Is it safe buying tickets on the street for O2 concerts?

pappe

Hi, I wonder if anyone ever experienced buying concert tickets on the street outside O2 prior a Live concert. I wonder if such tickets are authentic, if it is safe buying them...
Thank you for sharing!

JJ

It's really just a case of you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Thundercats Ho

pappe wrote: »

Hi, I wonder if anyone ever experienced buying concert tickets on the street outside O2 prior a Live concert. I wonder if such tickets are authentic, if it is safe buying them...
Thank you for sharing!

Never buy from a tout. They're the scum of the earth.

wandatowell

Thundercats Ho wrote: »

Never buy from a tout. They're the scum of the earth.

Indeed touts are sh*theads.

I've often and I mean very regularly bought tickets on the evening of a gig outside the venue from a ordinary bloke with a spare ticket at face value. I've never used a tout and never will

pappe

wandatowell wrote: »

Indeed touts are sh*theads.

I've often and I mean very regularly bought tickets on the evening of a gig outside the venue from a ordinary bloke with a spare ticket at face value. I've never used a tout and never will

I wonder if you can explain me the difference between a tout and a bloke...many thanks! )

recyclebin

pappe wrote: »

I wonder if you can explain me the difference between a tout and a bloke...many thanks! )

The price. A tout makes a profit!

A bloke will sell it at cost price or even cheaper.

ghostdancer

it's not particularly safe.
the ticket could be real, could be fake.

use www.toutless.ie instead if possible.

wandatowell

recyclebin wrote: »

The price. A tout makes a profit!

A bloke will sell it at cost price or even cheaper.

pappe wrote: »

I wonder if you can explain me the difference between a tout and a bloke...many thanks! )

What recyclebin said


I've gone to a few gigs with a spare ticket or two and always sell them at face value. No point being a money grabbing prick about things.
Sometimes I've even given tickets to friends for free..................just so i've company

pappe

Useful information! I love that toutless site too! Thanks!

princemuzzy

if you have to buy outside keep an eye out for big groups and ask if they have a spare quite often in a big group you will get 1 who cant go and send their ticket with their mates to sell

if you have to buy of a tout as a last resort try leaving it as late as possible even miss the 1st song or so of the main act they dont want to go home with the tickets either so the price will come down

paulbok

I'd never buy an eticket off someone I didn't know unless they were prepared to be there to have the ticket scanned on the way in.

Toast

That would only work if everyone had a unique barcode associated with their TM account so when it was scanned they are basically identifying your account and checking if you have access to the event on that account. Apparently several other companies attempted to implement something along those lines but weren't successful due to not having TMs clout. I'd imagine there are reasons TM don't want to implement it right now but I suspect we'll see it in the future but I wouldn't be surprised if it is tied into their "approved" touting site Letmein which they will allow people charge whatever they want (and skim 10% commission off that sale).

Right now there really is no way for any third party to identify a dud eticket (which I count any ticket with a barcode) until the night of the event. We always recommend people getting tickets via Toutless meet in person (in a safe environment), take a record of the persons ID + address, and check that the names on the tickets match so you've something to go to the guards with if there is a problem later.

The majority of the scams we see though are people trying to convince people to send money remotely to them via bank accounts or western union like systems and promising to send tickets that never materialise. Really isn't worth the risk to ever chance that in my opinion.

AnonoBoy

I've sold tickets for face value outside gigs. Sometimes it's gut instinct really. If you see the person is going in themselves and selling off a spare ticket for face value then I'd generally trust them.

The added bonus of selling outside a gig is that you can do it beside the touts and piss them off.

finbarrk

I got caught a few years ago. Bought a ticket in the pub down the road from the o2, it turned out to be a fake. I should have copped it though, he was a little skanger. It was the Rolling Stones gig that was well sold out.

rubadub

recyclebin wrote: »

The price. A tout makes a profit!

A bloke will sell it at cost price or even cheaper.

I have often seen touts selling below costs. Some have this idea that they buy up tickets when they go on sale. The normal street touts are buying on the night and selling on. They do not want to hold on to lots. Its pretty much like buying & selling shares continuously during the night. You are correct, they nearly always are making a profit, but if a gig is not sold out or has started already then they will be offering people a pittance, and selling below face value.

Another trick is to looks for guys going up to touts trying to sell their tickets, people rarely sell to the first tout they find, the touts usually offer a really low price first, so you can then sneak in and offer face value. Often you will see a bunch of lads in a group, stuck with 1 spare ticket, 1 guy heads to the tout and then back to the group. This is an ideal case, since they are usually going into the gig themselves, so you can walk up with them and have it confirmed by the bouncers before handing over money. They feel safe too as there's a gang of them.

At the olympia the bouncers will sometimes verify touts tickets too, in the O2 this is probably harder as there are different stages to go through.