Why shouldn't people sell their speed of access to other people willing to pay for it?
Fred: Oh my God! Angel, you're…cute! Angel: Fred, don't! Fred: Oh, but the little hands! And the hair! Angel: Hey! You're fired.
'Smile Time'
Firefly 4: Also, we can kill you with our brains
Discussion of the Mutant Enemy series, Firefly, the ensuing movie Serenity, and other projects in that universe. Like the other show threads, anything broadcast in the US is fine; spoilers are verboten and will be deleted if found.
bon bon - May 25, 2005 5:58:08 am PDT #2451 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
Kalshane - May 25, 2005 6:10:12 am PDT #2452 of 10001
GS: If you had to choose between kicking evil in the head or the behind, which would you choose, and why?
Minsc: I'm not sure I understand the question. I have two feet, do I not? You do not take a small plate when the feast of evil welcomes seconds.
Why is ticket scalping illegal? It's the exact same thing.
bon bon - May 25, 2005 6:41:19 am PDT #2453 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
That's my question, isn't it? Reselling tickets is not malum in se; it's not even illegal in most places.
Nutty - May 25, 2005 7:25:15 am PDT #2454 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
Scalping is illegal in Massachusetts. There was a whole big thing over tickets to Fenway Park -- the Fenway owners will help re-sell unwanted season tickets, but they have to resell them at face value (plus a service charge). Whereas, other parks in other states have their own, corporate reselling service that marks up the tickets like whoa.
In the latter case, although formally 40% of the tickets cost, say, $20 or less, in reality huge blocks of tickets are designated automatically to the reselling service, which sell them at 500% of face value. So, in effect, the "40% of our tickets are affordable!" claim is a lie.
(In the case of baseball, there's a whole "public good" issue, because of the antitrust exemption under which the enterprise works. So, since the public good is not served by tickets being wildly unaffordable to your average Jane, there are constant and persistent rumblings about this. In MA, not nearly the amount of rumblings.)
Frankenbuddha - May 25, 2005 7:32:39 am PDT #2455 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
I also know for the Patriots that if you are caught reselling your season tickets, they will cancel your season tickets permanently.
amych - May 25, 2005 7:36:21 am PDT #2456 of 10001
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
if you are caught reselling your season tickets, they will cancel your season tickets permanently.
Pretty typical example, but it doesn't get to why. (I'm not bon bon, but I've wondered about this for eons.)
brenda m - May 25, 2005 7:38:50 am PDT #2457 of 10001
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
Pretty typical example, but it doesn't get to why. (I'm not bon bon, but I've wondered about this for eons.)
I'd say it's not dissimilar to the reason for all the warnings and disclaimers on fanfic. If there's a profit to be made off the game or broadcast thereof, it's not yours to make.
dcp - May 25, 2005 7:41:20 am PDT #2458 of 10001
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
Why is scalping offensive?
The tickets are rare, and in demand, and therefore valuable. If the issuers wanted to sell them at auction or "for all the market will bear" they could have done so and reaped the value created by the rarity. To sell them instead for a flat nominal sum is a kindness, and for a purchaser to turn around and re-sell the ticket for a profit is an abuse of that kindness.
Nutty - May 25, 2005 7:59:22 am PDT #2459 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
In the case of the Patriots, or any private org that sells tickets, it's the Patriots who want to make the profit, rather than hand the profit off to anybody with an eBay account. I know that broadway shows were experimenting with selling a small block of tickets at $500 each, ridiculous prices, because they figured, better the last-minute charlie buy their ridiculously expensive tickets from the box office than from Creepy Dave on the street.
I am a big fan of the block of cheap day-of tickets. I know in Britain they've been used to drum up business for otherwise-scantily-attended plays, and such. Actually, at Fenway, day-of you can get in line and buy any ticket not already sold in the whole stadium -- and then you have to enter the stadium immediately, so you can't scalp the ticket you just bought.
bon bon - May 25, 2005 8:18:52 am PDT #2460 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
Look, like I said, there's nothing inherently wrong with resale. In the case of Serenity, the tix went to the first purchasers. There's nothing wrong with selling your ability to be there first to someone else who will pay because they can't. If I've got a Big Important job that prevented me from buying the tix within moments of their release, the fact that someone else buys them and sells them to me at a price I'm willing to pay IS a "kindness"-- at least in the definition used above. They're NOT stealing the profit of the issuer-- the issuer already made the profit from the price they chose, and the buyer just makes the premium over his investment.
I'd say it's not dissimilar to the reason for all the warnings and disclaimers on fanfic. If there's a profit to be made off the game or broadcast thereof, it's not yours to make.
Again, this is a different situation from intellectual property. It's more like a bookstore selling books-- the author made his profit, and someone else gets a premium for making the property conveniently available. It's not the same thing as someone NOT paying you what you're asking to be paid and making money off of it.
Scalping is illegal in some places for reasons like the one Nutty stated above-- it's a weighing of interests that, in the case of monopolistic sports, favors people who get there first, rather than the people who can pay a premium. It's not a evil/good dichotomy.