Any regular tickets?

[Phantastic79]

Is every ticket offered a presale ticket? Do we think anyone will post main sale tickets here before the burn? I assume we will see an influx of tickets come August? Is that typically true?

[Meat Hunter]

You are very observant and it has not gone un-noticed by many of us.

In my opinion, there is a definite lack of Main Sale tickets showing up on e-playa at this time of year.

I think what might be happening is that a measurable number of "low lifes" who purchased pre-sale tickets, then turned around & were also able to purchase Main Sale tickets and they are now trying to sell off the more expensive tickets.

When they do this, it knocks out honest Main Sale buyers from being able to purchase a ticket by honest means.

Finding a legal loop hole to scam the system is not a very nice Burner thing to do. I hope that next year that those who purchase a pre-sale ticket will be systemically and automatically prevented from purchasing a Main Sale ticket. Just my two cents.

There is still 2+ months to go before the Burn. Keep checking -- anything can or might not happen. Good luck with your search.

[yannouparis]

Thanks for the message, I was asking myself the same question.
As it is my first year it's hard to know if it's a normal situation or not.

I was surprised to see that last year only 0.6% got their tickets through STEP, which gives me little hope of getting one through it

[Captain Goddammit]

You think that's what might be happening?
Every single last one of these presale ticket sellers is an asshat who did exactly that.
There are way more main sale tickets, yet none show up for sale.
But lots and lots of people "ended up with extra Presale tickets". Accidentally.

[heartspace]

oh my goodness! that graph hurts my guts! my bf and i are getting married on the playa this year, very excitedly, and i am religiously checking everything for those of our pals without tix. now im concerned. bf thinks that we'll all be basking in the dust together. i guess we'll put it out to the universe! good luck with your first burn--it's the most incredible virginity loss you can imagine! this will be my second, hubby-to-be's third....not virginity loss...burn

ps. make sure to join regional fb groups and ask around there. i have all my pages on my browser tabs so it's easy to constantly check for updates in each area

[Jackass]

Up until now there has been a total of four (4) regular priced tickets sold publicly here on eplaya.

So far this year has all others beat in terms of sales hold-outs. When those regular priced tickets do show up, we'll see what DaVinci and presales are really worth...

[Sham]

Speaking personally, I have seen the same thing with presale tickets and the dumping of them when a cheaper ticket is acquired.

If I were king of the world, I would make the presale tickets the SAME price as the regular tix, but add a separate fee (donation) to equal the presale price. Then, selling the presale tickets, they would only be for face value. The amount shown on the back of the ticket would be $390.

[AntiM]

Mod note: moved to Ticket Discussion, because while the tickets offered were being discussed, the Offered and Wanted forums are exclusively for well, offers and wants.

[ZigZag]

Now granted I don't have the wisdom of hindsight and have not been embroiled in the ticket tangles that many here on ePlaya have seen. But a quick look at the Tickets offered forum shows only about 25 pre sale and 3 DaVinci tickets have been put up for sale. That's hardly a statistical trend.

Is it possible that the reason we are not seeing more main sale tickets in the forum is that the demand for all tickets, pre sale and main sale is so high that everyone is simply hanging on for dear life to whatever they got? Just musing out loud.

On the other hand, if demand is so high, why are DaVinci's still for sale? They said they were only selling 500 of them. I would have thought they'd be long gone since the overall ticket demand is so huge. If someone is willing to pay 900 for a presale, its not that big a leap to 1200 for the security of knowing you will have a ticket for sure.

But what do I know? Not much obviously.

[Jackass]

everyone is simply hanging on for dear life to whatever they got?

That's exactly what's going on, no one wants to sell until they're damn sure that they can't attend. But not everyone who has a ticket will be able to go. No one wants to be the first to crack, give it time... Once it starts, I think that we'll see more motivated sellers.

Interesting weeks lie ahead.

[BBadger]

If I were king of the world, I would make the presale tickets the SAME price as the regular tix, but add a separate fee (donation) to equal the presale price. Then, selling the presale tickets, they would only be for face value. The amount shown on the back of the ticket would be $390.

Yeah, I'd like to see that. I'm sure people will try to make up the difference via other channels, but at the very least we wouldn't see those sales here. What they're buying is near guaranteed access to ticket and/or that warm fuzzy feeling of donating to the event.

[Eric]

No one wants to be the first to crack, give it time... Once it starts, I think that we'll see more motivated sellers.

Ticket prices won't come down. It is a sellers market, and will be for the foreseeable future.
Check last years ticket pages - people were offering tickets up to the end of Burn week and they were getting multiple responses (and with the Mods on-playa, they were playing fast & loose with the rules), and were still charging face value on the FRIDAY of Burn week. Friday. The reality of our New Normal is that ticket prices stay face value up until the end, and I'm sure some assholes even charge more just to prey on peoples desperation once the event starts. The days of "give me anything for my ticket, please!" ended years ago, and are unlikely to come back.

This isn't to suggest despair, but it does mean you have to work your asses off to get one in the secondary market. Be proactive, use all your connections, and if you're a virgin, find a local group to get involved with. Note that "someone I know" is the largest third-party source of tickets by far, which is a good indication that you should start to know people who Burn.

[mgb327]

You think that's what might be happening?
Every single last one of these presale ticket sellers is an asshat who did exactly that.
There are way more main sale tickets, yet none show up for sale.
But lots and lots of people "ended up with extra Presale tickets". Accidentally.

So, CG, I purchased a pre-sale. I live on the East Coast and I drive 7,000 miles round trip. I am gone from home 3 weeks. I bought pre-sale so I could start my planning/building/supplying with enough time. I bought so I KNEW I was going, and KNEW that as early as possible. I buy pre-sale for that reason every year. I wish they weren't the price they are, but it is worth it to me to know I have my ticket as early as possible. Period. So, my friend CG, am I am asshat? I would never even consider trying to purchase a regular ticket, I am not that ass-hat you might think all Pre-Sale ticket holders are. Every year I buy 2! pre-sale tickets in hope that I can bring a female companion. If I don't bring anyone, I sell/gift my spare within 2 weeks of the burn. I will NOT apologize for this, I am not gaming the system. Not all pre-sale ticket buyers are rich or asshats, some of us work for a living and simply need the certainty of knowing early we have tickets. I spend almost $9,000 each year to go to the Burn. Asshat, my ass.

[TT120]

Mgb, CG is talking about people that intentionally buy the pre-sale tickets, enter the main sale and buy regular tickets and then sell the pre-sale tickets. It's gaming the system and that is NOT what you're doing. You did buy pre-sale tickets but did NOT buy main sale tickets. There's a big difference. If you ended up with an extra pre-sale because your friend couldn't make it, then you absolutely should sell it to re-coup some of your money. That's not gaming the system.

[some seeing eye]

Make this happen.

If I were king of the world, I would make the presale tickets the SAME price as the regular tix, but add a separate fee (donation) to equal the presale price. Then, selling the presale tickets, they would only be for face value. The amount shown on the back of the ticket would be $390.

I like Sham's proposal and making the priority fee above the regular ticket price a tax deductible donation essentially gives the US buyer a discount equal to their marginal income tax rate if they itemize deductions. It also looks better on paper for the BMORG.

[Meat Hunter]

In 2014, the amount of a pre-sale ticket (that was over the cost of a main-sale ticket) was tax deductible as a donation. This was stated and advertised by BM. My accountant checked on in. It was true and I did it.

However, it is my understanding that since the restructure that this no longer applies.

[Captain Goddammit]

Yes, TT120 explained correctly what I meant.
There might be a presale or two offered for sale legitimately but the vast majority are being sold by people who got a regular price ticket for themselves.
I think presale tickets should be non-transferable and non-refundable. That's the only way to make them work as intended.

[Blue_Bike]

Cap'n GD (and all here),

Last year I was not one of the lucky ones in the main sale, step, low income, or OMG sales. I ended up buying someone's legit pre-sale ticket w/VP at pre-sale price.

This year, knowing I needed to return, I purchased 3 pre-sale tix & 3 VPs. One ticket & VP was for a fellow burner who I camped next to and clicked with last year. He is a welder & diesel mechanic and will be trading his services on my bus for his ticket and VP. One ticket and VP was for me. The third ticket was for a guest whom I would take, unknown at the time but I had a short list of potential recipients. I have narrowed that down to one, and will know within the next 2 weeks. The 3rd VP was purchased to accompany the ticket should I need to sell it. It will be posted here with or without the 3rd ticket in 2 weeks unless a close friend steps up and begs really convincingly to sell to them in the meantime.

If purchasing the 3rd VP knowing I would not likely need it makes me persona non grata, then I plead guilty, will not do it again, and beg for forgiveness. Could I then have my sentence reduced to ass visor vs full on ass hat?

BTW, after securing my tix & VPs I intentionally did not pursue the main sale, step, or low income tickets and certainly won't be looking for OMG tickets. I realize that people need to plan and I will make available what I won't be using as soon as I can, in 2 weeks. Hopefully the 7 or 8 weeks remaining will allow someone to more comfortably put their energy and resources into their art and their camping prep.

Yes the extra VP is somewhat snakey & selfish and I am feeling bad for doing so, but my thinking was that if I needed to sell a ticket because none of my short list of potential guests could go, the VP would make the extra pre-sale ticket more desirable.

And although I have little to no money I feel good about supporting other low income burners. And If I need to list both the ticket and the VP I will likely reduce the ticket cost so the purchaser and I both split the added premium of the pre-sale ticket. No greed here, but I will cop to some selfishness and "gaming the system" re the VP in my approach. I look forward to meeting all of you at the M&G and will be prepared to take any "abuse" deserved, over and above what I may get here, there in person. (Re: Punishment, I do have a bit of a spanking fetish, but that usually involves me spanking a cheerleader's or nurse's bare bottom.)

[Jackass]

careful what you wish for...

[BBadger]

If purchasing the 3rd VP knowing I would not likely need it makes me persona non grata, then I plead guilty, will not do it again, and beg for forgiveness. Could I then have my sentence reduced to ass visor vs full on ass hat?

BTW, after securing my tix & VPs I intentionally did not pursue the main sale, step, or low income tickets and certainly won't be looking for OMG tickets. I realize that people need to plan and I will make available what I won't be using as soon as I can, in 2 weeks. Hopefully the 7 or 8 weeks remaining will allow someone to more comfortably put their energy and resources into their art and their camping prep.

I don't think that buying extra tickets to account for future or even present uncertainty is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I encourage everyone in my group to buy the maximum amount of tickets as possible if they have the opportunity in the main sale because it is not known until after the sale whether sufficient numbers of tickets could be had. Extras can be sold off as needed, or saved for future joiners. It's the nature of BM ticket buying these days.

The problem is when people buy the presale tickets as backup to acquiring main sale tickets. That is undermining the entire purpose of the presale system. If you're not doing that, I wouldn't necessarily consider you an ass-hat, even if you bought an "extra" VP to go with the presale ticket.

Perhaps next year all tickets will be priced the same except for low-income tickets, with the presale tickets costing extra because of a donation attached to it. Then there is no incentive, short of scalping, to buying an extra main sale ticket to recoup some money from a presale ticket.

[Blue_Bike]

careful what you wish for...

Thanks Jackass, for the genuinely good laugh and the reminder about wishes. So true there, and it has been one of my mantras for decades. I think the universe works in some strange and wonderful ways. Definitely both the nurse and the cheerleader scare me a bit as they look as if they could easily turn the tables on me (my butt protesting the thought). And my mild fantasies in this area have only included very smooth and non-hairy butts. I'm not sure I'd attempt to discipline either of them...even with your hand. Yet I somehow find them both strangely attractive, especially the cheerleader. Perhaps they could be invited to the meet & greet.

BBadger, I think the idea of pre-sale tickets having the same face value as main sale tickets (plus the donation) is most excellent, and has a chance of reducing the instances of people both gaming the system and scalping main sale tix at pre-sale prices. The donation level could be tiered to include the extra generous like for this year's da Vinci tickets.

[Sham]

Speaking personally, I have seen the same thing with presale tickets and the dumping of them when a cheaper ticket is acquired.

If I were king of the world, I would make the presale tickets the SAME price as the regular tix, but add a separate fee (donation) to equal the presale price. Then, selling the presale tickets, they would only be for face value. The amount shown on the back of the ticket would be $390.

It could work......