Ticket Scam Resource Center - Not Everything is a Scam

TicketMaster is not, in itself, a scam. TicketMaster fees are only paid by those who actually acquire tickets, and the fees are stated up front, and they are not illegal. Pay the fees or don't, but you do have that choice. I am unaware of a single incident of a TicketMaster customer who paid money to TicketMaster but was not able to attend the event through the fault of TicketMaster. There may be cases where tickets were somehow unusable, but those customers were refunded. Yes, sometimes TicketMaster's web site crashes, and sometimes your credit card is rejected, but these are not scams that cost you money, and they're not covered on this site.

Your favorite artists/teams, local venues, and ticketing services are in business to make money. They provide products and services to consumers. If an artist can retain fans by pretending he's a blue collar man of the people, then he'll do that. Just recognize that that's part of the product. We can't all get front row seats for every show, but that doesn't mean that a scam occurred.

That's not to say that there isn't illegal fraud. See the links page of this site for information. In some cases, some fans are not able to acquire tickets because an artist, venue, or ticketing service illegally redirects tickets to brokers, VIPs, etc. This is a problem, and there are links to articles on this site referring especially to state actions (USA) against ticketing misbehavior.