Who's In...Who's Out?

[gnajoon]

We never got ours. Went in at 12:00 pm and waited for 40 minutes and then it said it was sold out. boo!

[mumblemouth]

Must have been lucky as hell. didnt realize it was such a chore till started reading some of the stories on here. i just clicked the link when my computer clock said 11:59. so my time must be slightly off. it went straight to the purchase screen. paid for 2 tickets and was done in about 2 mins. i thought everyone had it easy. sorry to hear for those that didnt get there tickets

[fabigothangel]

Ticketfly didn't recognized my username and password in preregistration at 11.40am... then I punched in the search engine the url address and my promo code I was in cue for one hour after that my promocode didn't work anymore Ticketfly ttold me the sale was over at 1.15 or 1.20 I forgot because my blood pressure was up to the sky I was pissed off and very sad at the same time. I DO NOT HAVE A TICKET I DID NOT GET A CHANCE TO PURCHASE IT BUT I WILL BUY ONE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER 2014 WILL BE MY 15th BURN !!!! YAYYYYYY

[Daydre]

I got in as soon as the clock struck Noon (11am for me) with surprisingly no wait at all, filled out all my information, clicked submit...then suddenly my heart dropped. It stated my credit card information was invalid. ?!?! I picked it over with a fine tooth comb and couldn't find any error until the page timed me out. 11:08am I start over, get right in again, fill out the same information and I'M IN! Don't know what that was all about but I feel damn lucky. I'm rooting for the rest of you out there. It will happen, don't give up.

[pessimen]

Long time reader, first post. Didn't get ticket this year. Didn't click link till 12:09, oops. So while waiting I browsed the form looking for ticket winners posting click link time. I didn't see anyone post a time later than 12:00. It seemed impressive, and very successful. But then I saw this trilobyte post and had some concerns.

Actually, people were able to get in to purchase tickets for quite a bit longer than the first several seconds. And at around 20 minutes in or so, I think people were able to get through without even having to spend time in the waiting room.

If people were able to get through at 12:20 this would imply the sale was not first come first serve. Given there was no number to indicate your place in line, what if there was no line, and each 30 refresh just attempted to join the order queue. This could unfairly bias hard refreshes or multiple tabs.

Speaking personally, and only anecdotally about a couple individual cases that I investigated, I suspect that people with multiple windows/tabs/browsers may have been doing themselves a dis-service. Sure, the user thinks they had three different places in line, but from the server standpoint it was only the single IP trying to connect.

This is trilobyte speaking personally, but I hope the place in line was not based on IP. Many users are aggregated behind single IPs from certain ISPs or VPNs. Rather the place in line should be based on the code.

In the wake of a very successful ticket sale, it would still be good to ask questions, look at metrics, and verify the success. Was the sale truly first come, were there issues around IP or duplicate codes as others have reported?

I still assume it was first come, and that the line filled up in the first minute or so.

[Joeln]

I got to the wait queue at 12:02.
Thought I was being smart by going to ticketfly a few minutes early and logging in with that account info.
That worked because I got right to the queue page the instant I tried.

But... waiting until 12:02 to try killed me.

[dragonpilot]

Personally, I don't give a huge fuck that you got your ticket...quit gloating! Feel the pain of all those who didn't. That said, don't whine if you didn't get one. Keep your nose to the grindstone and stay focused...I have always ben able to score an "at face value ticket" in the local after market or thru friends near and far. Plans change, life gets in the way...there will be tickets for those who persist!

[ACfromSAC]

There are 150 tickets already at E-BAY and STUBHUB for $1300 average each LMAO

Bums me out to see two of the EIGHT tickets a single seller has listed for $900 on ebay have sold.

[Ruleryak]

I got in, started at 12:00:05 and didn't get my ticket until 12:33. My friend joined the same second I did, didn't get any. Other friend started at 12:08, got his tickets at 20 after. From our direct experience it really did not seem like they used a queue at all - more like a 45 minute long lottery where you had a chance every 30 seconds.

Trilo said it himself - some people that signed in at 12:20 still got tickets - if he's not passing on anecdotal evidence and knows that for a fact then he's personally confirmed that there was no ordered queue.

[ACfromSAC]

I have a coworker that got on at noon plus however many seconds and didn't end up getting hers. *shrug*

[remi]

Personally, I don't give a huge fuck that you got your ticket...quit gloating!

Obtaining a ticket is a good practice of radical self reliance. Once acquired, the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment justifies the needing to express one's feelings in a forum thread that was started specifically for this one purpose. I'll gloat all I want and couldn't give a shit that you "don't give a huge fuck."

[remi]

There are 150 tickets already at E-BAY and STUBHUB for $1300 average each LMAO

Bums me out to see two of the EIGHT tickets a single seller has listed for $900 on ebay have sold.

Couldn't the ticket team try to contact these people, then cross reference their contact info with the info obtained when registering, then cancelling all the tickets purchased by that asshole and reissue them through STEP?

I'm actually pretty sure the ticket people are on the hunt for scalpers and will be taking these tickets away. Kinda feel bad for the guy who thinks he just bought n 800$..(NOT!) He'll be in for a surprise when that 800$ ticket doesn't show up.

Hopefully that helps un-bum you out a bit.

[fernley1]

I got tickets last year on the bay. I paid under face value, but they were the Christmas tickets, so a little more then the normal tickets. Got them in mid July when we found out we could get that week off.
I do feel that if you want to go, it will happen. Just keep tying.

And yes, I am super happy I did get my tickets yesterday.

[Ratty]

I always pictured the BORG buying those tickets and then stopping payment and voiding the tickets. How else would they get the serial # off each one to cancel the ticket? They can ask the seller for the number to verify but experienced scalpers wouldn't give it to them. On ebay you can bid and then request the sellers personal info. I'm not familiar with any other sites. I hope they cancel them but I worry about people getting to the gate.

[ACfromSAC]

I got tickets last year on the bay.

When I struck out during the lotto year I was lucky enough to come across a gal from Amsterdam who was selling twotickets on ebay with a buy it now option for face value. They were Will Call tickets so I was worried as shit the entire time that I got scammed out of $800. There are definitely tons of good folks out there who will be parting with their tickets for at or below face value between now and burn week.

[fernley1]

Plus ebay came with some sort of buyer protection that said I had till 7 days after the start of the event to file if they were no good. I also was nervous about them, I keep checking the bad ticket list, but when they let me in the gate I was so happy.
And like I said, they were under face value for the early tickets. ( number on tickets were in the 1500 range.)

[fabigothangel]

My question is WHY TICKETFLY DIDN'T RECOGNIZE MY USERNAME AND PASSWORD AFTER I SIGNED UP ? PREREGISTERED WITH MY LONG TIME PROFILE INFOS GOT MY PREREGISTRATION CODE, USED THE CODE TO GET IN, GOT ONE HOUR AND 15 MINUTES OF 30 SEC LONG CUES AND THEN A MESSAGE THAT STATED THE SALE ENDED NO MORE TICKET TO BE SOLD!!!!!
VERY FRUSTRATING..... ALSO I'M STILL IN DISBELIEVE THAT 38.000 tickets could be sold in one hour and 15 minutes !!!!! As it takes a couple of minutes to just fill in the credit card information!!!!....
NO COMPRENDO LMAO!

[tamarakay]

My question is WHY TICKETFLY DIDN'T RECOGNIZE MY USERNAME AND PASSWORD AFTER I SIGNED UP ? PREREGISTERED WITH MY LONG TIME PROFILE INFOS GOT MY PREREGISTRATION CODE, USED THE CODE TO GET IN, GOT ONE HOUR AND 15 MINUTES OF 30 SEC LONG CUES AND THEN A MESSAGE THAT STATED THE SALE ENDED NO MORE TICKET TO BE SOLD!!!!!
VERY FRUSTRATING..... ALSO I'M STILL IN DISBELIEVE THAT 38.000 tickets could be sold in one hour and 15 minutes !!!!! As it takes a couple of minutes to just fill in the credit card information!!!!....
NO COMPRENDO LMAO!

It is that popular of an event and ticketfly was that good.

[remi]

My question is WHY TICKETFLY DIDN'T RECOGNIZE MY USERNAME AND PASSWORD AFTER I SIGNED UP ? PREREGISTERED WITH MY LONG TIME PROFILE INFOS GOT MY PREREGISTRATION CODE, USED THE CODE TO GET IN, GOT ONE HOUR AND 15 MINUTES OF 30 SEC LONG CUES AND THEN A MESSAGE THAT STATED THE SALE ENDED NO MORE TICKET TO BE SOLD!!!!!
VERY FRUSTRATING..... ALSO I'M STILL IN DISBELIEVE THAT 38.000 tickets could be sold in one hour and 15 minutes !!!!! As it takes a couple of minutes to just fill in the credit card information!!!!....
NO COMPRENDO LMAO!

Did you click on the link as soon as the clock flipped over? If you clicked on the link a minute or two later (in some cases even 30seconds late,) you missed out. As per the ticketfly question, I don't really understand what you're yelling about. It didn't recognize your username password? Is there a chance you just typed it in wrong because you were in a rush/excited about tickets? Does ticketfly recognize your username/password now?

And please, no yelling on the forum.

[BeeWeeDee]

It was a non-ticketing event for me. In at 12:01.

Now it is just a matter of staying motivated for making art and swag and preparing and dreaming.

[thnkfl]

WoooHoooo and Oh Boy! Will be back for my fourth time! Clicked 20 seconds after noon and only waited 35 minutes.

[mumblemouth]

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2014/feb/27 ... 4-minutes/

[mhead]

I refreshed the tickets.burningman.com page over/over/over beginning just before noon. Hit the Tickets button as soon as it appeared. Purchased after a 20 minute wait. I have a friend who hit their custom link about 2 or 3 seconds in and did not get tickets after 45 minute wait.

I believe that 2014 sold out in just a few seconds and that the 45 minute time to sell out notification was just the processing time for all who were in software queues waiting to purchase.

I've noticed Ebay auctions seem to have a large number of transactions just at the last second, and I've noticed software products that claim to assist in Ebay auctions. It may be that talented people out there are using software approaches to submit transaction requests within the first tiny fraction of a second of the ticket sale. I do not know if software queues existed in the 2014 sale, but computers are incredibly fast and creating a queue of 50K or 100K events all occurring in a second or two is well within what could actually happen.

[unjonharley]

I waited a few seconds to make sure my clock was right.. Had a confirm @ 12:22.. This computer was in the state room on Naho's ark..

[Eric]

There are 150 tickets already at E-BAY and STUBHUB for $1300 average each LMAO

Bums me out to see two of the EIGHT tickets a single seller has listed for $900 on ebay have sold.

Couldn't the ticket team try to contact these people, then cross reference their contact info with the info obtained when registering, then cancelling all the tickets purchased by that asshole and reissue them through STEP?

You can bet hard cold cash that the people "selling" those tickets do not have them, since absolutely nobody has a ticket in-hand yet. Look at the promised delivery dates for the tickets, if it's anything like last years Stubhub sellers they don't promise delivery until sometime in August. Basically, the game is for the scammer to try to find a face-value ticket, then sell it to the mark for the scalper price. In other words, the person who wants a ticket is paying a super-high premium for a scalper to do the work of finding a ticket for them.

If the BMorg finds out a ticket has been sold for more than face value, it will be cancelled - along with any other tickets originally purchased with it (anyone around last year remembers the public lists of voided fraud tickets that were released periodically). If anyone buys a ticket for more than face value, they stand a chance to be out their money to a scammer, with no ticket at all.



I might as well set this up as a cut & paste response, because year-after-year people freak out about it without spending the time to actually analyse the situation.

[The_Grue]

I'm a little confused why someone who doesn't want to hear gloating or whining would come to this thread at all. Just likes to give pointless commands, I suppose.

I'm interested in the IP address statement. I went in at 11:59 (1:59 local time), and so did my campmates, from different networks. We all saw the countdown page immediately. Two of us got in at 12:15, and our third four minutes later. This would certainly seem to suggest that the IP queue was real (assuming our third was a few seconds later to click). I'd be interested to know if those who are having experiences where simultaneous queuing resulted in one person getting through no problem, but the other not getting through at all...were you folks sharing an IP?

This was by far the most efficient ticket buying experience I've had for a Very Large Event. 19,000 transactions in 44 minutes is one hell of a feat, and the team behind it should be proud.

[FlyingMonkey]

I'm a little confused why someone who doesn't want to hear gloating or whining would come to this thread at all. Just likes to give pointless commands, I suppose.

There are very strong emotions being felt on both sides by those who were lucky enough to get a ticket & those who unfortunately did not. As euphoric as everyone who got their ticket feels, your need to share your happiness is understandable. Just remember that there are people with an equally powerful opposite emotional state who missed out. I understand how bad the folks who didn’t get a ticket (Yet) feel because I was unable to go last year. Trust me it’s very depressing to hope, plan, & build for something & then have your hopes dashed. I can’t count how many sleepless nights I have had thinking about what I am going to do for the Playa. But this thread kind of caters to both sides by its title. I am glad for everyone who scored a ticket & hope that those who didn’t, keep trying, because there will be tickets available as we get closer to the event.

Having said that I would rather miss a year than support a scalper.

They get your money, and you may or may not get a ticket.
If you actually do get a ticket from a scalper wouldn’t it suck more to find out at the gate that it’s revoked than to have stayed at home?

Something to consider when contemplating giving in to the dark side.

[theCryptofishist]

I'm a little confused why someone who doesn't want to hear gloating or whining would come to this thread at all. Just likes to give pointless commands, I suppose.

There are very strong emotions being felt on both sides by those who were lucky enough to get a ticket & those who unfortunately did not.

And some people really do read almost everything on the board. Reading eplaya differently is a sub-set of burning differently, and no one can say who's doing it wrong.

[2013changedme]

Myself, and six other Arizonans in my group were able to get tickets! We're still crossing our fingers for some others in our group. Good luck to everyone!!!

[Mojojita]

I'm a little confused why someone who doesn't want to hear gloating or whining would come to this thread at all. Just likes to give pointless commands, I suppose.

There are very strong emotions being felt on both sides by those who were lucky enough to get a ticket & those who unfortunately did not. As euphoric as everyone who got their ticket feels, your need to share your happiness is understandable. Just remember that there are people with an equally powerful opposite emotional state who missed out. I understand how bad the folks who didn’t get a ticket (Yet) feel because I was unable to go last year. Trust me it’s very depressing to hope, plan, & build for something & then have your hopes dashed. I can’t count how many sleepless nights I have had thinking about what I am going to do for the Playa. But this thread kind of caters to both sides by its title. I am glad for everyone who scored a ticket & hope that those who didn’t, keep trying, because there will be tickets available as we get closer to the event.

Having said that I would rather miss a year than support a scalper.

They get your money, and you may or may not get a ticket.
If you actually do get a ticket from a scalper wouldn’t it suck more to find out at the gate that it’s revoked than to have stayed at home?

Something to consider when contemplating giving in to the dark side.

I saw exactly this happen last year when I met a couple at a gas station in Paso Robles. The tickets they bought were fakes, travelled all the way there and were turned away.