How to Get The Best Event Ticket Price--Compare Prices

This article will walk you through comparing prices for ticketed events. Save money by comparing tickets.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer

1. Find an event you wish to attend.
2. Decide how many tickets you would like to buy. Large or odd tickets can be difficult to source together.
3. Visit TicketMaster.com to see if the event is listed there, and if they have any tickets available in desirable locations and/or quantities. You can also visit the venue Box Office, note that tickets may be released in groups or waves. For example, NFL tickets may be sold out, but "buy backs" from the visiting team (NFL rules state a certain number of tickets must be available for the opposing team, these often go unsold though) are released about a week before the game.
4. Buy tickets from the Box Office if possible, it is usually cheaper this way.
5. If the Box Office/TicketMaster is sold out, try going to popular "ticket marketplaces." It is important to note that different market places have a different markup fee and source their tickets from different areas (e.g. TicketsNow exclusively Ticket Brokers, StubHub nearly all fan to fan sales). Some "ticket marketplaces" include StubHub, TicketsNow, ticket network direct, RazorGator, Barry's tickets, zoomtickets, buy sell tix, and etc..
6. Find the tickets you want at the price point on each site to compare the best values. This can get complicated, so you may want to use some scratch paper to note prices, quantities, and locations of different tickets from the different marketplaces.
7. Or comparison shop from one non-biased website. One such site is www.NinjaTickets.com which comparison shops "ticket marketplaces" and lists/links TicketMaster too. Good sites will have a "price/value rating" system which will automatically compare the best values on tickets based on location and price. (Note that some ticket comparison sites have old tickets or don't link directly to a sites event page, and some are "paid comparison searches" where only a few links from certain sites will show up.)
8. After you have found your perfect seats go back to the site where you found your the tickets and purchase. Note though that the best values often have a very short shelf life so you may want to purchase the same day (or sooner for events like the final four) if you see one set of tickets listed below other comparable tickets (make sure the seats aren't "obstructed view").
   
   If using a ticket comparison site, simply click on a ticket set to be taken to the event page or directly to the checkout page depending on the site.
9. Purchase seats and enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• Check main box office, try to get ticket release schedules.
• There are ticket coupons out there if you dig through ticket blogs.
• For big events box offices will often be sold out, or have terrible seats left, but its still good to check face value to judge value of other tickets.
• You may want to check out local classified ads, some great values can be listed here, but please check for validity of tickets (search for ticket images before meeting) and meet in safe, public locations.
• Never buy tickets from the first scalper you see at the event, if you so choose to buy scalped tickets (also see above warning), also know the face value and the "retail value" of the tickets you wish to purchase. Some deals can be had by attending the event later and buying tickets after the event has started from scalpers (typically 15-30 minutes).