SERENITY on eBay....
POSTED BY: Ruxton
UPDATED: Saturday, May 7, 2005 20:44
VIEWED: 7660
PAGE 3 of 4
What people are not realizing here is the ebay auctions being used by ticket brokers are not ever going to be completed, it has nothing to do with newbie ebayers and the like, some of those actually may be legit, the brokers offer auctions to elicit as much contact as possible, then the auction will be cancelled and sold outside of ebay to as many as they can get (almost a pure profit business of items not gained fair and square) ... of course it's our choice whether to spend or not but again the point is missed, it's that there was never an equal opportunity to acquire these items (tix) which starts this whole thing on the wrong path. It's similar to the radio station given tickets to a World Series game for giveaway purposes and keeping half to use as they wish or a record store keeping promo concert tickets that were intended to be given to the public. If these brokers stood in line again and again on their own, then this would be a fair and just deal and thier choice on how they wanted to use the items in question. Once you remove the fair competition factor, anything from then on is just not kosher,..it's not even arguable, it's flat out wrong. Discussion finis.
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Quote:
I respectfully disagree with you. It just isn't very Browncoatish to sell the tickets on E-Bay. Browncoats watch each others back and take care of each other. That's one of the things that make us special.
I was lucky enough to have a fellow Browncoat who had extra tickets and not only let me buy one from him, he set up a place for us to stay in Boston for free!
That, to me, is the spirit of a Browncoat! Thanks Cephme, you are my BDH!!!
Similar thing happened to me, some incredibly nice Browncoat was lucky enough to get tickets - then couldn't make it herself. She's selling me her extra ticket at face value - that is the true spirit of a Browncoat! Ebonezer - you rock!
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I just checked E-Bay, and they FINALLY have a Chicago ticket up for sale, for $250!! I'm only three hours away, and I have the cash. And I'm going to pass on the seller's kind offer to make $240 off me.
I'll wait for the next (yes? no?) sneak preview screening, or wait till September. Don't get me wrong, I feel heartsick that I'm not going. But it just feels wrong, and I'm sure I couldn't hold my head high telling other Browncoats that I spent all that money for a ticket. If it was for a special screening with the cast, and most of the purchase price going to charity, then yes. But not like this.
MAL "You only gotta scare him."
JAYNE "Pain is scary..."
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rayhill:
Okay, so miyu will vouch for you. That's good enough for me. Whenever I see someone who just joined the site on the day the shows sold out, who claims to have bought 20 tickets (whether or not they were for friends matters not one whit to me), I immediately equate that with depriving others of an equal opportunity to see the movie in their own town, at the face value of the ticket. You see it differently: Your friends have more of a right to see the flick than anyone else, because they know you. Brilliant.
I never said capitalism was evil. It's not. It's the best solution to get things from a producer to the consumer, in this imperfect world. ...Right up until someone or a small group of people corner the market and then jack up the prices at a greater than 2,000 percent markup. I'll never agree that there's anything right about that, so we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point (if you do disagree, and I ain't sure based on conflicting statements you made between post #1 and post #2).
Scalping is to capitalism as cancer is to normal cellular growth. One's healthy and non-destructive to the body politic, the other is a runaway abomination of the healthy process.
Like I said, miyu vouches for you, so you're okay by me (if that means anything to ya). But next time, you might want to put something on your Profile page, like, "I've been watching Firefly since I heard Joss was making it / it aired on TV / the DVDs came out, et cetera." I always check the Profile page to see if there's any clues about who I'm talking to. If the only thing I get is "No information available" and a "Member Since: Saturday, April 30, 2005 00:26", it colors my reactions, especially when that person freely admits buying more than they need and says 'scalping ain't that bad, it's up to people to decide whether or not to buy'.
Yes, it is that bad. The scalper is stealing an opportunity for someone (who's every bit as deserving as your friends) to experience happiness and then selling it back to them at a criminal markup. If you don't get that, then you and I have distinctly incompatible worldviews. I am glad to hear that you (rayhill) don't intend to sell any of your tickets for a profit.
For everyone else:
If you live in Boston, or anywhere else the entire show sold out within 30 minutes, there will be tickets available from scalpers nearby the theater. It scarcely seems possible to process upward of 300 transactions in 15 minutes (as in Boston) in the middle of the day. Of course, if everyone bought tickets for friends, that would only be 15 transactions, so that seems do-able. But I suspect that scalpers were involved, and will be selling tickets in the vicinity. You should also be able to buy them for a lot less than the $299 'buy now' price on eBay.
Why aren't more tickets available on eBay? 'Cuz it's illegal in many states, and scalpers generally don't advertise their 'profession' any more than pimps do. The IRS would like to 'interview' them...
Respectfully,
zoid
P.S.
Did anybody here successfully purchase only one or two tickets, without having to buy them from a middleman? With the exception of those tickets on eBay, and rayhill's 20, all the posts I've read are from people who are envious that they couldn't get one at face value, because they sold out so quickly. So if there's no scalping or wide-spread gluttony going on, where are all the presumed individual purchasers that the non-scalping scenarios rely upon?
Y'all sound off like ya got a pair (of tickets)...
_________________________________________________
"Sure as I know anything, I know this: I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDM'
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> Whenever I see someone who just joined the site on the day the shows sold out
Actually, I joined the site several months ago, but couldn't remember what email address I used. So I started over with my specialhell.com addy when I was ready to put up the posts about the BigDamnBoard.com. I usually haunt the OB.
> who claims to have bought 20 tickets (whether or not they were for friends matters
> not one whit to me), I immediately equate that with depriving others of an equal
> opportunity to see the movie in their own town, at the face value of the ticket.
> You see it differently: Your friends have more of a right to see the flick than
> anyone else, because they know you. Brilliant.
It's like DietCoke said. We're Browncoats, we watch each other's back. The only reason I'm getting to see it is because I got a frantic last minute call from Donna and Miyu. And the only reason I got to attend several other cool events is because my friends looked out for me. So it was only right that I return the favor and cover their backs.
If your argument is that anyone who buys more than just one ticket for themself is doing something immoral by depriving someone else of seeing the movie, then I definitely do see it differently. I don't think they have more of a right to see the movie than anyone else. It's not about having a right. *Everyone* has the right. It's about being lucky enough to find out about it while there are still tickets available, or having friends who are willing to look out for you. This time around, we got lucky. Next time someone else will. There's no entitlement about it.
> Right up until someone or a small group of people corner the market and then jack
> up the prices at a greater than 2,000 percent markup. I'll never agree that there's
> anything right about that, so we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point
> (if you do disagree, and I ain't sure based on conflicting statements you made
> between post #1 and post #2).
I agree with that in principle, but I think I draw the line at a different point than you do. The way I see it, there are several factors that come into play.
Intent is one of them. Does the person intend on cornering the marker and jacking up the price? Or do they just happen to be selling something that buyers place a high value on?
Another factor is immediacy. If it's something that will only be scarce for a short period of time, and then freely available after that, I do not see a problem with allowing those who are willing to pay a high price to get it sooner, and let those for whome price is more of a concern than immediacy get it in the second round.
And, of course, there are emotional concerns. If I am emotionally attached to a particular product (either because I am part of a community, like Browncoats, or because I think an alternate recipient is more deserving, such as in the Elmo example), then I will be more critical in my judgements. But I realize that not everyone is emotionally attached to the same things. So I make a distinction between the idea of an act and the instance of an act.
For example, if I saw someone at the Serenity screening pulling out a video camera and taping the show, I'd immediately report them and get them ejected from the theatre. But if the same thing happened while watching the latest National Lampoons movie, I doubt I would be as proactive.
> Like I said, miyu vouches for you, so you're okay by me (if that means anything
> to ya). But next time, you might want to put something on your Profile page,
> like, "I've been watching Firefly since I heard Joss was making it / it aired
> on TV / the DVDs came out, et cetera." I always check the Profile page to see
> if there's any clues about who I'm talking to.
There's another point where we disagree, then. I don't feel like I should have to prove any sort of geek rank before taking part in a community conversation. If someone wishes to take me less seriously or make derogatory assumptions based on the fact that I am new t
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rayhill wrote:
Quote:
...Ironically, though, I actually already did update my profile (while trying to add a space between my first and last names). Although nothing I wrote in that profile is really relevant to the a debate on the nature of supply and demand, so I still don't see how it would have made a difference in how you chose to compose your response to my post.
First, no you didn't update your profile, 'though I grant you tried to. Might want to check that.
As to the last part, I guess you were haunting the OB when all the 'new members' who just bought tickets and then googled and found our site to hawk them came around, oh, just about the same time you showed up in your 'rayhill' incarnation. Color me a mite tetchy when it comes to strangers bearing $250 tickets.
As far as introductions go, I live here. I don't recall you introducing yourself in your newly donned 'disguise' of rayhill. And it does matter to me, whether or not someone has been to the wall with other Firefly fans or not. I like newbies better than the next guy. They're so cute when they ask questions that have been answered a million times, simply because they don't realize the Archive exists. I mean that sincerely. I enjoy helping others without recompensation of any kind.
But a newbie who comes onsite offering to sell tickets for $250 each? Not so much.
I will say that you seem pretty self-assured of your motivations, you have rational arguments to negate the consequences of your actions on others, and your conscience condones your behavior. You seem to have no doubts that what you are doing is right, and that anyone else would have done the same in your stead.
The next time I and my family go to a movie, perhaps we should buy extra tickets that we don't need? Or does it have to be a really special event that we know our friends will want to see, so we just negate the whole 'first come, first served' concept, simply because we can? We got there first, so everybody else is screwed. Next time, somebody else will get there first and screw me instead. Does that pretty much sum up your position?
rayhill, my Brother, that is the most saddening thing I've heard in a long time. I agree: We do disagree in the most fundamental way, and I think that about wraps this conversation up, for my part.
Later,
zoid
_________________________________________________
"Sure as I know anything, I know this: I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDM'
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> First, no you didn't update your profile, 'though I grant you tried to. Might want to check that.
Gorramit. I hit the update button. Ah well. Guess it just wasn't meant to be...
> As far as introductions go, I live here. I don't recall you introducing yourself in your
> newly donned 'disguise' of rayhill.
Oh, relax. First off, this is a public forum, not a private residence or exclusive club. No one "lives" here. And "disguise"? Since when is someone's full name a disguise?
But for the record. Hi. I'm Ray. And if you missed it the first time, meet my Big Damn Board:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=9802
Enjoy.
> I like newbies better than the next guy. They're so cute when they ask questions that have
> been answered a million times, simply because they don't realize the Archive exists.
Do all the "cute" newbies get this degree of condecention from you, or am I special? (looks for the sign) Am I the 1,000,000th customer? Do I get a toaster?? :)
> But a newbie who comes onsite offering to sell tickets for $250 each? Not so much.
I don't recall anyone in this thread coming in with tickets to sell. The thread is about people on eBay selling tickets. The only people on this thread who have tickets are using them for themselves and other browncoats. Where do you get this stuff??
> The next time I and my family go to a movie, perhaps we should buy extra tickets that we
> don't need? Or does it have to be a really special event that we know our friends will
> want to see, so we just negate the whole 'first come, first served' concept, simply because
> we can? We got there first, so everybody else is screwed. Next time, somebody else will get
> there first and screw me instead. Does that pretty much sum up your position?
Oh, please. Exaggerated rhetoric really is overrated. Are you trying to tell me that if you went to the theatre alone and they had just started selling Serenity tickets, you wouldn't buy an extra ticket for your wife or your best friend? And that Cephme is somehow morally corrupt for having bought an extra ticket for DietCoke? Somehow, I don't think so.
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Come back to the OB where you are loved and appreciated, darling.
*smooch*
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Thanks, hon! This really has been an exercize in contrast.
But I'm not going to judge a whole board based on the rantings of just one troll. I'm sure most of the folks here are prefectly reasonable and swell. After all, they're browncoats, right? :)
[ Although personally, I liked the Browncoat Ball better. They gave me liquor, cute girls to teach to dance, and made me Mr. Persephone. Ah, those were the days... ;) ]
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Ziggy,
Of the four ticket sales I monitored, three appeared to be legitimate sales. One sold for as low as $80. One of the sales was halted before the end of the auction, but I have no idea what happened in it, or in any of the others. Could easily have been some sort of scam, but as I say, the three others seemed legit. This simply FYI, and thanks for the scam concept. I've seen it applied before, though not for tickets. The legit sellers also had histories of selling lots of other stuff (in fact, they have sold no other tickets that I could discover), but the scary bits for me were the totally new (or nearly so) eBay participants both selling and buying. That's okay for nickel-dime stuff, but would give me pause for transactions in the hundreds of dollars. Caveat emptor, I guess.
Rayhill, your comments and observations about a certain self-aggrandizing poster here are well noted, and seconded. Thank you kindly for your considerate additions to this, my latest thread.
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