The Real Truth Behind the Marvel Price Hikes

[Spider-Jay420]

Well, of course I'm not willing to pay more than cover price. The cover price is the price Marvel intended it to be, and anything more than that is evil and anyone who sells it at more that cover price should be in prison. cuz they're criminals.

 

[Anubis]

Yeah, i'm gonna rob you too.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Yea I never pay those prices ether but if you buy it just to sell it your depraving someone who actually wanted that figure.Whatever dude I ain't going to change your mind.But a word of advice.Don't mention the whole "Broker" thing in the products forum.

I won't Venom, and thanks. I sold my 2nd JLA Wonder Woman on eBay. I set the shipping and 5.95 and started the bidding at 4.99. No one was hurt, or scammed or ripped off. In fact, they got a pretty good deal, I think. When all was said and done, total price was under 12 bucks. I made a 2 dollar profit. and I counted it over and over as I twirled my mustache all the way to the bank. Muahhahahahahaha!!!

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Yeah, i'm gonna rob you too.

Bring it 'Nubsey!

 

[Harlekin]

It is supply and demand. What do you call it when there are only a handful of great tickets and everyone and their brother wants them? There are only so many seats in the front row, ya know? Supply is low. Demand is high. Whatever the market will bear. I don't have to be involved in the production process.

Couldn't get a ticket? Why didn't you get a cheap ticket in the nosebleed sections? Don't tell me those were all gone too. It's the same show from up there. You hear the same songs as they do in the front row.

You don't have to buy a ticket at all. But if you Want to and the venue says "sorry Harley, but we don't have any more seats because they sold in 3 minutes. AC/DC is pretty popular, ya know?" Then what? You have 2 choices:

A) If you really want to go that badly, you can pay an Entertainment Broker like me and you can sit in the front row, yes, at an inflated price. A price that reflects the difficulty of obtaining highly sought after tickets. I'm not screwing anybody. I provide a service. If my service is not appreciated, no biggie, listen to your CD's instead. At home.

B) you can sit in front of your computer at 10am saturday morning when they go on sale, and if you're lucky, get a great seat at face value. That's what I do. and I get great tickets doing it. You can even join their Fanclubs, for a fee THE BAND charges, and find out when the Pre sale is and get your tickets early.

"Me and my kind" didn't stop you from anything. Where were you when the tickets went on sale? Working? Sleeping? Sorry you missed out. Next time you can try to get them yourself, or let me know and I'd be happy to sell you some great seats.

Are you kidding me? I was up two hours in advance, had my whole family behind a computer and was on there ready and waiting the moment tickets got on sale. However, the 'entertainment brokers' were too and bought up just about every ticket.

Five hours later and I'm sitting there, show's sold out and without a ****ing ticket.

You want to know why the ****ing tickets sold out in three minutes? Because of 'entertainment brokers' that want to make a quick and easy buck crashing the mother****ing website and getting whatever ticket they can get their grubby hands on.

You're not providing a service. You don't even want to go the show. You're not hosting the show. You're not producing the music. You're abusing the system for your own profit and to put it simply: you're taking my ****ing ticket.

I could have bought those tickets at a decent, fair and at their normally valued price, but an 'entertainment broker' had to swoop in and **** up supply and demand. So **** that.

I don't know the legality of it either, but I'd come down on the side of scalping being morally reprehensible for the same reason comics speculating was back in the day. Everyone who buys something with the sole intention of reselling it at a higher price is effectively depriving someone who actually wanted it from buying it at the price the people who created it deemed appropriate. That seems wrong to me. Granted, the people who shell out double or triple the original price for it are just as guilty of perpetuating the practice, so they're kind of dumb.

Thank you for putting in words what I cannot.

****, even talking about this gets me riled up.

Sorry for the swearing and honestly, I get it. I do, really, but it's certainly a job I could never do and one I have serious problems with.

 

[hippie_hunter]

With Crack.

Reading that while looking at your avatar makes me laugh

 

[roach]

in the words of Uncle Ben...with great power comes great responsibility, Just because you can charge $5 a comic/broker entertainment doesnt mean you should

 

[Spider-Jay420]

That sucks Harlekin. It really does. It blows when the true fans can't get what they want. I'm not the cold, heartless bastard you think I am, I'm just trying to make a buck the easiest way I know how. If I was in your shoes, it'd be pissed off to.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

I'll give a tip you may or may not know, a lot of the time, you can usually get a pretty good deal on the day of the show. You wanna see AC/DC, call a local broker at 3 or 4pm and see what he's got left. If they're gonna eat them anyway, a good businessman would rather take a loss than eat the whole thing. I've sold many tickets at cost or WAY below when the show is a few hours away.

And again, nothing personal bro, I'm just trying to pay the bills.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

in the words of Uncle Ben...with great power comes great responsibility, Just because you can charge $5 a comic/broker entertainment doesnt mean you should

I'm not sure if that's directed at me or not, but still, no one has a gun to your head. You're a big boy, I assume, do what you feel is right. If you can afford the $5 and you want it, buy it.

If you think it's not fair, don't buy it. Or start an online petition, or go picket Marvel's HQ.

I mean, bringing this whole ugly mess back to comics, the dude who was quoted said if they are not selling at the higher price, they'll lower it. They have to if they wanna stay in business. So, show them that your not gonna take it.

 

[Manic]

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

I've never liked that phrase. The players are the only thing keeping the game going. Without the player, there is no game.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

I've never liked that phrase. The players are the only thing keeping the game going. Without the player, there is no game.

Well, I'm sorry it isn't to your liking, Manic. If it makes you feel better, this is the first time I've ever used it.

Do you understand where I'm coming from though? If you and Harlekin both want to see AC/DC and I have one front row ticket and a backstage pass (why not?) Who gets it? Harley, who won't pay more than $54 for it, or you, who offers me $100.

and I'm not pickin on you Harley, I'm just using you as an example. To me, it can't be a crime because there's is no victim. Like prostitution (more ammo for your argument, I know. Not illegal in Nevada though)

I'm gonna sell it to whoever offers me more money. Now that is fair.

 

[Dread]

Um...okay.

 

[Harlekin]

Hey, I'm not dissing common sense. If someone else wants to pay more, sell it to him.

But you express regret when true fans can't go to the show, even though you're the one responsible for that. You shouldn't be interfering with the process. In your example, there's no reason you should have that ticket but for the fact that you bought it to resell it again.

That's quick and easy money over someone else's back.

 

[iloveclones]

Do you guys think Real Estate Agents, Car Dealerships, and Grocery stores actually build houses, cars, and grow food? Aren't they making money off of someone else's back? I'm sure a lot of your jobs involve the same thing. I mean, give me a break with the sanctimony.

Spider-Jay, and guys like him, have found a sector of the economy where prices are chronically underpriced. If the other people involved in the process (artists, arena agents, Ticket Services) don't understand that, well, shame on them. Because anytime you create a vaccuum, someone, or something, will rush in to fill it.


If the Music industry were so upset at the practice, they would step in and lobby legislators to stop it (maybe they have, I don't know)

 

[Harlekin]

They try to limit it as much as possible in my country, but it's very hard to control.

And car dealerships and grocery stores are different beasts altogether. The producer rarely, if ever, directly sells his goods to customers. They work through another agent to sell their goods. That's the entire business. Grocery stores can't do without the producer and vice versa. However, scalpers directly insert themselves in the process, are unwanted and unnecessary.

 

[roach]

Car Dealerships and Grocery stores are distributors and in fact authorized distributors.
Whats these scalpers are doing is like buying up all the milk at a grocery store and then charging you more for that milk.

 

[moraldeficiency]

I don't even understand how this is a question, dude's price gouging on a limited supply product. If he was doing it with gas or food or something you need no one would use that capitalism ******** defense (very similiar to the nazi defense where you have no actual responsibility to anyone because you're following orders or the "system). Capitalism has been shown to fail if people gouge for the absolute highest price possible (you do better if you're clients are doing well, its ****ing basic people). Using grocery stores as a comparison is laughable. They actually make products cheaper by consolidation and reduced shipping costs. You know how much you'd have to pay for milk if it had to be individually sent from a farm to your house? The car dealership comparison is much more valid. Car dealerships (and I sold cars for a while, that made even me feel scumy) do gouge on prices, severely. In fact there are agreements in place so a manufacturer must use a dealership. You cannot buy a car directly from toyota or such, you have to pay the mark up to the dealership. The reason for this is dealerships have funded local politicians for years to the point they've allowed a distinctly illegal buisness practice to become a law in every single of the 50 states. Luckily they're all dying now and laws will probably be rewritten since they have no money to place into the coffers, which is awesome. You reap what you sow, *****es.

 

[iloveclones]

Well, the debate is officially over. Once the nazi comparison is brought in, there is no turning back. (F George Bush for bringing the nazi comparison back into vogue....)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Godwin's Law wins again.

 

[Harlekin]

Car Dealerships and Grocery stores are distributors and in fact authorized distributors.
Whats these scalpers are doing is like buying up all the milk at a grocery store and then charging you more for that milk.

Thank you.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Well, the debate is officially over. Once the nazi comparison is brought in, there is no turning back. (F George Bush for bringing the nazi comparison back into vogue....)

Wait there was a debate? I thought it was just enron wannabe's trying to defend crooked hurtful practices and the rest of us cool, more attractive and far more modest people standing up for the common man in a way that most superheroes would envy. Did I get that wrong somehow?

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Hey, I'm not dissing common sense. If someone else wants to pay more, sell it to him.

But you express regret when true fans can't go to the show, even though you're the one responsible for that. You shouldn't be interfering with the process. In your example, there's no reason you should have that ticket but for the fact that you bought it to resell it again.

That's quick and easy money over someone else's back.

First, of all, I have no regrets for how I make a living. You didn't get tickets to see your show. That sucks. But as it turns out, you said your parents got you tickets anyway. I'm curious how they got them, by the way.

As far as me buying tickets, How many do you think I can actually get for any particular show? I don't try to buy them all, I get about 6-12 tickets per the shows I think I can make money on. I don't buy anything beyond the first 10 rows. Anyone who tries to buy them all is a fool.

I get them the same way you tried to, sit in front of my computer when they go onsale. I have to navigate thru Ticketmaster and type in those squiggly words just like you do. All you guys *****ing about fairness, that's as fair as you can be. I don't have any secret trick or evil machine that gives me an advantage. In fact, some brokers got together and made a computer program called a Spinner and all it did was fool ticketmaster and gobble up tickets. and the NATB, the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB.com, which I am a member of) deemed it wrong and no one legit uses them anymore.

I could see you being upset if I was reselling food, or water, or air but give me a break, man. Why don't you go buy a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for 12 cents. See how far you get with that.

This is the world we live in folks, wake up. If you want something that is in short supply and other people want it too, how can you get it??? PAY FOR IT.

If AC/DC is playing tomorrow and you want to go but didn't know when they went onsale and you never had a chance to get tickets at face value, I can get you in. That is a service. I'm sorry you don't agree, Harley, but it is. It's a service I get paid for. It's a service not many people can do, but I can and if someone is willing to pay for it, I'm happy because I get paid, and he's happy because he got to see the show, from great seats I might add. He's not a victim.

You don't agree, fine. You wanna sit in the nosebleed seats because that's the fair thing to do, do it. Have a great time. But don't sit there and tell me I'm a criminal because you don't agree me. Or I shouldn't get involved. Who the hell are you to tell me how I can or can't make money??

I'm not dealing drugs, I'm not selling guns to kids and I'm not selling you food or water at an outrageous mark up.

Have you ever seen a concert from the front row or a basketball game sitting on the court? Hockey game on the glass? It's a great experience and it's an experience people are willing to pay money for.

Deal with it.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Car Dealerships and Grocery stores are distributors and in fact authorized distributors.
Whats these scalpers are doing is like buying up all the milk at a grocery store and then charging you more for that milk.

Apples and Oranges. You need milk for your children. You don't NEED AC/DC tickets.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Apples and Oranges. You need milk for your children. You don't NEED AC/DC tickets.

That's not true, you don't need milk.

 

[Harlekin]

But why are you buying tickets? Not to see the show, right? No, so you can resell them for a marked up price.

That's the problem.

It comes down to this:

This is the world we live in folks, wake up. If you want something that is in short supply and other people want it too, how can you get it??? PAY FOR IT.

And who should I have to pay for it? The concert organiser. Not you.

Now, I said I didn't want to get into a discussion about this earlier and I'm bowing out now, because I know the subject still gets my blood boiling.

Truly, Jay, I don't begrudge you making a living, despite my own reservations about the job. You need to pay the bills too. So I do in fact wish you luck with your endeavours and no hard feelings.