It can be incredibly frustrating when you go on Ticketmaster to buy tickets for a highly anticipated concert or sporting event, only to be met with the dreaded “no tickets available” message. There are a few key reasons why Ticketmaster may show no tickets, even for events that haven’t sold out yet.
Tickets Are Being Held Back
Often, events don’t release all tickets for sale right away on Ticketmaster. A large portion of tickets may be held back for various reasons:
- Artist or team presales: The performers or sports teams themselves will get an allotment of tickets to sell directly to their fan club members before the general public sale.
- Venue presales: The venue hosting the event may hold some tickets to sell directly to their email list subscribers.
- VIP/packaged tickets: Sections with premium seat locations or special VIP packages are sometimes held back.
- Sponsor presales: Events sponsors like credit card companies or cell phone carriers may get presale ticket access as part of their sponsorship deals.
These presale tickets have not been released for sale to the general public yet. So when you search on Ticketmaster right when tickets first go on sale, you may see “no tickets” if all that’s available so far are presales you don’t have access to.
Bots Are Buying Up Tickets Quickly
For high demand events, tickets often sell out in minutes or even seconds. This is partly due to bots – automated computer programs designed to buy tickets the moment they go on sale. Some bot users intend to resell the tickets, while others may be buying for a large group.
Bots can buy up inventory faster than any human user could. By the time you select seats and enter payment info, bots may have already purchased most of the available tickets. This gives the appearance of tickets selling out instantly.
Tickets Are Being Resold
Third party ticket resellers and individual scalpers frequently buy large quantities of tickets with the intention of reselling them at a higher price. Ticketmaster’s resale platform allows season ticket holders and other users to repost tickets they can’t use.
Even if a Ticketmaster event hasn’t technically sold out, you may only see resale tickets left at inflated prices. The original allotment of tickets at face value have already been snatched up and resold.
High Demand for Hot Events
For extremely popular concerts and games, there is simply more demand from fans than there are seats in the venue. Even if presales and bots didn’t buy up chunks of tickets first, these events would still sell out fast when they open to the general public.
Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour, for example, is taking place exclusively in large stadiums. Over 2 million tickets were sold on the first day of sales, even with many frustrated fans walking away empty handed.
System Glitches
With millions of visitors swarming Ticketmaster at once when hot tickets go on sale, the system can sometimes get overloaded and glitchy. You may encounter error messages, frozen screens, or issues with the interactive seat maps that make it appear no tickets are left.
If you receive a system error, try refreshing the page or restarting your search. The tickets you want may still be available, even if a tech issue made it briefly show sold out.
Tips for Finding Tickets
If you really want to secure tickets to a high demand show or game, here are some tips to improve your chances and get around the “no tickets” message:
- Join fan clubs and mailing lists – This gives you access to presales before the general public.
- Be ready right at the on-sale time – Log in ahead and make sure payment info is saved so you can purchase immediately.
- Try for less popular games/shows – The biggest events will always be toughest to get.
- Check back often – New batches of tickets may be released over time.
- Consider resellers – If you don’t mind paying a premium, you can get tickets third party.
Is Ticketmaster Partly to Blame?
While high demand and reseller activity are big factors, some blame does fall on Ticketmaster itself. Critics argue that the company intentionally holds back more tickets than necessary for presales, driving up prices on the secondary market.
Ticketmaster has faced numerous lawsuits over these practices. They were even fined millions in a class action settlement over Canadian resale violations. However, Ticketmaster maintains that they do not exceed limits set by event organizers and venues on how many tickets should be held back.
Calls for Change
The lack of available tickets on Ticketmaster has angered many music and sports fans. Some feel it is unfair for so many tickets to be swallowed up by presales, bots, and resellers. There are calls for Ticketmaster to change its systems and distribution methods to make buying tickets fairer.
Some have argued that more strict bot regulation could help. Others believe entertainment entities and teams should distribute a greater share of tickets directly to fans instead of through Ticketmaster. While Ticketmaster remains the dominant ticketing platform, new player SeatGeek was recently approved as an NFL ticketing partner, opening the door for more potential competition.
Conclusion
Finding no tickets available on Ticketmaster is often frustrating. But this outcome stems from many factors – pure high demand for hot events, batches of tickets being held back for various presales, bots scooping up inventory instantly, and heavy reseller activity. While Ticketmaster’s processes may sometimes be questionable, this reality of high demand and limited ticket supply makes sellouts inevitable for the biggest concerts and games.
Fans have to be strategic in trying to beat the system – joining presales, being ready right at on-sale time, and being flexible on dates and seat locations. With patience and persistence, tickets can still be scored to highly desired events. But you may have to go through a few “no tickets available” messages first.
The ticketing landscape may slowly shift over time toward better access and more reasonable prices for fans. But as long as demand drastically exceeds supply, the race for tickets will continue to be competitive. Understanding why you can’t seem to find tickets on Ticketmaster is the first step toward figuring out how to get them anyway.