Dumbest thing ever

[Tc01]

My boyfriend and I both were offered 2 tickets each through STEP. I purchased mine using my credit card. When it came to my boyfriend buying his tickets we didn't have enough credit so I offered mine. Dumb right? Had no idea you couldn't use a credit card twice to purchase tickets an even on the burning man site we couldn't find any info about this. Emailed ticket support and even called ticketfly the day after mistake was made. We obviously don't want to loose our tickets. We have multiple flights booked from Australia which we can't change or get a refund on. Can someone pls advise. Will everything turn out ok?

[Savannah]

The STEP FAQ says that STEP can only be used to buy 1 or 2 tickets, and this is why using the same credit card to buy two tickets each (totaling 4) would cause a problem.

Emailing ticket support immediately was the right thing to do. ePlaya has witnessed a number of complicated issues being solved without heartache when the ticket buyer contacted Ticket Support ASAP. Good luck, & don't panic yet.

[Jovankat]

I'm an Aussie, I'd be happy to buy your tickets on my credit card and have you BPay the money onto my card if you don't get a response from ticket fly and time on your offer starts to run low.

I think this piece of information needs to be made a hell of a lot clearer or to be changed, it's hard enough getting access to buy tickets without a rule like this that hurts regular ticket buyers and isn;'t wildly publicised..

[trilobyte]

D'oh, what were you thinking? It's pretty standard anti-scalper/broker practice in the event ticketing industry (and has been for years) to not allow multiple ticket orders to be purchased on the same credit card (at least among events that try to keep scalpers and ticket brokers out).

I think it's stated clearly on the ticket page for STEP as well as for all of the other sales, that the name on the credit card and the name on the order are the same. Once you used the card for that order, it had already been used to participate in a ticket sale and purchase tickets. As Savannah said, get in touch with the ticket support team asap to see if anything can be done.

[Jovankat]

It's really not made clear, people in my camp had this problem too. Also I've never heard of credit card numbers being blocked on any other ticket sales sites. For more than 10 tickets that would be reasonable but it's not at all unreasonable for one person to want to buy more than 2 tickets for their friends and family who either don't have a credit card or can't afford it right now or who aren't American and don't want to be stuck with international fees as well.

Edit; nope no mention of credit cards in the STEP info on the ticket page

BUYERS:

Anyone who has not already purchased a ticket through one of our other sales can register to purchase a ticket through STEP.
Registration for STEP will take place through the Burner Profiles beginning Tuesday, April 22, 12pm (noon) PDT, for ticket buyers.
Availability of tickets is dependent on participants releasing tickets into the program.
As soon as tickets are released into STEP they will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis via email notifications to registered participants.
If you are offered ticket(s) through STEP you will have 72hrs to purchase it before the ticket is released to the next person in the queue.
Anyone offered ticket(s) through STEP will also have the option to purchase one (1) vehicle pass.
There is an additional $6 per ticket STEP fee for tickets bought through STEP. All other usual fees apply.
Ticket orders purchased in STEP are fully transferrable and eligible for name changes.
Ticket orders purchased in STEP are Will Call only. No physical tickets will ship before the event.
For more information about STEP, see the STEP section of our Ticket Support page.

[trilobyte]

@Jovankat - if your campmates all share your thinking, that explains why your camp would also have problems. The name on the card is the name on the order, and there's a limit of one ticket order per customer. I can appreciate that you feel otherwise, but that's not how Burning Man's done its ticket sales for the last several years.

As we've been suggesting to people for years (since credit cards were required for purchase), those without a credit card can either use a debit card (and make arrangements with their bank to make an exception to any daily spending limits for the purchase) or they may obtain a pre-paid credit card from any number of local outlets throughout the world. I've had to use a pre-paid card for the purchase of concert tickets in years past, it wasn't hard to do - just go to a local outlet (most check cashing places have pre-paid cards) and give them the money to 'load' onto the card. Once you've done that just call the customer service # on the back of the card to have them put the card in your name.

[Jovankat]

@Jovankat - if your campmates all share your thinking, that explains why your camp would also have problems. The name on the card is the name on the order

My camp is spread across 2 continents though and the person who tied to use someone else's card to purchase their tickets because they'd had a financial emergency just before tickets when on sale isn't even someone I know that well. She is a person who buys a lot more concert and event tickets than me though. Also that credit card had been used by it's owner to purchase tickets through his girlfriend's burner profile in the direct sale as well 4 vehicle passes is the pre sale so that's 3 other people in my camp who didn't foresee any issues using a credit card more than once.

there's a limit of one ticket order per customer.

No there's not, the limit is 2, if they're ok with 2 why not 3? It's entirely possible for one person to buy more tickets if they plan it, I've paid for 4 so far this year without actually breaking any rules, so it just seems dumb to make it just a little bit harder and end up screwing over legitimate customers

[BBadger]

Holy shit, why not 10 tickets? It's only like $4k. Even if just one of our five proxy accounts happens to get through in those first two minutes we'll have the same number as if all made it in the former system. Who even needs to set up five different credit cards with those odds? This'll make our scalping detection and operations much more efficient!

We could sell each of them for a mere $100 more than our original price and earn $1000, or what about $200 more? That's $2k for only a little premium. That's low-end of course, less than people are coughing up for pre-sale tickets. And to think those Australian rubes were bitching about international credit card fees or something. SHEESH!

[Eric]

there's a limit of one ticket order per customer.

No there's not, the limit is 2, if they're ok with 2 why not 3?

One ticket ORDER per customer - not one individual ticket. In other words, a person can only do one ticket transaction - the quantity of individual tickets purchased on that transaction does not matter (up to 4 in the Early Sale, up to 2 in the individual sale or STEP - both are considered an "order"). That's also why you can't enter STEP if you purchased tickets any other way, why Low Income tickets aren't allotted until after the main sale is over, why you can't enter the OMG sale if you've purchased any other tickets... it's all designed to make it harder for scalpers to hoard them, and to keep the tickets spread out to as many Burners as possible with the limited quantity.

As for why can't someone buy 3 or 4 tickets - you do understand supply and demand, correct? There is a huge demand for a limited supply, and tickets sell out every year now. Letting someone buy extra's is basically just opening the field to scalpers. Limiting the amount that can be purchased by one person makes sure actual Burners have a chance to get tickets, not that someone gets to profit off of them.

I've paid for 4 so far this year without actually breaking any rules, so it just seems dumb to make it just a little bit harder and end up screwing over legitimate customers

You may not have broken any rules in name (don't know if you purchased them in the pre-sale where that's allowed, or gave someone money, or what), but you have in spirit. The only person I see screwing over legitimate customers is you, since you're going out of your way to purchase more than the two tickets allowed per customer, regardless of what you do with them. If you want to buy 4, purchase them in the Pre-Sale where it's allowed (since you obviously can afford the investment). The extra money you pay helps to fund the Low Income tickets so other, poorer, legitimate Burners can attend.

[Jovankat]

I absolutely can't afford to pay double the price actually. The reason for buying tickets for other people is actually about saving money. By buying tickets on my international credit card in the direct sale I got a ticket and an American campmate got a ticket and instead of paying me back for it he paid for mine and another Aussie's camp dues which were deliberately set at half the cost of a ticket so we could use this system to avoid the cost of international money transfers for the Australian camp mates. We're not screwing anyone over but the banks.

And the second set was just me helping by letting my boyfriend use the money he'd been holding for me in his US account because he didn't have room on his credit card when STEP happened to come through for him. My whole point is if I can do it, so can the scalpers so the rules probably aren't actually stopping them, they're just boning honest burners like the OP in this thread.

[Tc01]

Thanks for the advice. Has anyone else been in this situation? Is there a chance that ticket support will still give us the tickets?

[theCryptofishist]

I've never heard of this before. Ticket support is going to be the only accurate source of information on ticket support's likely action. You'll get your other tickets in time if you keep looking.

[BBadger]

These policies have never been about eradicating scalping, but just increasing the difficulty of carrying out operations on a large scale. It also reduces the likelihood of people buying extra tickets just in case or even for some low-level scalping because they have access to two more tickets than they need. Generally two tickets is what most people need, and the number of people who simply cannot use credit cards, or some special condition that precludes their purchase in that manner, is relatively insignificant.



“Gimme, uh, thirty-thousand tickets.” – Scalper
“That’ll be nine-hundred and fifty thousand dollars, please.” – Ticket Lady
“Look, thing about that is, I only got ten dollars on me. Can I pay you the rest later?” – Scalper
“Sure.” – Ticket Lady

[Tc01]

Can you just transfer the tickets back to my boyfriends name ??

[theCryptofishist]

We can't do anything. We have no power in this. That's why we keep telling you to contact Ticket Support. We're just a computer message board.

[Eric]

Can you just transfer the tickets back to my boyfriends name ??

You MUST email [email protected] to deal with your tickets. They are the only people with any power to do anything. Period.

[Tc01]

Does anyone know if there is a contact number for ticket support?? Would rather call then email.

[trilobyte]

Sorry, email only.

[Tc01]

Ticket support got back to me. Lulu and Ticket Support are the greatest, everything turned out fine. Yay!!!!!

[Jovankat]

Brilliant news congrats! See you in the dust.

[theCryptofishist]

It's bad form to ask for an apology for not trusting us, isn't it?

[trilobyte]

Excellent, congrats!