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Step 1
Steer clear of ticket brokers and unofficial ticket sales agencies. Most of the time, ticket brokers are actually just well-organized ticket scalpers who buy tickets from officially authorized sources and resell them for higher prices to make a profit. The scalpers' companies often appear to be legitimate businesses with respectable looking offices, websites and advertisements, so it's easy to be fooled if you are not careful.
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Step 2
Remember that if you have any problem with entering an event at South by Southwest with counterfeit tickets you purchased from a ticket broker or unauthorized agency, you will most likely have no way of recovering your money. Because these companies often purposely do not provide contact information (such as street addresses or phone numbers), you may have no way of contacting them to complain.
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Step 3
Use a credit card to purchase your South by Southwest tickets. In the event of trouble regarding your tickets, you will have a method of disputing the sale. You will most likely have a much more difficult time providing proof of purchase if you pay with cash, as there may be no record if you are not provided with a receipt or if you lose the receipt.
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Step 4
Be careful when using online auction sites such as eBay to purchase tickets to South by Southwest. Counterfeit tickets are popular on these websites, and it may be difficult to ensure that the person you are purchasing tickets from is trustworthy and will deliver the tickets to you on time. Do some research by reading the profiles of the sellers and reviewing comments from other users about their experiences buying from them. Doing so will help you weed out the sellers you should avoid.
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Step 5
Examine the appearance of your South by Southwest tickets very closely before buying them from a questionable source. Counterfeit tickets will usually be missing the watermarks, holograms and bar codes used to verify legitimate tickets, so it's best to compare the look of your ticket to an official one if possible. The printing of text and images on the ticket should be very clear and bright, so avoid tickets that seem blurry or damaged.
