Ticketmaster (Nasdaq: TMCS) 
is planning to launch two new features that willlet users resell unused tickets and bid for ticketsonline, rather than waiting in line at retail outlets,according to published reports.
One feature, called “TicketmasterMarketplace,” will serve as an online venue for season ticket holders to sell unused tickets.
Sanctioned Scalping
According to Ticketmaster, because the Marketplace is a”sanctioned place for season ticket holders to selltickets they can’t use,” buyers “won’t have toworry about fraud or the hassles of arrangingin-person ticket pickups.”
Tickets will be sent via e-mail with a bar code, which thebuyer must print and take to the stadium. Only thestadiums of teams participating in Ticketmaster Marketplace will be equipped to scan the codes.
The site will adhere to laws against scalping bygetting the approval of the teams issuing the tickets;canceling and reprinting each ticket so there isno actual exchange; and limiting the amount of profita seller can make on a ticket, according to local laws.
Not for Profit
There are some drawbacks, however. Both Ticketmasterand the sports team take a cut of all tickets sold, soif a seller is limited to a small profit on resoldtickets, that profit might be entirely negated.
The Marketplace so far has no teamslisted, but The Wall Street Journal reported that 17National Basketball Association (NBA) teams have signed upto participate, and that Ticketmaster plans to waiveits fee for the service during NBA playoffs.
Resale Roaring Ahead
The resale market for event tickets is clearly a goodone. Ticket sales were so popular on auction giant eBay’s (Nasdaq: EBAY) site that the company setup a separate category for event ticket sales.
“It’s clearly a mechanism that is well suited to theInternet,” eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove told theE-Commerce Times. According to Pursglove, eBay’s eventticket category is growing rapidly, and that growth isexpected to continue, both within eBay and on other sites.
In the future, Ticketmaster will take another page from eBay’splaybook: Plans are in the works to launch a feature that lets users bid for concert tickets.
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