Best Prices on Concert Tickets with New Technology

I don’t know how many times I've seen a jacket or pair of jeans I liked in a store, and thought "Oo! I'd better buy that before they're all gone" and bought them -- then walked past the same store a few weeks later to see them half price. It can really suck!

While I haven't bought as many concert tickets in my life as I have jeans, the feeling is definitely the same when it happens for your concert. "Seatgeek," a new piece of TechCrunch genius, though, is hoping to remedy the problem, aiming to tell you when prices are going up (hurry, buy quickly!), and when they are likely to go down (wait and grab a bargain). Online ticket sales is a competitive market, and when one ticket broker drops prices, often others will follow suit. We love to see our customers get a bargain … so why not?

Seatgeek is a free online service (although registration provides full functionality) that provides algorithmic data to forecast the price movements of theatre tickets, sports tickets, and Vegas tickets. Within the sports tickets world, baseball is currently the focus, but online football tickets will be added shortly. Most major concert ticket data is already available.

The way that Seatgeek does its magic thing is by weighting the flowing factors, putting them in a big pot and stirring them around:

• Past ticket prices for events, depending on the artist or the sports team in question
• The weather forecast, which may change as you get closer to an event
• Other events in close geographical proximity to the event
• Players and injuries
• Playoff races, in the case of sports tickets.

One tip though -- Seatgeek makes money from referring you to ticket sellers who don’t necessarily have the best prices. They also may not have access to concerts that are otherwise sold out, like many good ticket brokers will. We definitely recommend the Seatgeek service, but we also recommend combining that info with your own research on the best places to buy concert tickets.

The NATB - Best Friend of Concert Ticket Hunters Everywhere

The NATB is the National Association of Ticket Brokers. If you've been trying to find tickets to a popular event and had little luck through major avenues, then these guys will be your best friend! They can point you to a concert ticket or sporting ticket reseller in your local area, and also vouch for their legitimacy. We look at the NATB and what it does.

Too many people equate ticket broking with scalping (not true, by the way!), so in 1994, a group of ticket brokers decided to establish an industry-wide code of conduct, effectively making themselves an accreditation body for ticket brokers across the US.

It is in the NATB's interests to see the counterfeit tickets and fake ticket broking businesses go down the tube, and they have been working with both federal and state law enforcement since their inception to help ensure this.

The NATB also offers you a forum to either report counterfeit tickets, or make complaints against legitimate ticket brokers. However, they also protect good ticket brokers from unfair complaints! Some examples of the standard business practices that the NATB defends include:

• Not offering refunds for postponed shows, only for cancelled shows (for the face value only)
• Selling tickets as clear-view when the promoter has marked them as such
• Paying more than face value for tickets.

Some examples of valid complaints that the NATB investigates, though, include:

· Failing to tell purchasers that their seats are Obstructed View when this is printed on the ticket.

· Failing to adhere to the broker's own published refund policy (which may or may not exist)

· Tickets not being delivered

What NATB membership DOES guarantee you about a ticket broker is that:

• They'll have an actual business address and phone number
• They'll follow the refund policy of the original seller if an event is cancelled
• Won’t use automated systems to purchase your tickets
• Tell you the location of seats prior to purchasing tickets
• Give a 200% refund on any money paid for guaranteed tickets if they do not arrive (barring circumstances like shipping errors, Acts of God and armed conflicts).

Have a look in the FAQs or About Us section of your ticket broker's website to see if they are members, and you can feel much more secure about your tickets and money!