Buyer beware when it comes to Super Bowl tickets
Allen Stenger is a self-described "die-hard Steelers fan" that is desperate to surprise his aging father with tickets to Sunday's Super Bowl XL for his birthday.
"I was hoping to find someone willing to part with a ticket for close to face value," Stenger said.
But for days, the 28-year-old Washington, D.C. resident has scoured the Internet, able only to find offers ranging from $1,200 to more than $6,000 per seat for Sunday's game. It's more than what the young lawyer has to offer and far above the face value of $600.
But officials say the price tags aren't what consumers need to worry about. In the vast regions of cyber space, how should consumers like Stenger guard against the scores of scam artists who are out to make a profit at a desperate fan's expense?
"There are a couple red flags to look out for," said Jeffrey Steger, a trial attorney for the Department of Justice who is also hunting for tickets to the big game. "Anything that looks too good and reasonable has been a scam."
For example, he said, ticket sellers who require cash are usually bad news. It's easy for a credit card or an eBay PayPal user to file a complaint after a bad purchase, but there is little to no recourse for a buyer who pays with cash.
Also, look out for sellers who claim they are traveling overseas and need payment wired to them, Stenger said. And never buy from someone on the street or someone who won't contact you according to your terms.
Stenger said the more reasonable prices can be seen at online classified ad sites _ such as http://www.craigslist.com/, where he has posted a request for tickets. But those sites don't regulate sellers, so buyers run the risk of purchasing counterfeit tickets. Web sites that deal with licensed ticket brokers charge a service fee, but are more likely to guarantee a safe transaction.
TicketsNow.com is one such site, and Chief Marketing Officer Kenneth Dotson said background checks are run on every ticket broker who posts offers.
"It's impossible to get scammers on our Web site," Dotson said. "We don't allow just anyone to post. We only deal with the top 600 ticket brokers in the country, and they're all licensed."
The reselling of tickets is legal, even though their price tags might seem far-fetched. Michigan law states that licensed ticket brokers can sell tickets as long as they have written permission from the venue.
As long as sellers aren't setting up shop in front of Detroit's Ford Field on game day, according to the Michigan attorney general's office, licensed ticket brokers are free to charge what they think fans are willing to pay _ and you can bet they will.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the high resale prices show that the NFL's $600 tickets are fairly priced. He said the NFL expects many tickets will be resold, but that it cautions consumers against scalping and buying counterfeit tickets.
"We want to be reasonable about it, but we know fans are victimized," Aiello said. "We want fans to be careful. We want them at the Super Bowl."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)
"I was hoping to find someone willing to part with a ticket for close to face value," Stenger said.
But for days, the 28-year-old Washington, D.C. resident has scoured the Internet, able only to find offers ranging from $1,200 to more than $6,000 per seat for Sunday's game. It's more than what the young lawyer has to offer and far above the face value of $600.
But officials say the price tags aren't what consumers need to worry about. In the vast regions of cyber space, how should consumers like Stenger guard against the scores of scam artists who are out to make a profit at a desperate fan's expense?
"There are a couple red flags to look out for," said Jeffrey Steger, a trial attorney for the Department of Justice who is also hunting for tickets to the big game. "Anything that looks too good and reasonable has been a scam."
For example, he said, ticket sellers who require cash are usually bad news. It's easy for a credit card or an eBay PayPal user to file a complaint after a bad purchase, but there is little to no recourse for a buyer who pays with cash.
Also, look out for sellers who claim they are traveling overseas and need payment wired to them, Stenger said. And never buy from someone on the street or someone who won't contact you according to your terms.
Stenger said the more reasonable prices can be seen at online classified ad sites _ such as http://www.craigslist.com/, where he has posted a request for tickets. But those sites don't regulate sellers, so buyers run the risk of purchasing counterfeit tickets. Web sites that deal with licensed ticket brokers charge a service fee, but are more likely to guarantee a safe transaction.
TicketsNow.com is one such site, and Chief Marketing Officer Kenneth Dotson said background checks are run on every ticket broker who posts offers.
"It's impossible to get scammers on our Web site," Dotson said. "We don't allow just anyone to post. We only deal with the top 600 ticket brokers in the country, and they're all licensed."
The reselling of tickets is legal, even though their price tags might seem far-fetched. Michigan law states that licensed ticket brokers can sell tickets as long as they have written permission from the venue.
As long as sellers aren't setting up shop in front of Detroit's Ford Field on game day, according to the Michigan attorney general's office, licensed ticket brokers are free to charge what they think fans are willing to pay _ and you can bet they will.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the high resale prices show that the NFL's $600 tickets are fairly priced. He said the NFL expects many tickets will be resold, but that it cautions consumers against scalping and buying counterfeit tickets.
"We want to be reasonable about it, but we know fans are victimized," Aiello said. "We want fans to be careful. We want them at the Super Bowl."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)
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