Help! Need to confirm will call tickets I'm buying!!

[Rhomark]

I've send emails to all the burningman emails I could find regarding ticket info and help. The response I got were that they are out in the playa and may not get back soon. Totally understandable. However, I received a copy of the (Israeli) driver's license and debit card of the seller and he has forwarded me the confirmation letter. Everything seems to match up, but I'm nervous and just need to confirm. Please help!

[Canoe]

LAST MINUTE WILL CALL CHANGES
If you need to change the name on your will call order two weeks before the event or later, the person you have designated to be able to pick up your tickets MUST have:

• A letter signed by you, the original ticket holder. This letter MUST state that you are authorizing a specific person to pick up your tickets. Include their full name in the letter. Example: I John Doe, sold my two will call tickets to Jane Smith and I'm authorizing her to pick them up.
• A photocopy of your driver's license - Remember, the full name on the driver's license must be clear. We need to be completely sure that you have authorized someone else to pick up your tickets.
• A photocopy of the credit card used to purchase the tickets (you can black out the first set of numbers, just make sure the last 4 numbers can be read).
• In addition to what's above, you MUST have the confirmation number.
• As always for any Will Call pick up, the person picking up tickets must have, in addition to the above information, THEIR photo ID as proof of who they are!

Note: Low Income tickets are NOT transferable.

Seems like you're missing the Authorizing Pickup letter.
I know of no way you can confirm that the will-call ticket exists, or wasn't transferred to another name before the transfer deadline.

http://tickets2.burningman.com/faq.php

[Rhomark]

They are withholding the authorizing letter until we send the payment

[Canoe]

If you're not buying from an official Ticket Sale, or STEP, then the suggested, but not guaranteed in anyway, is:
- buy from someone you know,
- buy from someone in your Burner Community.

Do you know them, or are they part of a Burner Community? If you don't have personal knowledge of that, it's hard to confirm that right now with most people already on the playa. Part of the ePlaya community would be some show of belonging to a Burner Community, but for example, you're only showing a presence here to buy a ticket, so they couldn't use that to trust you.

If it's two strangers...
Do you have a way to pay with a means of cancelling that payment if you later show fraud?
Doesn't help you if you get to gate and discover there's no ticket.

Here's why we have buyers and we have sellers, hard to find a trusting ground with no way to verify.

[Rhomark]

I made the payment through PayPal after he sent an invoice. He also sent me the confirmation letter. But I'm nervous ill be turned away at the gate. I honestly don't know how we'd deal with that..

[BBadger]

It's a possibility. Not much else you can do.

[Rhomark]

Does it matter that the signature is only the first name?

[BBadger]

There aren't any standards on what constitutes a signature. Some people just put an X as their signature because they can't read. Other people have illegible scribbles (like on doctor prescriptions). You'd probably want to see if the signature matches the one on the license.

[BBadger]

I also hope you didn't send your money as a "gift" via Paypal. You have no recourse at all if you get scammed if you do that.

[Rhomark]

The payment was sent via PayPal invoice. Seller even covered the 3% change it costs, just to ease our minds. He and his girlfriend were very understanding, and outside of our nervousness and paranoia, they seem very trustworthy. They've been responsive to our calls, texts, and requests. We've also receive all the required paperwork. We'll be heading out to the playa in a couple of hours. Here goes nothing! Thanks for all the help guys. Wish us luck!