resale value.
• Ticketmaster’s Transfer function must be used for mobile tickets to enable resale.
• Some high-demand tickets have resale restrictions to prevent scalping.

Ticketmaster facilitates ticket resale through its TicketExchange platform. Sellers can recoup some costs, while Ticketmaster profits off fees again in the secondary market.

Conclusion

Dynamic pricing represents a major shift in how event tickets are sold. Ticketmaster believes it helps allocate tickets more fairly and efficiently based on real-time market demand. However, implementation has been criticized by some fans for enabling price gouging and over-reliance on complex algorithms.

Despite complaints, dynamic pricing appears here to stay as Ticketmaster doubles down on the practice. It allows them to maximize profits for high-demand events by charging prices closer to what the secondary market will bear. For better or worse, fans yearning to see their favorite performers and teams now must budget for “market-based” ticket prices that can change by the minute.