New One on Me - The Ebay Scalpers go one step further

[pdxvintagette]

Okay, so maybe I just wasn't looking last year. But when 75% of of our camp didn't manage to get through with tickets, the conversation turned to "I wonder how long it will take the evil scalpers to post their ill gotten goods on Ebay."

Turns out, right now. The tickets are already posted.

Worse, in a way, to me, is that underneath the results for tickets were ACCESS CODES. Yes. Access codes to the main sale, which guarantees nothing. So there's people out there registering burner profiles, just to sell the code (prices ranged from $24.98 with best offer to $124.) ... WOW. Is this new, and can the org do something to prevent that abuse, or is this community just going to continue to be taken advantage of?

[kiss-o-matic]

Yes, they can, and will. Probably have, as a matter of fact. Those things are left on Ebay for ages. All they have to do is look up the access code, see if it was sold on Ebay, match it to the order, and invalidate it.

The codes mean jack though -- I'm sure some gullible people will get sucked in though.

[trilobyte]

Those listings were largely all scams and tricks (and I'm guessing you weren't looking last year, they were there). They're preying on the fact that there's a whole cottage industry in the rest of the ticket and festival industry for people who sell such access codes, and that people are gullible enough to fall for it. Forget for a minute that an access code is in no way, shape, or form a guarantee of a ticket...

The name on a Burner Profile, a Ticketfly account, and a ticket order all need to match, otherwise the order is flagged for human review. Burning Man does a number of rounds of de-duping, specifically for the purpose of removing scalpers (both known and new), resellers, and fraud. Those caught to be engaging in such shady activity not only have their orders canceled, but are then added to the proverbial naughty list. When an order is canceled, the tickets are then either added to the STEP pool, or to the OMG sale. By all means, take some time to read the FAQ and report suspicious listings you see on other sites. However please do not post 3rd party ticket seller site listing links on ePlaya.

[BBadger]

Fools, trying to buy illegitimate goods, and their money are soon parted. Maybe it's a hard way to learn a lesson, but hey, that's what you get.

[maladroit]

Every once in a while, you step back and wonder who can call who a fool when we're paying thousands of dollars to temporarily live inside a vacuum cleaner bag.