So a good buddy of mine (known him 10+ years and also a family friend) calls me saturday and says that he got me covered if I wanted tickets to the Rockets/Lakers game here in LA (I live in LA fyi) and I asked him where the seats were and the price he tells me where they are at and 400 bucks. The seats are not terrible they are mid-level seats towards the top I've sat in that section before in the past for a game so I was thinking about it, I could possibly find better seats through my other ticket connections around the same price so I told him I would think about it. turns out it wasnt 400 for the pair it was 400 for a piece he tells me I just started laughing and tell him no thanks. seriously 400 I can get great seats at that price through stubhub or a ticket broker if I wanted and these arent even the 100 section of Staples. Anyways so a bunch of us are having dinner last night and he said he sold game 1 tickets to two of our buddies who live up in Santa Barbara and was asking if I could possibly hold the tickets and give it to them so they can pick them up on the way to the game. I told him no because I'd probably just steal them and go on my own to the game (plus i didnt know what my schedule would be like tonight) I told him he should leave it at will call (i think he did) now he said he is selling them to make money, understandable he is going to India in July so probably saving money for that, but I would estimate the face value of those tickets would be 100-120 at most. He said last night at dinner that he is selling for 500 apiece to anyone and 400 to friends. not for the pair but for each ticket thats nearly a 3x markup (300%!) of the face of the ticket Now I am pissed at my friend for "hustling" our friends like that, it would be one thing if he sold the tickets for 200 apiece (still a bit too high I say to charge friends) or 150 (a bit more reasonable, make a profit but a decent price for the ticket) but to sell it significantly higher than the going rate on most "scalping" website is just mind boggling. so I am tempted to just call my friends in SB who bought the tickets and tell them to forget those seats (if they havent paid yet) and buy some off of stubhub and get the electronic delivery or have them picked up at stubhub's office across from staples. if I do that then my friend who is selling the tickets is going to be super pissed at me which I dont want because he is a really good guy but at the same time I have a hard time dealing with seeing my other friends get ripped off like that. Right now I am planning to call my friends who bought the tickets and tell them if they havent paid to buy them elsewhere. But if they have paid then they are screwed and I would think that friendship they had with the seller is gone. I am also made at my friends who bought the tickets for not seeing elsewhere the prices but I dont know if they felt that since it was coming from a friend that they weren't going to get screwed over, which I would probably do too if I didnt know the way prices are at Laker games. (they live in SB way too far to come regularly to any games) anyone think/suggest of a better way of handling the situation?
hmm, i don't know. if i can get strangers to pay $500 per ticket, i certainly wouldn't have any qualms charging my friends $400. sure, it's a 300% markup for my friends but on the other hand, i'm saving them 20% compared to the strangers . i can definitely understand why you'd be pissed about it though.
^^^ Agree with this. It's one thing to charge friends a high rate just because he can, and another to charge at that rate because he needs the money (which it sounds like because of his India trip). It sounds like he wants to sell them for a profit regardless, but is throwing out a courtesy 20% discount off of market price in case any friend wants to take him up on the offer. He could have not even offered to sell the tickets to friends in the first place. The buyer of the tickets may also be willing to pay a premium compared to stubhub for the peace of mind that comes from buying them from a friend and knowing that there will not be any transactional problems, shipping issues, fees, etc. I say, keep your mouth shut. I really don't think it is any of your business.
the problem is that you have your mind on a "price" that isn't the true price. the true price is the price your other friends are willing to pay - and if they're okay with that, then you shouldn't be pissed. and like others have said, it doesn't seem to far out of line with market price. i totally understand why you would feel that way though.
I disagree with the guys above. Do the guys in SB know they're buying at a 300% markup? A friend that makes fools out of mutual friends and was willing to make a fool out of you isn't a friend. Tell the guys in SB. Granted, I don't know what tickets for those types of seat run for, especially in the playoffs, or availability, but making money off random people who don't know the difference is one thing. You don't do that to friends. Make sure you have your facts straight though before going forward.
It doesn't seem like its any of your business at all. Let your other friends worry about it. It is their deal, and their fault for not checking prices through normal vendors.
<br> I don't know. I bought game 6 tickets here for about a 250% markup through a third party site, and that was the best deal out there. I don't see the price that this guy is offering to be WAYYYY over the normal price out there..
the market price going on stubhub (which I would say is probably a avg price, you could find tickets cheaper on ebay or craigslist or more expensive) for that section range from 163-259 each ticket. he is asking 400 per and his seats (I've sat in them before for a game that was sold to me at face value -80 bucks) are in the last row of that section I am thinking i will stay out of it but it still just rubs me the wrong way, like I said I have no issue with him trying to make some money but to outright cheat/hustle a friend just seems wrong to me.
i don't really think he's hustling anyone. he gave a price, you either pay it or you don't. it's the buyer's responsibility to figure out if it's fair or not.
Why don't you call up the seller of the tickets and say, "Hey man, did you know that tickets in your area are going for $160-260 on stubhub? Why don't you just sell them to whoever will buy them for $500 a piece and tell [our mutual friends] to grab the cheaper ones on stubhub. You'll make more money and [our mutual friends] will save money!" Then see what he says. Maybe he doesn't even know the market on stubhub is significantly less than he is asking.
Take it or leave it. You left it. Your friends took it. It's over. Why get all worked up over petty stuff?
People who live in Santa Barbara are fake-ass snobs anyway who will overpay for anything. If they pay 400 each for those seats, they deserve to be ripped off.
Which is why I recommended the_yoyo makes sure he has his facts straight for the current situation. Looking to knowingly make money off of friends comes off as pretty shoddy business to me, but in the end I do agree with the principle of it's the buyer's responsibility to check into all their options. First question when buying something like this should be "what was face value." Who knows maybe they wanted to help this guy out.
Here's my take: If he is getting $500 a pop for these, why even peddle them to friends for the "special price" of $400? I'd probably make my decision only if a friend of mine asked for some and how good a friend he was. Then I'd explain that I'm getting $500/piece for them and we'd negotiate. The fact that he's actively peddling them to his friends for this price is a douche move. It also tells me he's not finding many buyers at the $500 price.
Also, tell your friend his logic is basically "I'll rape a complete stranger but if its your sister I'll take her to dinner first!"
If the guy knows what he's doing selling the tickets at this price and ripping off friends, it is a douche move. However, on the other side, how hard would it be for those friends to just look at a few websites and see what the going rate is? It would probably take 5 minutes or less to check out ticketcity or stubhub to get an idea of the price. Of course they should be able to trust their friend, but it probably depends on how close a friend he is. I'd be tempted to look around on sites anyway just to get an idea of the price. Bottom line, to me. If the people who bought the tickets don't really care, neither should you. Your friend may be pulling a dick move, but the whole "buyer beware" notion does have some credence here, too.
As bad as this might sound, I don't think its any of your business. I know you are trying to do the moral thing here and play the good guy, but this is something you really shouldn't get in the middle off IMO.
its a free country, dude can sell them for however much he wants. its called capitalism. the only thing i would do different is just not tell my friends I have them, as I might feel bad raising the price on them. (and some might get offended like the OP did) Otherwise, if people are buying tickets for $500, then more power to him.
