Monday Morning Miles Talk is a regular series that has some smaller, more quirky ideas to kick off the work week. Â These are essentially random ideas that I wanted to share with you. Â Here are the 4 most recent topics.
- My Star Wars Reselling Flop
- Beware of buying Sam’s Club gift cards online
- Are Tips Covered With Hyatt Globalist Breakfasts?
- 5 Deals I Regret Missing Out on Since Joining the Hobby
If you would like to read even more articles in the series you can click HERE.
Results from Reselling Justin Timberlake Concert Tickets
I am a novice when it comes to ticket reselling. I have resold some college football tickets on Stubhub etc. but I have never done concert flipping. It seems like something that a lot of people make some decent money at so when PDX Deals Guy let me know Portland was having a pre-sale on the Justin Timberlake tour I decided to give it a go. You should check out his Ticket Reselling Guide for more in-depth information if you’re interested in learning more.
Details on the Concert
The presale was for anyone who had an American Express card, so it was pretty easy to get in. You only needed to pay with an American Express card when checking out – no code needed. I of course paid with my freshly minted Aspire card!
There were a lot of things going for this concert from a reselling perspective:
- Big time headliner
- JT has been on the sidelines for a little bit so there would be pent up demand
- Saturday night show
- Only one show in Portland which would mean tickets would be more scarce
- Smaller venue with very reasonable prices
My Tickets
This show had the random selection set up from Ticketmaster which is annoying. I like it better when you can look at sections etc. So it is kind of luck of the draw and boy did I luck out.
I started with the second lowest price – $95 before taxes and fees. The lucky part was that I got row A tickets. They were straight across from the stage, so no side view etc.
I am a novice but I have to believe everyone values front row over everything else. Even though they were in the upper section being in the front would come with a lot of pluses.
The cost was $218.10 for 2 tickets. I listed them for $250 a piece…a healthy mark up. And to my shock they sold in about an hour for a payout of $467.98. Now this means I probably priced them a little too low but I will take a quick 115% profit any day. I had expected to sit on these for a little bit since the public sale wasn’t for a few days…the magic of row A I guess.
Double Down?
With how quick my tickets sold I decided to go back for more. I bought 2 more tickets on the same level but I didn’t get near as good of tickets. They were to the side and many rows up. I kind of regretted the purchase as soon as I made it. I probably should have just stuck with my quick profit but greed got the best of me. The first sale more than covered the second purchase anyways so I said, why not?
I priced these pretty aggressively since I knew they weren’t the best tickets and the public sale was coming up. I unloaded them a few days later for measly $30 profit.
Conclusion
I would say for my first dip into ticket reselling it was a pretty good success. I ended up with a cash profit of $280 and a return of 64%. Not too shabby for 30 minutes of work!
If I had been a little more experienced I probably would have bought more tickets and would have priced them more aggressively. I need to build up my ticket reselling war chest and experience first though :).
If you enjoyed this article about reselling you can read my other reselling entires:
- Reselling SNES during the holidays
- Thinking outside the box to increase reselling gains
- Reselling AirPods at the end of their cycle
- My Star Wars reselling flop
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Thanks Mark for this great article! Can one really re-sell American Express pre-sale tickets on StubHub? If so, how did you exactly go about? I am asking because AE mentions on their site that their pre-sale tickets are ‘non-transferrable’. Thanks!
I am not sure if you can resell them or not. I would lean towards yes but I don’t know for sure – sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
Practices such as this, however long these have been around even pre-internet, are shitty. Don’t buy tickets to price gouge. As little respect I may have for JT fans, they (like every other fan) still deserve the fair chance to buy the tickets at the outset at face value
Its called capitalism. That is what makes America Great
1. The service you provided for the fans that bought your tickets that you never intended to use was definitely worth the markup (that was 115% by your own calculation). Your goodwill has not gone unnoticed
2. On second thought maybe you are right. There is no issue. That is why everyone from tickets sellers, venues and the musicians themselves keep implementing more and more attempts at road blocking scalpers. Right, no issue with scalping.
3. We can discuss capitalism but I don’t think that is the intent of your blog. Likewise with scalping tickets. So Maybe stick to miles and points.
Signing off
Have you never sold anything for a profit? How is this any different then any other commodity? If you buy a comic book or piece of art in the hopes that it appreciates what is the difference?
How about the times someone purchases tickets for a game or concert and resells it to fans at a loss – less than they could have bought it for during the regular sale? Should that fan feel bad that they got a ticket for cheaper than most everyone else? Can’t have it both ways!
There is no trick to this…if a fan wants the tickets they can get them when they go one sale like everyone else…if they prefer to wait or they are not diligent then they run the risk of having to pay more. They may end up paying a lot less than they would have…that is the chance they take. I have gone to playoff basketball games for a fraction of the cost and I have paid triple to go to the World Series and Final Four….I have never once complained.
Fans had just as much of a chance to get them as I did. And they purchased them from me before the public sale even happened. By doing this they were able to pick their seats vs getting the luck of the draw from ticketmaster and the public sale. That is the choice each person has…I don’t really see the issue.
I buy a lot of concert tickets and things can go bad very quickly when reselling. This is an area you should be extremely familiar with the artist and the market before venturing in. Also, 90% of the time you are sitting on those tickets for sometimes in upwards of 9-10 months. Tickets generally do not sell until within 30-45 days of the show. Ticket reselling is often a marathon not a sprint.
Very true
Where did you sell the tickets?
I sell mine on Stubhub
Thanks for the update. I am tempted to do tickets, but I am a total novice and the risk scares me off at the moment. Good to know the things to look for.
There is a lot of risk so probably not a bad choice. I am trying to stay with small orders since I am not very versed in grooves of tickets reselling yet.
One thing you can do, which is riskier, is to sell tickets you don’t have. Essentially shorting tickets.
As soon as the concert is announced and sells out, the people with money will go to the secondary market, and buy the best available at a markup. You don’t have to deliver until near the date, you should be able to cover.
It’s definitely riskier though.
Interesting idea – probably a little too risky for me 🙂