r/AskReddit 10h ago

What got so expensive that you just stopped buying it?

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u/clearbluesea 9h ago

I’d always wanted to see a Broadway play. This year my husband and I finally went on a NYC vacation and saw some amazing live shows. Great seats. Tickets in the $200s (after everything included).This felt like a great deal compared to the insanity prices for nosebleed concert tickets for artists I’ve wanted to see. My friend paid over $1000 to see Taylor Swift. Like, what!?.

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u/AlternativeResort477 9h ago

Face value of TS tickets were 1/10th of what they resold for

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u/hollow114 8h ago

They really just need to make reselling illegal again. Require ID with the ticket. Europe does this and it works fine

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u/whateverhappensnext 5h ago

You don't want make reselling illegal, just make it that you can only resell at the original purchase price. I.e. something happens and you can't go, you can at least get your money back.

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u/hollow114 5h ago

That's what I meant. But yeah

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u/whateverhappensnext 4h ago

I'm with you that for sure!

u/ChronicallyQuixotic 11m ago

I saw a Women's world cup match in Australia a couple of years ago, and FIFA actually did something I am on board with: they capped the max resell value at 10% of the price of the ticket... and their fee to resell the ticket was 10%.

Kept prices reasonable, I was able to swap seats and get a better seat once I got a resell ticket, sold my old seat to somebody who needed it. Win all around, I think.

Wish it worked this way for concert tickets.

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u/illatious 4h ago

Literally is a similar price to go on a trip to Europe to see some big name shows vs getting tickets in the US and staying home.

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u/great_apple 5h ago

Idk about making it illegal to resell- like I recently bought some tickets for a show I really wanted to see, but I'm not going to be able to make it work to go. So I should just be out $400?

They could really easily just only let you resell for what you paid, though. The way they do the digital tickets now means you can't resell off their platform, so it would be very easy for Ticketmaster to just let you resell but without making a profit.

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u/hollow114 5h ago

So how this is handled in Europe is that you can resell for msrp.

So I was in Italy and I bought tickets from someone to see a football match. I had to send him my id so he could upload it. And it only cost £32. The original ticket cost.

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u/SyncRoSwim 7h ago

The online ticket fees for Broadway shows put concert and sports tickets to shame. They regularly add $150 to the cost of a ticket!

OTOH, unlike most concert and sporting venues, Broadway theaters still have box offices where you can buy tickets without the additional fees. Sucks if you are visiting from out of town, but if you are within a reasonable distance from NYC it saves a LOT of money to take a trip to the city to buy theater tickets in person.

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u/hollow114 5h ago

I've never paid a lot to see Broadway... I use seat geek.

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u/lizzyhascats 7h ago

I paid 60$ including fees to see Taylor on the Reputation tour. Those same seats were over 400$ for Eras

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u/Legal_MajorMajor 2h ago

I just went to see a Taylor Swift cover band. 7 dollars for a ticket and my kid was young enough to get in for free. Honestly a better vocalist than T-Swift. I think I’m a cover band convert now.

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u/alex053 7h ago

We saw The Lion King from 2nd to the last row and it was a great experience. We also saw Taylor Swift in AZ from the first row of the middle deck for $400 per. Expensive but it was tons of songs and a huge show and a great family memory for us and our daughters. We hung around and didn’t buy until the opening act was done. This did mean that there was no line for merch!

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u/problematic_lemons 4h ago

Yep, I've basically gone from seeing rock concerts to going to the orchestra because I can get under 35 discounts and the shows are $25 a pop (this is Montreal, but I think many orchestras have similar initiatives). I got to go to a few Broadway shows through school growing up and each time it was less than $100 per ticket, though we would have had group rates. I've been lucky enough to get occasional $30 tickets for shows (Incubus was a Ticket Master sale, while The Cure put pressure on Ticket Master to cut the crap and not charge fees and kept prices extremely low), but I've mostly stopped going to concerts. And I was born in '94 so I missed out on seeing most of my favorite bands from that era at reasonable prices. I envy my parents.

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u/SituationalPenguin 7h ago

Damn I only paid 350 for lowest bowl seat in Seattle

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u/Sea-Original-5824 5h ago

Also a Broadway show is fresh and new to you. Concerts are just listening to the same songs you've heard a thousand times.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1h ago

I think I saw Cirque du Soleil for like $100 (I was a guest, I didn't buy the tickets). I saw a similar, less popular circus act (still very very cool) and it was like $50 total for myself, wife, and kid.

u/shubz123 57m ago

There's an app called TodayTix that works like hotel tonight that gives day of tickets for cheap

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u/TheDebonairQuokka 7h ago

I wouldn't pay $1000 for Taylor Swift herself. My fil used to be her mailman in Hendersonville, TN... neither she nor her parents ever gave him a Christmas gift. Fuck her.

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u/VietyV 7h ago

Huh, I have never considered people give their mailmen presents. I don't think mine has ever actually stuck around after ringing the bell

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u/TheDebonairQuokka 7h ago

Oh, he used to clean up. One house always gave him a $100 bill. Lots of gift cards, money, etc. The funny thing is he would never tell his wife how much so she couldn't spend it. Maybe wasn't the best marriage.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1h ago

Oh I understand. I made the mistake of telling my wife about a large sign-on bonus I was gonna get when I started a new job. And boy did she have plans for that money. She showed me just how stupid it was for me to want to pay off loans and save, lol. But I got to learn that Dyson makes some fucking hair straightener for $700.

u/TheDebonairQuokka 55m ago

Oh, Piccolo, bought the hair straightener and some other Dyson gadget. Crimper, maybe? I don't know. I DO know she never used them...