Articles - Archived Money Matters

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Buying Secondary-Market Tickets

Sports are always in season, whether it's the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or NASCAR—not to mention college sports—and sometimes watching on TV just doesn't cut it. When you go to purchase tickets for these events, you often find they are either sold out, or the prices are no match for your budget. This is when people often look to the secondary ticket market, a $10-billion-a-year industry, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

While the BBB's database includes many reputable, secondary ticket firms that provide buyer protections, this is also an area where scammers lurk. Here are three ways to help make sure everything is legit:

  1. If you purchase through an auction site, like eBay, choose a seller with a long, continuous—and positive—history. Beware if the seller wants to lure you away from the website or conduct the transaction privately. Instead, pay with a credit card or through PayPal, which offer some level of protection if the tickets are fake, they never arrive or if the event is canceled.
  2. If the seller provides a photo of the tickets, scrutinize them for inaccuracies or alterations. Crosscheck seat assignments with the venue's seating chart, which you can normally find online.
  3. Check if the ticket broker is a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers and the BBB. This will tell you if you're dealing with a company that has a good reputation and a secure website for processing payments.

Note that if you're looking to purchase secondary-market tickets on game day, think again. Laws vary by state, but in North Carolina, buying tickets from an unauthorized vendor while on the event's premises (known as scalping) is illegal. Online, it's okay.

For more information on buying secondary-market tickets, and to search for reputable online vendors, visit www.bbb.org or www.natb.org.