Ticket Broker's Tool Kit

This is the first of a 3 part series on becoming a ticket broker.  The purpose is to help you decide whether buying and selling tickets for a living is a good choice for you.  So many people are looking for ways to work at home or make extra money.  But before you jump on the "ticket broker bandwagon", it's important to make sure it's a good fit.

The five part series will cover the following topics:

1. Is this the right business opportunity for YOU?  Based on your personality, your skills, and your willingness to take risks?

2.  What does it take to succeed in this business? How much can I expect to make? Can you hope to quit your job and do this full-time?
 
3.  How do I get started? What do I need to invest for resources to be successful?

Sooooooooooooo………..Here we go!

Is this the Ticket Broker Profession the right career choice for you?

As with many "work at home" opportunities that promise great money, we are tempted by the dream of waking up when we want, grabbing a cup of coffee, and rolling on over to our computer in our PJ's! ….Yep, that's my dream too.

But before deciding that becoming a ticket broker is the best way to get there, it's important to explore ourselves and the profession a little further. We all have different strenghths and skill sets.  If you can combine your natural and acquired skill sets with your interests and passions, you're really onto something! 

So let's see if this profession is for you….

Here are the top 5 most important qualities that will help determine whether you'll be able to a fulfilled, successful Ticket Broker.

1. You're a big fan of sports and/or concerts

I keep hearing that if you do what you love, the money will follow.  No doubt it's true for ticket broker's too.  It seems one the most important qualities you need is a love of the events you'll be buying and selling tickets for. To pick the best events, it's important to be well-read and up to speed on what groups are hot (or teams), when are events going onsale, what venues and cities will sell out quickly, etc.  YOu have to enjoy learning about what's going and staying current.  Ideally, you'll be in the cutting edge of all this stuff.

2. Fast, accurate typing and computer navigation skills, ability to multi-task and make quick decisions

This one may sound strange, but one broker claimed that because he could navigate the Ticketmaster screens faster than anyone else, this gave him a huge advantage and allowed him to consistently score the best tickets.  If there's a concert or event that is just super hot, and everyone and there brother is lining up to buy tickets at the Tickmaster internet gates, the only way to get to get those coveted tickets is to get through the ticketmaster screens faster than most everybody else.  If you can do this, manage multiple browsers screens, and amke snap decisions about the best tickets, you'll be way ahead of the pack.

3. Organized and detailed oriented

This one could be challenging for me.  If you're managing a decent size ticket inventory, you need to make sure you can keep track of all your tickets, and make sure you can put your hands on the tickets you just sold quickly.  There's no faster way to lose money shirt than by forgetting about tickets you bought, sending out the wrong tickets, or selling tickets you already sold!  All very bad….You've got to be able to keep track of your tickets, and your profits.

4.  You need to have some risk tolerance

Yes, there are ways to minimize it, but you're not going to make money on every transaction.  The key is be disciplined with your purchases, and smart with your pricing and resale choices.  The Ticket Broker Guide  has an excellent checklist to ensure you're making a smart decision when selecting tickets to purchase.   The author of the book claims the she makes a profit 95% of the time when she follows her checklist and does her research.  Speaking of which…..

5. You have to enjoy research!

To make sound decisions about what shows or events to invest in, you need to do the background work.  What bands are hot, what bands are up and coming, which venues are likely to sell out, how much money have previous shows gone for, what seats are best for a particular venue, and what are the chances of a second show (this will kill sales).  There are tools out there to get this information.

If you think that all these apply to you, or you have a desire to do this work and want to learn the skills you need to do it well,  this could be right for you.  So read on!

Ebay or Stubhub…what do the experts use?

So now that you've got these great tickets, where should you sell them?  If you look around the web, you'll see lots of possible options.  But I haven't found one broker who uses any service  other than Ebay, Stubhub, and, very occasionally, craigslist.  And everyone uses some combination of both, though some rely much more heavily on one than the other.  There's an excellent comparison of the Ebay versus Stubhub debate, and why you might use one versus the other in the Lazy Way to Buy and Sell Tickets for a Profit.

In a nutshell, for 15% of the final sale price, StubHub will do everything for you, including providing fedex shipping labels.  There are listing fees with Ebay, as well as final transaction fees that equal about 7- 10% of the total sales price.  And you are the customer service
provider. 

Stubhub advantages:

• no listing fees
   
• No customer interaction
   
• Good information to help determine ticket prices
   
• Has a feature that allows for electronic printing of tickets, which allows tickets to be sold he day of the event.
   
• For buyers, it's easier to find the tickets you want on Stubhub.
   
• Has an excellent reputation for customer service and provides guarantees to buyers.

Ebay advantages:

• lower overall transaction cost as percentage of sales (7 – 10%)
   
• gives you a chance to market your tickets with your Ebay presentation if you enjoy the marketing aspect of selling tickets.
   
• Choice of "buy now" or auction style sale.

The big question is…..which one commands higher ticket prices?

It's a split decision.  Half say Stubhub gets higher prices, half say Ebay does….I guess it all depends.  In the end, you need to figure out what works best for you by experimenting and deciding what mixture of stubhub and ebay you want to use. 

As I mentioned, every broker uses a combination of both.   The next question is….when using ebay, do you use the auction style or "buy now".   Most of them prefer the buy now, but there are times when the auction might be right.  The Ticket Broker Blueprint does an excellent job making the case for the "buy now" option. The trend definitely seems to be in this direction.

So what should you use?

Perhaps for those higher priced tickets, Ebay could be a good choice if there's a significant profit to be made.  But for the vast majority of tickets, in my opinion and other ticket brokers, Stubhub might be the best overall choice, especially for someone new in the business.  If you sell in a high enough volume, the Stubhub commission drops to 10%. 

But as one person put it, it may largely depend on your selling style.  For me, Stubhub is it.  I had a great experience with it, so I'm sold. Unless I get Superbowl tickets, it's Stubhub. 

Are there any other good options?

Several brokers noted noted that craigslist can be a good way to unload tickets if there's no demand on Stubhub or EBay, and the sale is a local one.  People are looking for a deal on craigslist, so you won't be getting big returns there.  So this would only be used rarely.

There are a couple other options for higher volume brokers or "9 to 5" brokers.  Some options include Ticketnetwork, EventInventory, and Ticket Liquidator.  If you take your business to higher level, these might be options.  All require annual fees and merchant accounts or software fees.  In essence, you're paying upfront fees in exchange for lower overall fees per transaction. 

So if you're just starting out in the business, Stubhub is overal best bet, while ebay and craigslist might play a limited role on your sales approach.  If you take your business to the next level, one broker mentioned having a very good experience with Ticketnetwork. 

The Ticket Broker Guide was the 3^rd book on my reading list, and is among the most recently published.  There's also a bonus that includes market predictions for 2011, which I was interested to check out. Since the first 2 books were so different in perspective, I wondered what more there was to add to the "ticket broker body of knowledge".  Honestly, I was impressed by the level of detail and organization in this book, and discovered plenty of new insights into the ticket buying and selling process. If you want to learn how to become a ticket broker, this is an excellent place to start.

After a little investigation, the author reveals that she learned to make extra money as ticket broker while in school for business.  Her business training comes through nicely in this book.  It reads like a text book in its organization and content, but its still a good read.  She breaks down each aspect of the buying and selling process into its smallest components and explores them fully.   

Again, this is not a get rich quick scheme.  But, as she suggests, if you follow her guidelines and steps, you’ll make money 95% of the time.  That’s a bold statement….but after reading her checklist and research process before buying tickets, I actually believe that could be true. 

She lays out a very thorough process to prevent you from being stuck with loser tickets.  As a risk averse person and prone towards over researching, I liked what I was reading.

In real estate, its "location, location, location"…. for a ticket broker, its " research, research, research."  And lots of resources for doing that research are included. 

Highlights of the book include: 

• helpful research tools to measure demand for a concert  (a huge piece of this puzzle!)
• more tips on pulling and evaluating seats
• strategies on selling tickets (do’s and don’t’s)
• a different perspective on how to use ebay ( she prefers “buy now” to auctions)
• a couple  handy checklists, and a good models for record keeping, which will be very important in this business.

My sense is that the author is a pretty savvy, thorough business person, who has all the ticket broker bases covered….It’s definitely an important addition to the ticket broker library. 

Pros:

1. Presents a methodical, well-written and low-risk approach to buying and selling tickets
    
2. This book can be used as a reference for many situations that arise ….how to deal with a bad buyer, or missing tickets, or if you made a bad purchase and want to cancel.
    
3. Lots of resources on where to get that critical research we need to make decisions.
    
4. On presales, not only do we get resources, but we get several passwords.

5. Handy tools and tricks for navigating Ticketmaster

Cons:     

1. No cases studies or presented, although there are guidelines for how much of a profit you should expect to make.  I really like to see actual numbers – it brings the point home.
    
2. While there is mention of each of the possible types of events – sports,concert – the focus seems to definitely be on concert tickets.  The pros and cons of each type of event are not mentioned.   I would imagine there are some differences between how to approach MLB versus concerts, but these differences are not discussed. 

All in all, this book delivers – its packed with useful information, and will definitely be pulled out many times to come.  For those who aspire to become ticket brokers, this will prove very valuable. Thanks for the great book, Brittany…

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This was the first book I read on the subject, and it was a good one to start with.  Having no background or understanding of this possible career choice, this book gave not only an excellent overview of the subject, but also provided tons of specific examples, numbers and case studies.  It covers all the possible ticket arenas – MLB, NBA, NFL, concert tickets, and broadway, and makes very specific recommendations about how to make money in each area.  It also reveals what arenas to stay away from and why (e.g. hockey).  Within each ticket area, we get specific information about profit margins, pitfalls, strategies and risks. 

In addition, this book includes charts, graphs and tables to help the reader make solid decisions about where to sell tickets, the pros and cons of each ticket buying area, and the guidelines on how to pick good seats.  Many times, you feel like a program or book underproduces, and occasionally you feel like you got more than your money’s worth.  In this case, this book is an excellent bang for the buck.  Honestly, I would have to say I got more than I expected.  

While several books spend a great deal of time going into detail about how to navigate and master the ticket buying process with Ticketmaster, this book only touches on this subject.  But it does cover a different aspect of Ticketmaster sales – the premium seat auction.  The author lays out a strategy that has been successful for acquiring profitable tickets through these auctions.  Again, the focus is constantly on getting GREAT seats.

Pros:

1. Excellent overview of the entire ticket selling industry…..the legality, ethical justification, and thorough examination of each ticket buying arena.
    
2. Very specific guidelines on what types of tickets to buy, where to sell and when to sell.
    
3. This book is jam packed with information.  I get a very strong feeling the author is truly pouring out all the information he's accumulated over the years. 
    
4. This book provide very realistic expectations about what you can make in the each arena of ticket reselling.  I didn’t walk away with the impression this was a get rich quick scheme.
    
5. Excellent case studies of where they bombed and where they succeeded.
    
6. Low cost approaches – This is definitely where I intend to start!

Cons:

1. This book has a definite focus on MLB and NBA, and favors Stubhub as the seller of choice.  As with the rest of the book, the reasons for this are well documented.  Although there is useful information on concert tickets and other outlets for selling tickets, if you plan to mostly buy concert tickets and sell on ebay, you may want to add additional books..
    
2. This book was published in 2009, but many of the examples are from 2006-2008.  I personally would love an update on what changes there are in the industry.  Technology and the economy undoubtedly play a role in the success of this business.

In conclusion, this book lays out a slick business model.  If you’re considering going down the ticket selling road, start here.  Plus its well written to boot. I felt like I have the tools from to get started in a successful, realistic business venture.  

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This was the 4^th book on my reading list.  By this time, I felt like I knew a thing or 2 about the ticket brokering business and I was curious to see what value added this book might bring.  I also was interested to see if there was a consistency in what each author has found to work.   On a positive note, I found a lot of consistency on ticket buying strategies, the emphasis on research, some of the techniques for grabbing tickets, and the importance of discipline when buying tickets. 

This author, unlike several others, definitely favors ebay as a selling platform.  He spends a number of pages demonstrating how to more effectively sell your tickets than your competitors and has tips I hadn’t seen before on how to be a better ebay seller. If you want to know more about how to sell tickets on ebay, this book has several valuable tips, including to how to legitimize and improve your seller profile.

The duplication of content was both a positive and a negative.  The additional value of this book was not great.  But because its often hard to gauge the quality of e-books, it was reassuring to see that this broker was sharing similar insights.

Pros:

1. Provides a a good overview of the key ideas and strategies for successfully buying and selling tickets.
    
2. Has a few additional tips on research and selling tickets, and shares a slightly different perspective.
    
3. Is geared toward a beginner broker, putting on emphasis on not overextending yourself – including a few guidelines to help.
    
4. Helpful tips for ebay users that were new for me.

Cons:

1. This was the shortest book and the lightest on details yet it cost somewhere in the middle of the range of the books I read.  Probably the least bang for the buck.
    
2. Very few resources included in this book.  While the others included included a number of research tools and websites to assist the process, this book provided very few.

This book won’t make it to my top list of books on the subject, but I am happy to add it to my library and pull it out as a reference as I embark on this ticket broker journey.

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Published in 2008, this ebook is, according to the author Rodney Meyers, based on 10 years experience as a ticket broker.  Along with the authors, he does not promise riches overnight, but says that with research and the right tools, you can make a living at it.  Rodney notes that he is doing this work full-time. 

This book presents a different perspective on ticket brokering…which is good.  The focus is on concert tickets and the big money games in sports such as the World Series, the Super Bowl and College Bowl games.  Season tickets for sports events are not on his radar.  In fact,  he shares a story about his friend who has Chicago Cubs season tickets, and he doesn't make any money selling his unused tickets. 

We are offered some different strategies for acquiring good tickets and also given guidance during the ticket buying process to ensure  that you're actually getting GOOD seats to events that are likely to sell out.  

There are lots of tricks and resources in this ebook – from getting into to Ticketmaster or Tickets.com first, to getting around ticket limits, to dealing with those annoying, unreadable captcha windows.  All in all, he provides lots of detail on the ins and outs of navigating ticketmaster.  He also devotes a lot of time the nature and anatomy of tickets and how to set up an ebay listing.  He also includes hyperlinks to many of the resources he discusses right in his book. 

One of the best of parts of this purchase is the free tool bar if you buy the book.  I added it , and I like it. Very handy!  In addition, he is one of the few authors who is providing current information on ticket broker strategies.  In the constantly changing ticket broker environment, this is quite important.  After purchasing the book, you can download the toolbar and join the ticket forum

All in the all, this could prove to be a very valuable addition to my collection.

Pros:

1.  Provides cool tips and tricks to get tickets, including a nifty toolbar and an interesting strategy to buy tickets to big ticket events that are restricted to local residents.

2. Shares many great resources and links, including suggestions on using a browser designed for brokers.

3. As suggested by the title, it will be incredibly helpful if you are auctioning tickets on eBay.

3.  Potentially great advice for buying tickets to the golden tickets – college bowl games, Super Bowl and World Series. This part I will definitely pay close attention to

4. Solid information on presales, which are often key to getting good tickets

Cons:

1. Doesn’t provide expected profits or an overall business model.  But he does share profit margins and amounts based on his experiences.

2.  A number of pages could perhaps have been included in an appendix rather than a primary section of the book, such as the section on ticket anatomy. But that's really a stylistic issue – not one of substance.

All in all, this book has lots of strategies that are broken down into easy to follow step by step processes.  There is enough substance in it to add excellent value to your ticket broker library.

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"Ticket to Limit" is written by Randy Cohen, owner and founder of TicketCity, a  well-respected ticket brokerage firm.  TicketCity sells tickets to some of biggest sporting events and concerts in the world.  I read this book hoping to gain greater insight into the ticket broker field.  It certainly wasn't any kind of "how to become a ticket broker" manual, but as a new person in the field, I found it to be a worthy read.  It's a little reminiscent of the "The Last Lecture" by another Randy…Randy Pausch. 

Randy Cohen is an interesting guy.  His book is part "philosphy of life", part "how to be a great boss and run a top notch company", and partly a testament to his own life.    His work as the owner of a large ticket brokerage firm isn't the subject of the book but rather the back drop to his story; it helps demonstrate many of the principles he writes about. 

"Ticket the Limit" is broken into 10 success secrets, or "rules of reason" that he's embraced in his life.  Throughout his book, he weaves in stories about his business and his life to demonstrate his "Woowoo" philosphy, which means to move fearlessly and passionately through your life. He sounds like a ridiculously enthusiastic and energetic person.  I kept thinking…is this guy for real?  Does he really have that positive of an attitude?

Several sections of the book discuss his approach to managing his employees.  And actually, if I have to work a 9 -5 job, this is the kind of company I'd love to work for.  He sounds like the kind of boss people dream of having….where they're appreciated, valued for the unique skills they bring, and rewarded an many levels. 

In some ways, I had a knee-jerk reaction to the book — do we need another "how to live life book"?  And is this just a tool to promote his business?  Perhaps….but he actually sucked me in, and it affected me.  Honestly, it helped pull me out of a rut and bring into sharp focus what I want I really want in life.    His enthusiasm and zest for life is a bit contagious.

OK, so this is a book about going for what you want in life, and being the best person you can.  But was there any helpful information about the secondary ticket business? 

Well, to an extent….If you're a more traditional brick and mortar ticket broker company that works directly with clients, then what he shares about how to provide top notch customer service as a ticket reseller is impressive.  Even if you sell tickets on ebay and communicate directly with clients, this book should be inspiration to everyone to be the best they can. 

If you work with a service like Stubhub exclusively, then they act as the intermediary, and you as the ticket broker, have no direct contact.  But by choosing a company like Stubhub, which has excellent customer service, you're essentially bringing on a partner that provides a high level of customer service.

Randy includes a section at the end about the future of the industry in a positive way.  There are rumblings and concerns about what the future holds for the secondary ticket market.  Is Ticketmaster trying to eliminate all other ticket resellers ?  But he seems to think the future is bright for the ticket broker industry.  State ticket scalping laws are loosening up, and the ticket resale industry, particularly web-based businesses, are gaining credibility and perhaps a more professional image. 

If you want to feel good about being a ticket broker, or aspire to be a better ticket broker, this could be a good read.  

Actually, if want to be better at anything at all, you might want to check this out.

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