ePlaya

Hey everybody, as we are now well into the home stretch I wanted to take a moment to take the moderator hat off and offer some personal observations on where things appear to stand, as well as some advice for sellers and seekers. That is, none of what comes next is any kind of official statement from Burning Man in any way.

• First and foremost, Burning Man is not sold out!
• Second, Burning Man is probably nearly sold out! The three lowest pricing tiers ($550, $650, and $750) have completely sold out. Tickets are available at $950, $1500, and $3000 pricing tiers. Do not be fooled by trolls on the internet, there will be no secret cache of $550 tickets available at the box office. If you do not have a ticket, you should not head to the Burning Man gates unless you have the financial resources available to purchase a $950, $1500 or $3000 ticket (plus applicable taxes and fees). Vehicle passes are currently available and expected to be available for purchase at the gate.
• This is a lot like how things were at Burning Man before the event first sold out. Way back when, there were three pricing tiers. The two lowest sold out first, the third was available the longest, and then tickets at the gate carried a steep premium price.
• There is brisk business happening in the after-market. That feels like a good thing, tickets are getting into the hands of people who are eager to go. While most people are awesome and good, remember there are some sketchy folks out there too. Keep your wits about you though - see this post regarding scammers and scalpers.
• Sellers and seekers, the time is getting really short. If it's a physical ticket or vehicle pass and you are not meeting face-to-face, ship via express or overnight. And sellers, once that transaction happens please get it to the shipping company asap, and give the buyer the tracking number immediately. It's super awesome to feel the relief of finding a home for that ticket and not get stuck holding the bag, but remember there's a human on the other end who won't get to feel that relief until the package arrives.

Personally, I think Burning Man being nearly sold out is a pretty good thing. That means pretty much anyone who wants to go and can pull the resources together to make it happen can go. The city will still be pretty full. A lot has been said about how last year's event didn't sell out, but the population still wound up being 72,000 and in the photos and videos of the event I didn't see any empty neighborhoods. In my first year the event had only about half that many people and it was still an amazing time.

We're almost there, good luck to any sellers and seekers!