What You Need to Know NOW About Restricted Ticketing

What is Restricted Ticketing?

Restricted ticketing is the increasingly common practice employed by large event ticketing companies, which significantly reduces the ticket purchasers’ rights after their initial purchase. These large ticketing companies engage in this practice to gain a greater control over the profits in ticket sales, as well as any consequent transfers.

Why is Restricted Ticketing Causing Problems?

Restricted ticketing practices cause a number of problems for ticket holders, some of which include:

Requiring the purchaser to pay by credit card. Sometimes a purchaser would like to pay via cash or debit! By requiring purchase by credit card, restricted ticketing practices are limiting who actually buys event tickets.
Requiring the purchaser with photo ID and their purchasing credit card to be present at the admission gate. This obviously presents a number of problems for ticket purchasers. For example, gifting tickets, reselling tickets, and tickets purchased for a large group all present issues with gaining admission to the event.
Restricting the purchaser from selling the ticket on a secondary market. Sometimes life gets in the way and we just can’t attend that event we had purchased a ticket for. It happens. But when that particular ticket happens to be a restricted ticket, it’s no longer as simple as finding a co-worker or friend to buy the ticket at a reduced rate. As per the last bullet, the purchaser must be present at the gate with their photo ID and purchasing credit card. (Alternatively there are some big-ticket issuers that have secondary ticket marketplaces, but the problem with this is that they will often charge convenience and transfer fees to the ticket seller!)

The Bottom Line

The bottom line on restricted ticketing is that it’s a severely limiting and stifling practice that needs to be abandoned.

The National Association of Ticket Brokers spokesman and counsel, Gary Adler, spoke of the terrible anti-competitive practice that restricted ticketing has introduced onto the entertainment and events scene:

“[Restricted Ticketing] is trampling all over this in yet another vain effort to maximize profits while stifling any competition or choice in the market. They’ve finally gone too far, and fans are calling them out on it.

TicketPeak does not engage in restricted ticketing practices. We believe that the tickets you purchase are yours to do with them as you please. Customers have the ability to select whether they wish to receive a box-office issued ticket or a paperless ticket, and methods of purchase are not restricted.

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Are you interested in reading more about restricted ticketing? Check out the following links:

Rivals Agree That Restricted Ticketing is a Bad Policy and a Rip-Off

Anti-Fan Restricted Ticketing Legislation Defeated in Rhode Island

Ticketmaster’s Restrictive Paperless Ticket System Has Few Fans

An Open Letter to the Black Keys About Restricted Tickets at their Upcoming Boston Show