How to Scalp a Ticket on the Cheap

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I live in a small town where the extent of our local sporting events consists of pioneer league baseball and high school football games.  So, whenever I travel, I like to take the opportunity to indulge in the Americana of an historic ballpark, feel raucous energy of a football stadium, or marvel at thuggish artistry in a basketball arena.

In the past few years, I’ve seen NBA, MLB and NFL games – all on scalped tickets – paying as little as $5 a ticket, but never more than $15.  Don’t let my experience taint you into feeling like you’re not getting a good deal… it’s not like I’ve been scalping lower bowl Lakers vs. Celtics tickets for $5.  That kind of thing just isn’t going to happen.  But if what you’re after is just the experience, and you’re not afraid to gamble on being able to get in, my strategies just might work for you, too.

Let me also say that I have attended many events which have been billed as “sold-out” to which there were an abundance of tickets available.  I can’t guarantee that will always be the case, but let me put it to you like this:  I know people who bought $20 tickets from scalpers to “upgrade” their seats from the $150 tickets they bought months before the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.

But, before we get too carried away, I’ve got to throw out a disclaimer of caution… people do get scammed.  On a recent trip to Georgia, I had someone trying to sling me fake tickets.  I knew for three reasons: the quality of the ink was poor, the hologram was different from the other tickets I had seen, and the seller was far too anxious to sell them to me quickly and without drawing any attention.  Be careful and realize that risk and reward come hand-in-hand.

There are a few immutable laws of scalping.

Supply and Demand

The fact is that there will be more open seats, and therefore cheaper seats at baseball and basketball games because there are more of them.  There will obviously also be cheaper seats at games that are against lower-profile opponents and at odd times.

Don’t Appear Overzealous

If you show up to Energy Solutions Arena decked out from head to toe in your Utah Jazz gear, any amateur scalper is going to have his way with you.  As much as you might want to support your team, that goes against you when you’re trying to scalp a cheap ticket.  You’re better off incognito.

Tickets are Timed to Self-Destruct

A $20 ticket becomes a $10 ticket in the second inning.  The inherent value of the scalper’s stash of tickets starts to drop parabolically the moment that the game begins.  I love to hear the national anthem, too, but I can skip it it will get me 50% off.

Have Cash

There’s no substitute for exact change.  You don’t want to mock an incapacity to pay and then roll out a stack of hunneys.  I like to have an idea of what I want to pay and keep it ready in my pocket.  Even better is to have plan B in your other pocket.  For example, if you’re wanting to pay $10 each for 2 tickets, keep a twenty in one pocket so you can bare it at the right time.  Keep a ten in the other pocket in case you have to sweeten the pot.

Now that we have those down, I’ll share my three strategies in the context that I discovered them.

How to Scalp a Ticket

1. Meeting Pablo

I was in Orlando for a work conference and fortuitously happened to be there on the night a shuttle was set to launch from Kennedy Space Center.  I had just gotten onto the freeway en route to the coast when a readerboard informed me that the launch had been scuttled due to some kind of leak.  I whipped out my iPhone (what kind of world would it be without them?) and found that the Orlando Magic were playing the Chicago Bulls.  I veered off and made my way to the stadium.  For some reason this strategy was revealed to me as I made my way towards the Amway Center.  I could see where the scalpers were gathered, and grinned to myself as I crossed the street with my plan already hatched.  When I got to the corner, I looked at my watch to check the time.  One of the scalpers asked me if I needed a ticket.  I said, “are you Pablo?”  The guy said, “No, why? Who’s Pablo.”

I said, “He told me to meet him here and he’s going to give me a ticket for $5.”  The scalper scoffed and I just stood there scanning the people walking towards the arena.  By this time the game had started and I could tell he was getting antsy about the stack of tickets he still had.  He said he’d give me one for $10, which I would have normally taken, but at this point it was a game. I said, “No, I’ll wait… he’ll be here soon.”  Not even two more minutes passed before he said, “Hey, look, I’ll sell you this one for $5.”  Of course it was in the nosebleed section.  I said I’d feel bad if I didn’t buy it from Pablo because I’d set up to meet him, and that the ticket he was going to sell me was closer down on the second level.  At this point he was just scrapping and he pulled out another single that was about 10 rows up on the second level.  I mocked feeling bad for my imaginary friend Pablo and swapped him for a Lincoln.  Deal done.

2. Headed to the Movie

I was in Boston and just a short metro ride away from Fenway Park.  I wasn’t going to miss the chance to visit such a historic place, much less when a Red Sox victory would ensure their place in the play-offs.  But we weren’t going to tell any of that to the many scalpers that were anxiously slinging tickets just outside the “no-scalping zone” near the field.  My co-worker and I came up with the idea of pretending we weren’t really interested in the game, so when the scalpers started bugging us, we told them we were headed to a movie.  Of course they came back with something to the effect of, “How are you going to a movie while the Red Sox are playing.”  We explained that we weren’t really fans and weren’t all that interested unless we could get the tickets for the same price as a movie.  The scalpers acted pissed (that’s part of the deal) and said they couldn’t sell them that cheap, so we went walking on our way.  We weren’t even ten steps away when he conceded and sold them to us for $10 each.  This was actually my first scalping experience, and I was so nervous about being scammed that we made him accompany us to the entrance and paid once our tickets and been scanned.

3. Knowing the Market

I was in Tampa with a couple of friends and the Bucs were playing the Seahawks on a Sunday night game.  It just happened that on the same night, the Tampa Bay Rays were playing the Red Sox in the semi-finals, so we knew that there were a lot of empty seats at Raymond James Stadium.  I figured the fact that we had an odd number (3) of us, it would either help or hurt our chances of getting a screaming deal.  While normally the strategy is to get the scalper to give you a price, we just went into the deal feeling like we’d  be willing to pay $15 for tickets, given our knowledge of the situation.  This scalper was the friendliest I’ve ever encountered.  He genuinely seemed excited about helping us out and it didn’t take much threatening and coercion. He took our price and gave us tickets for 3 seats in row H (the 8th row) in the corner, near the endzone – amazing seats for about half of the game.

I am a relative amateur when it comes to this kind of thing, but I’ve had some success. For more ideas from someone far more experienced, visit The Ultimate Fan.

Nothing pains us more at WorldWanderlusting.com, than hearing “I’d love to travel, I just can’t afford it.”  We write about inexpensive ways for people to get to places they had only dreamed of.  Follow us on Facebook or check out these other great posts:

Keep wanderlusting with us.

Posted in Travel Tricks | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Travel Location and Currency Quiz

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Brad Christensen

 

 

 

 

Ok, wanderlusters, you know the drill – Where was this photo taken and what currency is used there?  Some 237 steps on a man-made bridge take visitors to a small church which, in some form or another, has graced the peak of this tiny offshore island since the 10th Century.  If you need another hint, the name of this location is “Castle Rock” in the local language.”

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

My Baby Max’s First Trip

Posted on September 23, 2011 by wpengine

The moment before the flight was a little tense for me as I prepared for my first redeye with my newborn son.  I felt like everyone was giving me the “death stare” as I boarded the plane.  I’m sure that they were all thinking, “This guy brought his kid?  Now I’m not going to sleep at all!”  I even purchased some earplugs in case the people around us had to listen to a crying baby.

Sleepy Max and Dad

I took every precaution possible by bringing along his binky, preparing with some tylenol for children, and the earplugs.  My main purpose was to have him sleep on my lap and to make sure that he took his binky during the takeoff.  I figured if I helped him by putting the binky in his mouth it would help him to pop his ears.  Either this kid is an angel, or his ears popped just fine.  (I’m pretty sure it is both) He did just fine and slept through both of the flights without a problem.

Mission accomplished!  I feel like bringing him along for this trip has been great.  He has been eating fine, flying fine, and very tolerant of long trips in the car.  We definitely had to recuperate by sleeping in the airport during our layovers, and crashing very early at our hotel, but it has been great.

I love this picture of Max

His first trip to the ocean was captured perfectly with a camera. I was really excited to bring him there because I felt like it would be fun to swim with him in the ocean.  I guess that I didn’t suspect that he would be so disappointed at the temperature of the ocean.  He cried for a few minutes after having just his feet in the water.  I guess that I’ll have to wait to swim with him in the ocean until he gets a little bit older.

My car rental was a bit of a bummer.  I had searched online at Priceline, Hotwire, and Expedia, but all of the responses seemed disappointing to me.  Priceline wanted me to bid basically at the same price that Expedia was offering.  I wasn’t willing to do that because Priceline still has charges that would get passed along to me and it might have even made the costs higher than the ones on Expedia.  I decided to show up at the airport and attempt to rent a vehicle in person to see if the rates were any better.  Luckily at National I was able to rent that car for $40 less than the online price.

I know that the airport was a little smaller, and I’m not sure if that had something to do with the reason that Priceline.com wouldn’t budge on their prices for car rentals.  Last time I was able to get a rental for a much more reasonable rate on Priceline.com, so I’m thinking it was the smaller location.

Our hotel in Jacksonville was tough to do.  I notice that everyone who was bidding on Priceline.com was getting the Days Inn or the Ramada from betterbidding.com.  These hotels had horrible reviews about the carpets and the bedspreads.  These are two of the most important items in a hotel room for me.  I decided to do some shopping like we all used to have to do before the Internet.  I dropped into a few different hotels and everyone wanted $110-140 per night.  I couldn’t believe it.  The other thing that was incredible is that all of the hotels were full.

I decided to check one last hotel and found a great one.  It is called America’s Best Value Inn, and it was only $83 per night, which was about $17 cheaper than the next cheapest option.  This hotel has recently been remodeled and it has new carpet and a new bedspread.  I also found that the shower was rather clean, which is also important to me.  I realize that this hotel isn’t a Marriott, but if it saves me $70 for the two nights, and that is worth it to me.

I realize that I’m not accruing a lot of new points on this trip because I’m staying in hotel chains that don’t accrue points very well.  At this point I only have points with Starwood, and there aren’t any Starwood Hotels in this area.  Next time I’ll be more prepared by having some Hilton and Marriott points so I don’t have to pay for those hotels in the future.  That is the power of having multiple accounts with many hotel companies.

We don’t have the rest of our trip planned out, but I am eying the Aloft Airport hotel, which is in North Charleston.  It is a Starwood property and it would only cost me 3000 Starpoints.  I’m pretty sure that we will hit that up for Sunday night.  I guess I’ll let you know as we decide.

Posted in Car Rentals, Fun Travel Stories, Hotels, Starwood Preferred Guest | Tagged , | 1 Comment

North Carolina, Here we come!

Posted on September 20, 2011 by wpengine

I’m a little bit nervous about my flight that I have coming up early on Wednesday morning. It will be my first “redeye” ever, as it will be the first flight that my son takes. I really hope that he sleeps well as it is a redeye and I know that others will want to be sleeping.  I know that he always sleeps well at night, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I would also like to issue a word of caution when booking a redeye. Always make sure that the leaving times and arriving times make sense to you. I made a mistake when booking this trip because I saw the redeye and thought to myself that I would leave at the end of the day, and arrive the next day. This flight was different because instead of leaving at the end of the day, and arriving the next day, it leaves early the morning of the 21st and arrives early in the morning on the 21st as well. This extended my trip a day, which isn’t usually a problem, but this gave me a gnarly headache as it caused me to miss two trainings that I originally thought that I would be able to attend.

I’ll probably get my car rental from Priceline. They have great deals on their car rentals. Save up to 40% on car rentals when you name your price at Priceline.com

Pier at Surf City, North Carolina

I’m really excited to take my son to the beach in North Carolina. The weather is going to be pretty nice with the highs in the 80’s. I’m sure that it has cooled down some from the heat of the summer, but I’m hoping that this is going to be great.

I’m really looking forward to checking out a cotton and peanut plantation. I’ve always enjoyed looking at sites like that wherever I go. Learning about agriculture often times is in the hearts of the people. Potato farming isn’t anything too exciting, but it is fun to see plants grow and be harvested each year. I also enjoy gardening, so learning about how plants grow and what type of weather they require is interesting to me.

Oysters from Elijas

Carolina BBQ caught my attention on my last trip to North Carolina.  I had never tasted any type of BBQ sauce like that one, but I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for my wife to try it as well.  The sauce is a bit more liquid and has a vinegar base.  I recommend you take a trip down there sometime to give it a try. I tried some Oysters the last time I went, but I wouldn’t really recommend them.  Everyone has their own tastes though.

I booked my flights on Delta.com as they had a great deal on their rates.  The flight was only $300 for the round trip ticket.  It is going to give me about 4000 Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM) that will go toward my delta tank.  It is always exciting to fly for free, but getting a great fare and the miles that go along with them is totally worth it sometimes too.  Especially when the company pays for it, or it can be a write off.

Sadly the whole area when I’m going doesn’t have any Starwood hotels.  This is the bummer of only having hotel points with one company.  I am really wishing that I had some Marriott points because they have hotels that are abundant in the Wilmington area.  I guess that is how you learn.  I also remember how bad the Howard Johnson Inn Express was last time I stayed their in Wilmington.  This time I’ll definitely be willing to pay a bit more to make sure that I get a reasonable hotel.  I’ve looked into the VRBO’s in the area, and it seems like I can get a small condo for the same price as a hotel.  Do I stay in a hotel and accrue some points, or do I get a bit of a local experience by staying in the condo?  What do you recommend?

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Update:

For a limited time American Express is going to be changing the terms of their current offer.  It isn’t as good as the offer that expired in August, but this lowers the spending requirement significantly.  I don’t have the link quite yet, but they are lowering the minimum spending requirement to $5000 instead of the monster $15,000 that they had before.  I’m still chipping away at the $15,000.  What a joke!  I’ve had a lot of family help me to meet it thus far, but I’m only at $9500.  The $5000 is completely doable.

 

Posted in Fun Travel Stories, Hotels | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Midway Car Rental in LA

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Brad Christensen

If you’re ever headed into LAX, or really anywhere in the LA area, I’d urge you to take a look at Midway Car Rental.  If you’re looking for a really cheap rental, they’ve got it.  If you’re looking for a really nice rental at an affordable price, they’ve got that, too.

In a recent search, I booked a Premium Car for the price of a Hertz Economy Car – $60.  That way even a cheapskate like me can justify riding in style.  Well, let me clarify that – when I called in to ask what the fleet of Premium Cars were, the lady started listing them: A Volvo S-80, Audi 8, MINI Cooper… I stopped her dead in her tracks and asked her to guarantee that I wouldn’t end up with the Cooper.  She laughed and told me that they were actually really popular, but not to worry about it.

One time I flew into Ontario and another car rental company tried to give me a PT Cruiser… which wouldn’t have even been so bad, but it was literally banana-yellow.  I wasn’t having it and offered to downgrade myself, but ended up landing a convertible Ford Mustang… not a bad trade, if I do say so myself.

Thanks for wanderlusting with us.

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Travel Location and Currency Quiz

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Where was this picture taken and what currency do they use there?

Posted in Travel Quiz | 4 Comments

Citi Reduced Mileage Awards

Posted on September 17, 2011 by wpengine

I know that we have been stressing the value of the American Airlines 75,000 deal that is still being honored.  It is unbelievable that the offer expired about a year ago, yet they are still giving out the deal.  Use the link on our Frequent Flier Credit Cards page to learn about how to score this card.

I wanted to show you the value of this card as a means of flying to specific places in the US or Canada that don’t require you to use 25,000 of your precious AAdvantage miles.  The Platinum card offers you options to redeem to specific locations in the US and Canada for 17,500 in coach, or 42,500 in first class. It is a benefit for those who hold the Citi AAdvantage credit card.  The program is called the Citi Reduced Mileage Awards.

I’ve taken a selection below that shows where in Canada that you can fly between October and December of 2011.  You have to call American Airlines AAdvantage desk to book the flights and their phone number is 1-800-882-8880.  I’ve highlighted the Vancouver for all those people who have ever dreamed about skiing at Whistler.  Make sure  you plan your vacation early because these deals go fast.

If you live in a cold and frozen tundra (Like Idaho Falls), you might consider visiting a warm location.  Because you have the Citi card you are eligible to fly to Fort Walton Beach, Florida for only 17,500 AAdvantage miles.

Remember that once you have canceled your Citi AAdvantage card you are no longer eligible for these deals.  So plan on taking these trips while you still have the card.  It might even be worth paying the annual fee to keep it if it allows you to save so many miles.

Plus if you are doubling down on the deal as explained on the Frequent Flier Credit Card page, then you could take up to 4 people with you per card.  If you have up to six children then you can take the whole family with you to any of these locations.

Shae and I are looking forward to our trip to Tennessee which only cost us 35,000 AAdvantage miles for both of us.  This means that we saved 15,000 AAdvantage miles by booking our trip with the Reduced Mileage Awards.

Have you booked any trips using the Citi Reduced Mileage Awards?  Let us know how it has benefited you.

the New Amex Business Gold Rewards Card offers 50,000 bonus Membership Rewards points for spending $10,000 in the first five months

Posted in American Airlines | Tagged , , | 4 Comments