Scalping is fine and the people who are made a mostly people with too much free time. amirite?

How does that change anything?

by Anonymous 9 months ago

They can buy everything up before anyone else, then hold the tickets to ransom and rip people off because they now have a monopoly. They're gaming the system.

by Anonymous 9 months ago

If the monopoly is the problem, then the prior seller (Nintendo, Sony, Taylor Swift) would be and too, but no one has a problem with them selling a product There is almost never a monopoly, there are multiple competing scalpers. It's actually less monopolistic. What does it mean to rip someone off? If I'm willing to pay for an optional LUXURY item, it was worth that much to me. The initial market underestimated demand, if it was correct the scalper would lose money when no one purchased the thing.

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Why is that bad? That just means the product was undervalued

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Doesn't mean the product was undervalued at all. Just means they're an opportunistic person who is thriving off exploiting the market

by Williamsonjamey 9 months ago

How could they exploit a market if the product wasn't undervalued?

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Scalpers create artificial value by decreasing supply. With high demand and low supply, they can set the price to something that does NOT reflect its true value, only artificial value that's created by artificial scarcity.

by Anonymous 9 months ago

How is the scarcity changed? ERAS tickets and PS5s were already going to be sold out. If a scalper purchases something where demand wouldn't already exhaust supply, they won't make money. Again, this shifts the resource to get an item from "free time" to "money."

by Anonymous 9 months ago

How so? Don't they try to sell all the tickets they buy? If so, then the availability is the same.

by Bernitakirlin 9 months ago

Bingo! If you don't think the items worth it, the scalper lowers the price or loses money.

by Anonymous 9 months ago

They're not 'correcting' the price, they're driving it up by creating false scarcity. Scalpers rarely buy just one of something.

by Serious-Property 9 months ago

If they sell all of them then the total availability is the same. They aren't any more scarce except maybe temporarily.

by Bernitakirlin 9 months ago

That's why it's false scarcity.

by Serious-Property 9 months ago

Then there is no reason to pay more. Just wait them out.

by Bernitakirlin 9 months ago

Good God son, they don't advertise to you how many are available.

by Serious-Property 9 months ago

You make a sound a sound and logical argument, but people hate scalpers for emotional reasons. They wanted to buy something like concert tickets or a gaming console, but a scalper bought a bunch of them. Ultimately, the problem is unavoidable. It's also worth mentioning that scalping is risky, and you can lose money. I view scalpers no differently than a day trader. They're adding no value to society. They're just playing the game to try to make money. This is definitely an unpopular opinion, though.

by Austinconn 9 months ago

The way I see it it's a willing suckers kinda thing. Scalpers can't profit if there aren't losers willing to pay them. Should I feel bad if someone wants to throw away a lot of money? It's nanuh my business.

by reagandavis 9 months ago

WARNING: OP IS BRAINDEAD

by Unique-Calendar5876 9 months ago

Please explain

by Anonymous 9 months ago

What is "true value" and how do you identify it?

by Anonymous 9 months ago

True objective monetary value is the max someone is willing to voluntarily pay for something.

by Bernitakirlin 9 months ago

Do they sell all the tickets or throw some away? If they sell all of them then the supply is the same.

by Bernitakirlin 9 months ago

Nope the only thing scalpers do is create an artificial scarcity of the thing being sold so they can increase prices. It's a scummy practice .

by Anonymous 9 months ago

If there were no scalpers, would there have been enough eras tickets for me to buy them a week after they went on sale?

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Probaly not but that's life my friend. Can't win them all. What about a fan that wanted to go but now cause the scalpers have gotten a hold of a bunch of tickets and inflated the price can't afford to go?

by Anonymous 9 months ago

The same thing that happens to a fan who can't afford VIP tickets, they don't go. That's just life. But now people like my brother, a nurse, have money but not a ton of free time, can get tickets.

by Anonymous 9 months ago

It's "Eras", not ERAS. Not an acronym - just the plural of "era".

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Med schools use ERAS, got it confused, lol. Thanks

by Anonymous 9 months ago

The most obvious example is concert tickets here. The artist and their management set a price they think is fair to cover their costs, make a profit, and make the experience available to their fans. Usually you'll have more expensive seats and cheaper seats, but for most fans, being able to afford a ticket would be possible. Scalpers take that determination out of the hands of the organizers, the ones who should determine the value, be it over- or undervalued. I would guess mosts artists would want their biggest fans to be able to see them live, not just the wealthiest... Of course they want to make money, but there has to be a balance. Scalpers are scum...

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Why is the price-setting authority of the band or promoter important? Why should I care if Taylor swift wanted people to get nosebleeds seats for 400 if they are willing to pay 1000? Is it wrong to drive the price down by not purchasing tickets, since that disrupts their price-setting authority?

by Anonymous 9 months ago

Because she's the one performing for her fans. They're the participants in the transaction. Nobody asked the scalpers to include themselves. Are you really suggesting that the people offering the service (the concert) shouldn't even have a say in how much their service actually costs? Not buying tickets when you have no intention of attending changes nothing to their price-setting authority. If they overprice it, they'll see the empty seats, if they underprice it, they'll sell out in minutes. Either way, it should be their place to choose how to react to whatever happens.

by Anonymous 9 months ago