Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the great & notable success stories of the dot-com bubble; it is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localized in over thirty countries. eBay expanded from its original "set-time" auction format to include "Buy It Now" standard shopping; shopping by UPC, ISBN, or other kind of SKU, online classified advertisements; online event ticket trading; online money transfers and other services.
Most eBay sellers and buyers are honest people who just want to turn waste of a person in the treasury of the other. But there are many people who make a living out of selling things on eBay, and the market for tickets is easy to use that way. Tickets are initially available online at face value, and can be sold online for a profit. You will often faced ticket sellers on eBay with multiple auctions for tickets to several events. These brokers are not professionals, but they make a regular profit. While eBay keeps personal information well hidden, eBay does provide ways to communicate with vendors and get some information. Try contacting a ticket seller, and request a response. If email bounces, inform eBay and do not deal with this seller. Do not contact the other bidders, let it be on eBay. If the seller does not answer, take this as a sign that he or she will not be committed to resolving disputes.
The problem with tickets purchased on eBay is that it is difficult to trace the history of the ticket. You do not know if the tickets directly from Ticketmaster or place, or if the notes were found in the street or stealing a parked car. Ticket sellers can be virtually anywhere in the world, then track down the seller to resolve a dispute can be difficult. eBay can cancel an account unsavory, but you still lost real money.
The tickets you buy through an online auction could be valid for tickets something but not what you think they are for. Before you buy, be sure to contact the seller and resolve all issues. The seller may claim that tickets for the seats are large, dead center, close up, but then turn out to be the seats in the east of Timbuktu. This could be considered fraud, and you might have a case of a dispute. But to some extent, it is caveat emptor. Almost all the major theaters in North America has a website with a floor plan to ask the seller about the location of the seat and try and save all the letters and emails.
According to this article from ZDNet News, eBay claims that less than one hundredth of one percent of eBay transactions are confirmed to be fraudulent, but potentially hundreds of fraudulent transactions per day. Ticket scams account for fraud than any other category of merchandise only other eBay. In 2008, Gregg and Scott (Communications of the ACM, April 2008) reported 0.73 complaints per 100 eBay comments in a sample of over 1 million comments in 2003 and 2005. In other words, in this time, just under 1% of the comments from eBay auction winners were negative comments about sellers. The authors also concluded that their study of the reputation system of eBay said that the rate of irregular transactions, fraudulent or accidental or not, is higher than that allowed by eBay.
Most eBay sellers and buyers are honest people who just want to turn waste of a person in the treasury of the other. But there are many people who make a living out of selling things on eBay, and the market for tickets is easy to use that way. Tickets are initially available online at face value, and can be sold online for a profit. You will often faced ticket sellers on eBay with multiple auctions for tickets to several events. These brokers are not professionals, but they make a regular profit. While eBay keeps personal information well hidden, eBay does provide ways to communicate with vendors and get some information. Try contacting a ticket seller, and request a response. If email bounces, inform eBay and do not deal with this seller. Do not contact the other bidders, let it be on eBay. If the seller does not answer, take this as a sign that he or she will not be committed to resolving disputes.
The problem with tickets purchased on eBay is that it is difficult to trace the history of the ticket. You do not know if the tickets directly from Ticketmaster or place, or if the notes were found in the street or stealing a parked car. Ticket sellers can be virtually anywhere in the world, then track down the seller to resolve a dispute can be difficult. eBay can cancel an account unsavory, but you still lost real money.
The tickets you buy through an online auction could be valid for tickets something but not what you think they are for. Before you buy, be sure to contact the seller and resolve all issues. The seller may claim that tickets for the seats are large, dead center, close up, but then turn out to be the seats in the east of Timbuktu. This could be considered fraud, and you might have a case of a dispute. But to some extent, it is caveat emptor. Almost all the major theaters in North America has a website with a floor plan to ask the seller about the location of the seat and try and save all the letters and emails.
According to this article from ZDNet News, eBay claims that less than one hundredth of one percent of eBay transactions are confirmed to be fraudulent, but potentially hundreds of fraudulent transactions per day. Ticket scams account for fraud than any other category of merchandise only other eBay. In 2008, Gregg and Scott (Communications of the ACM, April 2008) reported 0.73 complaints per 100 eBay comments in a sample of over 1 million comments in 2003 and 2005. In other words, in this time, just under 1% of the comments from eBay auction winners were negative comments about sellers. The authors also concluded that their study of the reputation system of eBay said that the rate of irregular transactions, fraudulent or accidental or not, is higher than that allowed by eBay.
