Buying from a Ticket Broker
Due to an increase of internet traffic, a higher volume of calls to phone lines and long, frustrating waits in lines, it can be very difficult to purchase good seats, or ANY seats in some cases, when they go on sale through the box office. For this reason, ticket brokers are increasingly becoming the route to take when you need tickets for a hard to get or sold out event.
You are guaranteed a personalized service where we can develop a relationship with our customers and understand your needs when it comes to providing you with tickets for events.
All of our sales staff is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to quoting out seats. We understand that it is very important to be 100% accurate with everything we quote. We have seating diagrams with all pertinent information for each venue so we can give you recommendations as to the quality of the seats you are interested in.
One of the biggest differences between a ticket broker and the box office is that you have a choice of where you get to sit. As an example, if the event you would like to attend is completely sold out through the box office, we can provide you with superb quality seating for that event (including seating in the first ten rows, on the fifty yard line or center court seating).
Because of the high demand on events that a ticket broker will stock, prices for tickets will be above the face value. In some cases, the price could be slightly higher than the face value or in other cases where the demand is greater than the availability, the prices could be considerably higher. We recommend doing business with a company that you can trust handling your needs. You should always inquire as to how long they have been in business, whether or not they are licensed to re-sell tickets above the face value, and if they belong to any type of Broker Associations.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a "Broker"? |
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A Broker is defined as "One hired for a fee to negotiate purchases, contracts, or sales". A ticket broker does just that. There are people that want to sell their tickets and there are also people that want to buy those same tickets. There are 2 ways that a broker can do this. The broker can buy the tickets outright from the seller and hope that they can sell them. If the market drops or the tickets don't get sold the broker incurs the loss. The second way is the broker could take the tickets from the seller on consignment and keep a fee if they are sold. Either way a ticket broker puts the buyers and the sellers together for a fee.
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| Q: |
Why are the tickets above face value? |
| A: |
Tickets are being sold at "Market Price". This means that the ticket brokers are also buying them at well above face value. Basically if someone is selling their tickets to a major event, they generally want to sell them for what they are worth. The majority of the price of the ticket is usually the cost for obtaining them. Then there are general business expenses added to the cost of the tickets.
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| Q: |
How do we know that the tickets are genuine tickets? |
| A: |
By purchasing from a licensed ticket broker you can be assured that we have taken the necessary precautions to guarantee that they are genuine. We verify all of our sources for tickets and only buy from those that are reliable.
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| Q: |
Isn't it true that if it was not for all the ticket brokers that buy the tickets that there would be plenty of seats for the fans? |
| A: |
No. Ticket brokers generally have a very small percentage of seats to any event and it does not affect availability at all. Most shows that are sold out would not even come close to having enough seats for all the fans wanting to attend.
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| Q: |
Don't ticket brokers purchase large blocks of tickets that are never offered to the public? |
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No. Most performers and sports teams assure that this does not happen. Promoters make sure that the tickets are not sold in advance and impose limits when they go on sale so that one person cannot buy a large block. The tickets that brokers have available are usually purchased at the general public on sale a couple of seats at a time.
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| Q: |
Can I check references on Hot Seats? |
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Yes. We are licensed by the Secretary of State of Illinois and we are also members of Illinois chapter of the Texas Ticket Brokers Association.
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| Q: |
Isn't it illegal to sell for more than face value? |
| A: |
No. It does generally require a license and set of standards to follow. In Illinois where we are licensed it also requires a $100,000 cash bond for consumer protection to be held either privately or through an association. By purchasing through a licensed ticket broker you can be assured that you are dealing with a reputable broker. We are licensed to sell in 98% of the markets and will notify you if we cannot. All transactions that we handle meet all state and local provisions. |
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