Buying Guide
1.ONLY USE Paypal Goods and Services (G&S)
2. How to Find Tickets - Do NOT Use ISO Posts
3. How To Spot a Scammer
4. How to Buy Tickets Safely - The Basic Steps
5. How to Spot Fake Screenshots and Screen-Recordings
6. The Seller Is Concerned about the Paypal Payment Hold
7. You Have the Tickets Now, How to Protect Them
8. If Your Tickets are Stolen/Hacked
9. Are You Safe from Seller Scams Once the Tickets are Transferred to You?
10. What to Do If the Seller Scams You
11. The Concert has been Postponed or Canceled
12. Local Cash Deals
13. Buying from Stubhub/Tickpick/VividSeats/GameTime/Seatgeek Resale
14. Will Ticket Prices Go Up or Down?
15. Whose Fault was This? (Optional Reading)
16. Questions?
*(if this guide is too long to read, I hope your money is way less valuable than your time, consider using Stubhub if it is)
What if you file a dispute? If they send the tickets like they should, your dispute will have very little chance of succeeding because they will have evidence they sent you the tickets. If you are a seller concerned about this - please see Section 9 of the Selling Guide.
I've been scammed before when selling through Paypal. This seems to be a go-to line for scammers. Either way, as a buyer you have to protect yourself first and foremost. Sellers who are truly paypal-phobic can go to stubhub or another resale site or set up a local cash deal (see Section 12).
I got banned from Paypal. For being a scammer? Sounds about right.
I just don't use Paypal. Because they're a scammer.
My Paypal is glitching. Ok come back when it works again.
I don't want to pay the Paypal G&S fee (3% of the sale price) You can add the fee to the purchase price so the seller effectively isn't paying it.
I don't want to pay taxes on my sale. Seller only pays taxes on their sale amount minus the money they paid for the tickets, so if they sell at the price they paid, they owe zero taxes. If they are trying to dodge taxes on sales profit, they are already dishonest on one thing (tax evasion), what else might they be dishonest on? Scamming you? Yeah that's a possibility. It's a 99% probability if they are trying to get you on anything but Paypal G&S.
Paypal puts a hold on the seller funds. This is true. But it's the way ebay works also, and in the case of stubhub or other sites, sellers are not even paid until after the event happens. The seller will be able to withdraw their money from paypal in 2-21 days in the absolute worst case. See Section 6 below for more details.
I'm under 18 years old and can't use paypal. I have read of someone using this excuse and scamming someone. Tell them to get a trusted adult to handle the transaction if needed.
I'll send tickets first if you use [anything that isn't Paypal G&S] Highlighted for emphasis - Run away and report this person. This person very likely scammed /hacked someone to get their tickets and is trying to offload them on you. These tickets can be voided by ticketmaster at any time. You also don't want to get caught up in receiving stolen goods.
We don't need to use paypal because [trusted group admin] will be the middleman for this sale. Also run. There are "resell" groups set up for the express purpose of scamming people. Everyone from the admins to the members can be in on it, many of them may even all be the same person.
Let's say you send a scammer money through Zelle, Cashapp, Apple Cash, FB pay, or Venmo. The scammer blocks you without sending tickets, your bank says you authorized the transfer and they can't reverse it, you go cry in a corner. The end. You might get lucky and be able to reverse the transaction, but I wouldn't count on it.
Now many scammers are past the point where they will ask for one of those services - it's just too obvious they are a scammer at that point, the new fad is to ask for Venmo G&S. Venmo G&S does technically cover concert tickets (although their protection is not as comprehensive as Paypal G&S, to my knowledge). But scammers love it because it's way easier to get Venmo to front them the money so they can withdraw it immediately. 9/10 times, maybe 99/100, when a seller asks for Venmo G&S and refuses Paypal, they are up to no good. They might even send you tickets that show up in your ticketmaster after you pay. They might even offer to send a ticket first (huge red flag as described in #10). Those tickets might be from a hacked Ticketmaster account or trade scam that are clawed back by Ticketmaster the next day (yes ticketmaster can do takebacks). Just don't deal with anyone who does not use Paypal G&S. It's not worth it.
So now that we are past the most important message (ONLY use Paypal G&S to buy from an individual- repeated here for emphasis). We will cover some other topics that will help you dodge scammers.
How do you find good deals on tickets? My recommendation is NEVER make an ISO (in search of) post on any site. That's a good way to get 50 scammers in your inbox. If you're lucky, one of them may be legit. But they will likely be 99%+ scammers and you will have to sort through and avoid every one of them to find a legit one, if a legit seller ever even responds. So what do you do? Join ticket resell groups on facebook, follow reputable twitter accounts that vet and announce ticket sales, even keep an eye on stubhub prices - do all of that and wait for a good deal to come up. Set up notifications for everything you can. Message the seller asap once they post a deal you are interested in and use all the things you learn from this guide to avoid being scammed. That's the best way to do it in my opinion, unless you really want to practice interacting with scammers by making ISO posts.
Another method that is more time consuming but can be personally rewarding - get involved in the swiftie community and get to know people on the resell groups - they may be able to connect you to someone who is selling at a good price. Just remember not to let your guard down even if you get referred to someone by a trusted friend. Any legit seller will have no problem using Paypal G&S and showing proof, even if they are someone you have known for a while.
Be aware that not all resell groups are legitimate. Some groups are set up entirely by scammers and have "admins" who middleman BS transactions to take your money. There are groups that purposely post listings by scammers. Watch out for newer groups or ones that don't have a lot of members (<1000). They may be a legit but growing group, or a bunch of scammers. If you see other people complain about the group being run by scammers, run far away. Also run from any group that is public (automatically lets anyone join), it will be filled to the brim with scammers.
List of facebook groups that I would recommend (read group rules before applying, posting or commenting):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/taylorswifteras - My Favorite - Face Value (including TM fees) Prices Only, Heavily Moderated to Remove Scammers (but they still exist), Great Chat Groups that can help verify proof of tickets or analyze seller conversations
https://www.facebook.com/groups/641021527186195 - Face Value (including TM fees), Higher Prices allowed if you bought on resale and are reselling for that same price, Good Moderation
https://www.facebook.com/groups/658417809253511
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1307255519690386
https://www.facebook.com/groups/655468609445926
https://www.facebook.com/groups/449457823627413
https://www.facebook.com/groups/428866215158476 - mostly merch sales
"Deals" to Watch out For
Scammers need to get a lot of people interested in their "sale". More interest = more potential people to scam. How do they get interest? By pricing their tickets low - generally around face value. Scammers seem to like using nice round numbers as well that are close to face value but not exactly face value - "Selling 2 tickets in the 100s sections for $300ea" - I've seen this exact wording more than once. If they price below face value then they are either Mother Teresa or a scammer, probably a scammer.
But the whole point of the secondary markets is to find a good deal you say? I agree. There are legit sellers who sell at face value or slightly above it. Just be aware that the first step of a scam, Taylor Swift or otherwise, is to make the buyer get greedy, ignore the red flags and send money through any means necessary (aka not Paypal G&S where the buyer is protected). So be on guard when tickets are priced at or close to face value, but don't be afraid to move on those deals once you are armed with knowledge from this guide. Repeated for emphasis - be extremely on guard if the seller claims to be selling below face value, that is very rare. If the seller is nice, the lowest price is generally the original ticket price including all fees + paypal G&S (3%) fee.
What a Typical Scammer's Profile Looks Like:
These yellow flags by themselves are not dealbreakers. But enough yellow flags equals a red flag:
Facebook - no profile picture or profile picture that doesn't have themselves in it, profile picture from many years ago, no/minimal friends that you can see, no comments/likes on their photos, their facebook link has a name that does not match their profile (on mobile go to their profile and click the ... to see their profile link at the bottom of the screen). If their account had no activity for years but suddenly has a new profile and cover pic, that's suspicious also. Be aware that scammers can and do hack facebook accounts that look completely legit as well. If you meet them through a FB group, see what date they joined the group by clicking on their name while in the group. If they joined the day of or yesterday, they may be a scammer who hasn't been purged yet. But some scammers do join and wait for a few days or weeks before striking.
Twitter - Similar to facebook: no picture, not many tweets, no interest in Taylor Swift before the Eras Tour. An account that had no Taylor activity pre-tour but suddenly started retweeting Taylor related material after the Eras tour was announced is very suspicious.
Instagram - Similar to facebook, scammers will sometimes keep the account private and refuse to add you.
Any other site - watch out for newish accounts with little to no posts or activity, or activity from years ago followed by nothing and then a sudden burst of recent activity. Pre-ErasTour Taylor related activity is a plus.
What a Scammer Acts Like:
Scammers are likely to randomly enter your direct messages (DMs) to sell tickets or dm you based on a comment you left on another seller's posting. Legit sellers who have tickets at reasonable prices will have no shortage of buyers, they don't need to advertise their tickets to random people. If the "seller" has postings for tickets at many different venues, that is a big red flag also. Legit bulk resellers will be using stubhub or another service in most cases.
If someone asks "how many tickets do you need" or "do you still need the tickets" that is typical scammer talk in most cases - generic questions and a magical ability to have whatever tickets you may need. This isn't to say that anyone who dms you is a scammer, there are some legitimately nice people who will see that you need tickets and contact you. This person will usually have a detailed reason for why they took interest in you and want to sell to you specifically. But be on your guard anytime a seller cold approaches you.
Another thing scammers love to do is rush you. Of course they are going to rush you when their deal is so good. Face value? Yes please. But you have to send the money soon. They can't use Paypal because reasons. You ask for proof of the ticket? They say you are being extra. Just send them money now so you can get the tickets (sarcasm). Don't let yourself be rushed, intimidated or guilt tripped when you ask for verification. Legit sellers will quickly provide proof of their tickets with no fuss, they have nothing to hide and they don't need to spend 3 hours to go photoshop a screenshot or screen recording of their tickets.
Bad grammar is a yellow flag. Scammers are often operating from overseas where law enforcement may be more lax and English is not always their first language. I have interacted with legit overseas sellers who didn't have the best English, but it is something to watch out for. Using the word "kindly" is a red flag. I don't know why so many scammers say "kindly" but they just do. If a seller repeatedly calls you "sir" or "mam" that is another red flag.
Sellers who get agitated easily or are rude/impatient are also red flags. They may just be an ass, they may be a scammer trying to intimidate you so that you stop asking for proof and send them zelle money. Probably not someone you want to deal with either way. Conversely, many scammers may also be overly friendly or polite in an attempt to build rapport with you. That's not to say that anyone who is friendly or polite is a scammer, far from it. But if their friendliness starts to disappear when you insist on seeing a screen recording of their tickets or on using Paypal G&S, be very wary of them.
The most dangerous type of scammer will seem like a completely normal and friendly, patient person. They may actually have the tickets they are claiming to sell and produce legit screen recordings. They may talk to you for days before convincing you to send them money through Cashapp etc. They may even take payment through Paypal G&S in some rare cases (see Section 9 for more details). There is no way to absolutely 100% guard against being scammed, although using Paypal G&S will at least ensure that you get refunded even if your time is wasted. Just know that if you follow this guide, you should be able to dodge 99% of scammers and recover your funds from the 1% that might slip through, although you will likely find a legit seller before being scammed in any way.
So now that we have covered the basics of ONLY using Paypal G&S and of spotting scammer tells, let's get into the nitty gritty of the buying process and the intricacies of verifying that the seller has the tickets they are selling. We are going to assume you have made contact with a seller and agreed upon a price at this point (and agreed whether that price includes the 3% Paypal G&S fee). We will also assume you have set up a ticketmaster account as that is how you will be receiving the tickets (unless it's a Glendale or Arlington ticket in which case you will need a Seatgeek account). Next steps:
1. Most important step to weed out 99% of scammers: ask them if they accept Paypal G&S, if they don't explicitly state that in their posting. If it's a no, move on and report them to group admins if you found them through a FB group or something similar. Some new sellers might need a brief explanation of why Paypal G&S is the only safe method of payment, but if they insist on using anything else they are a scammer 99% of the time. Local cash deals are separate and covered in Section 12.
2. Ask for screenshots of the tickets at an absolute minimum (the seller can watermark the tickets using the iphone photos app or similar if they are worried about you taking their proof and reusing it). Sellers often include these screenshots as part of their listing, and it's good if they do because then other people can point out if they are photoshopped or look off. See Image 1 and 2 below for examples.
Image 1: Example Ticket Screenshot with Watermark
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| Image 2: Example SeatGeek Ticket (Glendale and Arlington shows only) (QR code does not strictly need to be blacked out as screenshots cannot be used to enter venue) |
In many cases on top of the screenshot, you'll want to ask for a screen recording of the tickets - ask the seller to screen record themselves going from your chat with them to their ticketmaster app, have them show the tickets they are planning to sell, and have them click transfer and type your name into the transfer box - this ensures that they didn't just take someone else's screen recording (tickets won't be transferred unless seller puts in an email and hits send so they don't need to worry about that).
The ultimate way to verify that the seller is both a real person and has the tickets is a live facetime/screenshare where they show you the tickets in their app and type your name in the transfer box. The seller will need to have the same type of phone as you (iphone, android) to do a screenshare from my understanding. But you can use apps such as facebook messenger or whatsapp to facetime even if phone providers differ.
Personally, I would only be comfortable accepting ticket screenshots alone as proof of ownership if I am completely comfortable with the seller - legit looking facebook or other profile, no flags whatsoever, bonus if they are known in the community. If they have anything at all "off" about them, I'd be looking for a screen recording or in some cases a facetime + screenshare before moving forward. A screen recording only takes about 30 seconds to make and any legit seller should be able to produce one quickly if asked (versus taking hours to go photoshop one).
If the seller is on a computer, they might need to download a program to do a screen recording. But be a little more wary of a seller that is operating through computer and doesn't want to or can't do a mobile screen recording, as computers offer more options for faking proof. Finding any "errors" aka photoshop in their screenshots/screen-recording is grounds to terminate the deal and report the seller to group admins (see Section 5 for more details on spotting fakes). [Sellers concerned about their proof being taken and reused- see Section 5 of the Selling Guide please.]
3. If they claim to be the original buyer of the tickets, request a screenshot of the ticketmaster email confirming the sale as shown in Image 3. Note that screenshots of ticketmaster emails are often faked by scammers, and often but not always have noticeable errors. A higher standard of proof would be a forwarded email from ticketmaster showing the receipt for the tickets. If the email is legitimate and originated from customer_support@email.ticketmaster.com, then it proves with a high degree of certainty that the tickets were obtained legitimately. If they are using paypal G&S then this step is not strictly necessary by any means, but it's very nice to have, especially if you have doubts about the seller's legitimacy. If the tickets were bought from another person through resale or from stubhub, it would be nice to see receipts of that as well, a screenshot or more preferably a forwarded email*.
(Second chance emails will look different)
Image 3: Example Ticketmaster Email with Watermark
*The seller can put in the forwarded note that the email is being forwarded for verification purposes only and does not belong to the person it is being forwarded to, this will help prevent the buyer from forwarding it to another person if they are actually a scammer looking to steal proof. Many sellers are against forwarding their sale email because it includes the order number, my understanding is that this order number cannot be used for anything other than asking Ticketmaser about the order through phone support, but Ticketmaster will also ask for other verification to confirm that the person calling them is the person in possession of those tickets. The forwarded email also contains the last 4 digits of the card used to buy the tickets, this is not used for any type of security verification on most websites anymore. The forwarded email CANNOT be used to access the seller's ticketmaster account - the links from the email will direct to a ticketmaster login, not the seller's account.
4. If you have any doubts about the seller's legitimacy after they send screenshots/screen recordings, ask a group admin(s) or a trusted chat group for help reviewing the deal (forward ticket screenshots/recordings and send screenshots of messages). Also consider asking the seller if you can facetime with them (if you haven't already) or add them on socials. Most sellers will say yes to either of these. If they refuse to add you on socials on privacy grounds or because they don't have a social media presence, it's not a total dealbreaker, but I would proceed with caution at that point and possibly get a second opinion on the whole transaction from group admins.
5. Once you are satisfied that the seller is legitimate and in possession of the tickets they claim to be selling, ask for their paypal email* and suggest that you send them the Paypal G&S payment (because you read this guide and know what you are doing, they might be knowledgeable as well but go ahead and offer).
Find their paypal by searching for it using that email, click send, type in the agreed upon payment amount, write up a description for the tickets you are buying (see Image #4 below for example), select Goods and Services (NOT friends and family), select your payment method if you have multiple available (credit card highly recommended), set shipping address to "not applicable" if you don't want to share your address with them (recommended not to share it as there is no reason they need it, unless they are sending you VIP merch). You can screenshot the payment page before hitting the "send" button and have the seller review the screenshot and verify that everything looks correct. Once they do, you can go back to your paypal app and hit send on your payment screen.
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| Image 4: Sending Money With Paypal |
*If their paypal name/email differs from their fb name, that's a yellow flag unless they provide a reason for it (and they should provide a reason without you asking in most cases).
-Eras Tour tickets
-Number of tickets
-Venue and Date
-Tickets Section, Row, Seat #
-Email that tickets will be sent to (important)
You can send the seller a screenshot of this screen for them to verify it looks good to them, then click send. After hitting send the payment will be transferred, at this point it is not reversible unless you file and win a dispute or the seller decides to issue a refund.
As an alternative to all of this, the seller can also request money from you. You would check their requested payment amount to see that it is the correct agreed upon amount, check payment description to see that it is descriptive of the tickets being sold (see Image #5 below), then click pay which will take you to another screen where you double-check the payment amount, click next and it will ask you to select your payment method (credit card preferred), then click next again and you will end up on a screen similar to Image #4 below, but without the description of the tickets, it will just show the payment amount. Make sure that you select goods and services here. Also set your shipping address to "not applicable" there is no reason they need it unless they are sending you VIP merch.
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| Image 5: Seller Paypal Request |
The seller can also send you an invoice if they have a business account, see Image #6 below. Check their dollar amount, ticket quantity and ticket description to see that they are correct. All invoices are buyer-protected by default as long as the goods being sent are covered under Paypal's policy (concert/event tickets are covered). You can click "Pay Now" and it will take you to another screen where you select your payment method. After that you can click "Complete Purchase", this will send money to the seller. Side note that the fee for seller invoicing is 3.5% +$0.50 vs. the G&S fee of 3%.
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| Image 6: Seller Paypal Invoice |
If the seller sends a Paypal donation link, they are very likely a scammer as that is hard to do accidentally.
6. Once the seller has verified that the payment has landed in their Paypal account, provide the seller with your full name and email so they can transfer the tickets to you (make sure that you have a ticketmaster account to receive the tickets or a seatgeek account if it is for the Arlington or Glendale shows). If the seller expresses concern about a hold being put on your Paypal payment, see Section 6 below.
7. Once the tickets have been sent, go to your email and open the email from ticketmaster* or Seatgeek and click the link in the email to accept them. Be aware that the tickets will transfer to whatever ticketmaster account you are logged into on that device. So if you are logged into someone else's ticketmaster account for some reason, the tickets will go into that person's account even if the email from ticketmaster is addressed to you. If you are not logged into ticketmaster, when you click the email link it will ask you to log in to ticketmaster. If the seller's ticketmaster name (will be first name only) differs from their facebook/paypal name, that's a yellow flag unless they provide a reason for it in advance. Ask them why it differs and see Section 9.
8.Confirm that the tickets appear in your ticketmaster/seatgeek account and thank the seller. Also considering screen recording or screen shotting your entire chain of messages with the seller as documentation in case anything goes wrong later.
*Repeated here in case you missed it: do not accept tickets from a seller who offers to send tickets before you pay. They are very likely a scammer who obtained them illegitimately, and they are at high risk of being voided by ticketmaster.
*Sometimes buyers or sellers are more comfortable completing a transaction for multiple tickets one ticket at a time, or by starting off a large sale with a single ticket. This is not strictly necessary if neither party wants to do it this way, but it does prevent a seller from running off with a bunch of money at once. I would recommend it if you are buying 4 or more tickets. Just make sure that you are using Paypal G&S in any case, one ticket at a time transactions are no replacement for proven buyer protection. And make sure that each paypal invoice clearly states the ticket you are buying as described above.
I was originally going to post examples of what legit tickets from all different venues look like. That would take forever to put together and I wouldn't be able to cover all cases. It might also give the scammers an easier time making their fakes. So I'll instead give some general advice:
Use existing FB groups or twitter postings to search for examples of legit ticket screenshots and ticket email screenshots. On FB you can search with keywords for the venue you are buying tickets for, or for a specific VIP package. This will be likely to produce seller postings showing ticket screenshots from your venue of interest. You can look at those screenshots and see what the gates are called, what fonts are used etc. You can compare those to anything a potential seller sends you.
Be on the lookout for weird pixelation/smudges on the screenshot or text that is out of line with other text, those are giveaways that the screenshot has been photoshopped.
Ticketmaster emails that say "your ticket is complete" are fake. This seems to be a common one and it is so easy to spot. Ticketmaster emails should also not say "[Name] , You Got the Tickets", it's just "You Got the Tickets" usually with a blanked out Order # directly below it (see Image 2 above). Second chance emails will look different and may include the Seller's name in the header.
Header at the top of the ticket stub will say one of the following in almost all cases (ticketmaster only):
TaylorSwiftTix Presale Powered by Verified Fan (most common)
Aisle Seat Presale Powered by Verified Fan (if it is an aisle seat or paired with one as part of a ticket group)
[Name of VIP package] (if it is a VIP ticket - this will override any other headers)
Capital One Cardholder Presale
TTFC1 (if it was obtained through the ticketmaster second chance sale); TTFC2 for the 2nd second chance sale
Free Transfer - these are pretty rare, I heard they are for tickets supplied directly by the venue
In some cases, the ticket can display a header from an NFL season ticket holder presale. These are quite rare as well.
Be careful with screenshots or recordings produced from a desktop computer - they more easily faked than mobile.
Glendale and Arlington tickets are done by Seatgeek. If a seller has a "ticketmaster" ticket for either of those venues, it's a scam.
Screen-recordings should show your chat with the seller and then go to the ticketmaster/seatgeek app, and show the seller doing something unique that you request such as typing your name into the transfer box. There should be no abrupt cuts in the recording, that is a possible sign that it was stitched together using someone else's recording. If you see a row of picture previews from the iphone photos app at the bottom of the recording, you know they stitched it together. Ask for help from group admins or a trusted chat group if you are unsure.
Facetime with screen share is the gold standard, but even with this method, a scammer can screen-share then quickly go to a pre-made screen-recording in the photos app - be on the lookout for anything funny looking. As explained directly above, during the screenshare they should show your chat with the them and then go to the ticketmaster/seatgeek app, and then do something unique that you request such as typing your name into the transfer box.
It is very rare for any tickets to be transferred outside of Ticketmaster or Seatgeek's website/app. The only cases where I have heard of this happening is for suites sold directly by the venue, which this guide does not cover. In all other cases, regardless of where the ticket was bought, the ticket stub should be hosted on ticketmaster or seatgeek (for glendale/arlington). If a seller offers to send you a pdf of a ticket or a QR code by itself, they are almost certainly a scammer.
So you sent your payment to the seller through Paypal G&S and Paypal put a hold on your payment so they can't immediately withdraw it. This payment hold is standard and can be removed in 2-21 days, depending on how paypal assesses the risk of the transaction (it is on the longer end of that scale for new paypal accounts or accounts with low activity). Sometimes the hold can be lifted on the earlier end of this range if the buyer clicks a "confirm receipt" button that appears at earliest 48 hours after payment has been sent (this button only appears on the website, not the paypal app for some reason).
Sometimes this button will not appear at all and the seller will have to wait 21 days. But either way, the funds belong to the seller at this point and the only way for the buyer to reverse the transaction is to file and win a dispute. So the standard practice is for the seller to send tickets immediately after verifying that the money has been received in their paypal account, regardless of the hold. This is how ebay works for most sellers as well. Stubhub and other resell sites won't pay sellers until after the event occurs. So selling to an individual using paypal G&S is the fastest (safe) method to get paid other than a local cash deal.
If the seller is absolutely against sending tickets before the hold is removed, they should be willing to refund you. Some sellers will ask for a bit of time to look up info on the hold, that is fine. My personal opinion is that if you calmly explain to the seller how the hold works and that the funds are being safely held by paypal and give them a chance to do their own research if needed, they should be willing to send you the tickets at that point.
As stated above, sometimes you will get a "confirm receipt" button within 2-7 days, pressing that button will make the funds withdrawable by the seller once you click it. A seller making you wait to receive the tickets until your payment is withdrawable to their bank (21 days if the confirm receipt button is not clicked, and definitely don't click it before actually receiving the tickets) is highly unusual and could be indicative that they are a scammer who wants to take the money and run. Paypal has a 180 day window to file a dispute so you would be covered either way, but I personally would not wait 21 days to receive tickets after paying, with the knowledge that if the seller doesn't deliver I would still have to file a dispute at the end of that 21 days.
In order to minimize the chance that your tickets are stolen from you, do these things:
Make sure your ticketmaster/seatgeek password is complex enough (following standard password guidelines) and that the password is unique to your ticketmaster account. Hackers can obtain lists of emails and password leaks from other compromised sites and then try to use that info to log into any other service, including ticketmaster. For seatgeek, you can and should set up 2 factor authentication as well.
Be careful who you hand your phone/computer to - the ticketmaster/seatgeek apps do not authenticate with face-id or password, and anyone that enters the app can transfer tickets out. That goes for browser windows that have saved logins for the websites as well. Side note - just don't hand your phone to strangers period. There are common scams where the person will try to transfer money out of your venmo etc. or go through your email, it's just not a good idea. If they need to make a call and you really want to help, you can put them on speaker and hold the phone in a way they can't grab it easily. Or direct them to the front desk of a nearby store or gas station.
Follow all best practices for cybersecurity aka don't download malware or give strangers remote access to your computer.
Ticketmaster has a password reset feature where you enter your email and they text you a reset code. Request a reset code and mute that phone number from showing notifications. You can still get the code but the text won't pop up on your screen. I'm not going to explain exactly why, but it's a good idea.
8. If Your Tickets are Stolen/Hacked
If your tickets are stolen or your account is hacked and they are transferred out, contact the Ticketmaster Fraud Prevention Line at 888-731-4111 as soon as possible. You can explain to them what happened and in cases of a hacked account they will analyze IPs and in almost all cases return the tickets to you. If your account was used without your permission from your device or you are the victim of a scam, they may ask for a police report.
In a word - no. But most of the time yes, especially if you vetted the seller well using the info provided above. This section will probably set off paranoia in some people. How can someone scam you even after they send the tickets? Well, it depends on how they got those tickets. If they scammed someone during a ticket trade (see Section 4 of Trading Guide) or hacked someone's ticketmaster account, those tickets they sent you can be voided by ticketmaster and reissued to whoever they originally belonged to. Then you will have a stub that looks like this:
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Image 7: What a Voided Ticket Looks Like |
At this point you have nothing, well nothing that can be used to enter the venue anyway. Ticketmaster often won't notify you if they void the tickets you bought, you just have to check periodically (another reason why vetting the seller gives peace of mind). If you paid through paypal G&S, you can file a dispute. If you paid through anything else, you are probably out of luck. This type of scam is somewhat rare but very nefarious. And the only way to defend against it is to only pay with Paypal G&S and to vet the seller by checking for yellow/red flags in their profile/messages, and by asking them to show proof of purchase through a ticketmaster/stubhub/paypal receipt.
Forwarded emails of the receipt are the gold standard in my opinion, as they are much harder to fake than a screenshot. And buying from people who were the original purchasers of the tickets on ticketmaster is highly preferred, as the chance of the tickets being voided is very low at that point. Most scammers will not use Paypal G&S under any circumstances, but occasionally some will try selling their stolen tickets hoping that they never get caught. You can get your money back as long as you are within Paypal's 180 day protection window, but it is a huge time waster.
If you paid through anything but Paypal G&S, you can try contacting your bank, credit card or wherever your payment originated from and plead your case. You can also file a police report. Sometimes you will get lucky and your bank will be able to reverse the transaction. Thank your lucky stars if this is the case and never use anything but Paypal G&S again.
If you did use Paypal G&S and the seller refuses to send the ticket(s) after being paid, they are pretty dumb and wasting their time. Go to paypal and go to the transaction you were scammed on, click on "report an issue" at the bottom of the page, click "I haven't received the item or service", set the item type as "booking" and category as "tickets", then click "I never received confirmation of the booking", then you can attach any messages you had from the seller as supporting evidence (not explicitly needed but can help expedite things).
After 7 days you can escalate the "dispute" to a "claim" - make sure you do this within 20 days regardless. At this point if the seller cannot produce proof that they sent the tickets, your payment will be refunded and the seller/scammer will receive a bad mark on their paypal account or be banned. Do NOT cancel your dispute yourself unless you have been refunded by the seller (and have verified the refund by checking your paypal account, not some BS email the seller photoshopped). Do NOT file the dispute as "unauthorized transaction" - this is reserved for cases where your paypal account was used without your consent. I have heard of someone filing a dispute under this for a ticket scam and paypal not refunding them.
If you did use Paypal G&S and the seller sent tickets that were later voided by ticketmaster (see Section 9 above), my first step would be to contact Ticketmaster at the Fraud Prevention hotline number (888-731-4111) and see if you can get any info out of them as to why the tickets have been voided. Then contact the seller and show them a screen recording of the voided tickets and explain that they have been voided and request a refund. If the tickets were bought by the seller from someone else, it's possible that someone further up the chain was the scammer. The seller may want to look into it themselves by calling ticketmaster or by looking for information online.
Either way, if the seller won't refund you within a reasonable amount of time, your recourse at this point is to file a paypal dispute. My suggested route would be file a dispute similar to the one described in the previous paragraph, but file it under "The seller canceled the booking" then send Paypal any evidence that you can get from Ticketmaster and screenshots or screen recordings of the voided tickets.
If for any reason Paypal fails to resolve your case, if you paid using a credit card, you can contact the credit card company and ask them to reverse the transaction after submitting evidence of the scam to them. Be aware that Paypal may not appreciate you circumventing them like this if they have ruled in favor of the seller for whatever reason (and paypal will be taking the loss, to my understanding). But you do have this option if you have legitimately been scammed and paypal does not want to act. Just be aware that Paypal may ban you, and if you were not actually scammed this is considered credit card fraud.
Unfortunately this is where resale can get a bit messy. Ticketmaster's official policy is to reimburse the original ticket buyer in the case of event cancellation. What I imagine happening in the event of a concert cancellation is that you would contact your seller, they would refund you on paypal, and they would get a refund from ticketmaster. According to some sources, the seller may also need to be in possession of the tickets to get the ticketmaster refund, so you at that point you would need to transfer the tickets back to them.
The good thing for you as a secondhand buyer is that Paypal G&S does cover canceled events as well and has a 180 day window of protection. So if you buy your tickets secondhand within 6 months or less of the event date, you should be covered if the seller refuses to refund you for any reason. If you are outside of the 180 day window for Paypal protection, you may be relying on the seller to do the right thing and refund you, or have to dispute through your credit card if possible.
For postponed/rescheduled events, my current understanding is the tickets you buy from any source would still be valid for the new date, but the original buyer could elect to receive a refund for them (I don't know if they need to have the tickets in their possession to do this). If you are within the 180 day window of Paypal protection, you should still be covered if anything happens.
Sources: https://help.ticketmaster.com/s/article/Purchase-Policy ; https://help.ticketmaster.com/s/article/I-purchased-tickets-to-an-event-through-a-secondary-or-resale-website-What-are-my-options?language=en_US
12. Local Cash Deals
Some sellers will request a local buyer and who can meet in person to exchange cash for tickets. This is a legitimate means of transaction, but not one that I would personally prefer as a buyer. Because there are no takebacks where cash is involved. As seen in Section 9, tickets can be voided by ticketmaster if they were obtained illegitimately at any point, and events can be canceled or postponed. At that point you would be at the mercy of the seller to refund you. So if you found a great deal and the seller is adamant on cash, what do you do to protect yourself? A few things in this order:
Verify that the seller has a legit looking profile on whatever site you found them on and doesn't act like a typical scammer would, see Section 3 above for more details on that.
Request a screen recording of the tickets with the seller going from their chat with you to the tickets in their ticketmaster/seatgeek app and typing your name into the transfer box as described in Section 4 above.
If that checks out, discuss and agree on a price with the seller if you haven't already. Also ask if they agree to refund you if the concert is canceled, as they will be the one receiving a refund from ticketmaster/seatgeek in the event of cancellation. If they say no to that, I would not proceed unless you are a gambling person.
Request a facetime where they live share their screen showing the tickets. If they don't have the same phone as you they may not be able to screen share, but you can always use facebook messenger, whatsapp etc to facetime if needed. Also request that they show you their ID on camera so you can verify it matches their face, and screen-capture those ID details or have the seller send you a copy. Be aware that fake IDs do exist and are quite good in some cases. You can use the seller's name to look them up and make sure they are not a wanted felon etc. The seller may want to hide their address, you can decide whether you accept that or not (keeping in mind that if the event is canceled or the tickets are clawed back, they can choose to ignore your phone calls, DMs and any other electronic communication; but also keeping in mind that there are legitimate safety reasons for a seller to not want to share their address). If the seller is not comfortable showing their ID at all, I would avoid dealing with them in cash. It's just too risky for you. Tickets are very different than selling a physical item, as the seller cannot clawback a physical item without breaking into your house. Ticketmaster can clawback/void tickets in some cases, and events can be canceled (and the seller will be the one getting the refund). The seller may also ask to see your ID, I think you should be willing to show them ID as well, but since you are providing cash, a transaction with no forced refunds, I see no reason to give them your address (tape something over it).
Ask the seller to forward an email showing a receipt for wherever they obtained their tickets from whether it be ticketmaster, stubhub or paypal (individual transaction). See Section 4 for more info. They should be willing to send this and if they aren't, I would not pay cash for those tickets. If the tickets were obtained through anything but ticketmaster/seatgeek aka they are not the original purchaser, I would be extra careful unless they can document the full chain of ownership of the ticket.
Now that you are sure the seller has the tickets, has obtained them legitimately, and is not a dangerous person, you can set up the in-person meeting to do the transaction. At a minimum, this should be in a public and busy place. Personally I would only want to do the transaction inside a police station for obvious reasons.
If you want, you can suggest to the seller that you audio/video record the whole transaction for both of your protection against potential violence or false allegations (using a second phone and/or another person). If you are in a one-party consent state (wiretapping law), you don't need permission to covertly record the entire transaction.
Once you meet at the designated place, you should show the seller the cash and they should show you the tickets in their ticketmaster/seatgeek app. You then hand them the cash and after accepting the cash, they transfer the tickets to your email through the app while you watch. Make sure you can accept the tickets and that they show up in your app before you leave, as the seller only has to click a single button to cancel the ticket transfer if the tickets have not been claimed by you.
Now that the deal is done, you should both send each other a message electronically stating that you received the cash/tickets as agreed upon. This is for documentation purposes. Also make sure to screen record or screenshot all electronic communications as messages can be unsent on many apps.
If the tickets are voided by ticketmaster or the event is canceled (see Section 9 and 11), you will need to get in touch with the seller to request a refund. If they refuse, your options are pretty limited. You can try filing a police report using your info on them and copies of your electronic communication and/or video recording. Keep in mind that the police will probably treat this as a low priority case, if they do anything about it at all.
I realize that some of this sounds over the top, but if you are transacting with a stranger in amounts ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars, for an item that cannot be fully secured by you (because ticketmaster/seatgeek controls it), in a transaction with no buyer protection whatsoever, you should take all possible steps to protect yourself.
The one good thing about buying through an official resale site - your purchase is protected 100%. If you do not receive tickets, the event is canceled, the tickets you were sent somehow don't work - you will be refunded without question. The sellers on these sites do not even get paid until 5-10 days after the event actually takes place.
In addition, all of these sites have mechanisms in place to get you replacement tickets if the seller does not deliver by the guaranteed delivery date. Many of them have specific hotlines if your event is today and you still have not received tickets. They will do their best to get you equal or better replacement tickets if the seller fails, or worse tickets at a discount, and they will refund you in the absolute worst case. And you can always choose a refund over any replacement tickets that are offered.
The huge downside as a buyer is you will be paying for this convenience in most cases, and paying quite a bit in the case of the Eras tour. Nosebleeds for most seats start at $300 minimum on resale sites, and all of these sites except for tickpick add on some hefty fees, sometimes in the ballpark of 30% of the pre-fee purchase price (tickpick fees are built into the purchase price). So as of now, you would likely be paying $400+ for the worst seat in the house, double that for a decent seat, and over $1k to get on the floor. You can watch the sites for better deals and set alerts in most cases, but any halfway good deal will be scooped up quickly.
Another downside is that you might not receive the tickets the same day you buy them, you might not even receive them until 1-2 days before the event. And as of now, you won't know what your guaranteed delivery date (when the seller is contractually obligated to send you the tickets) is until you buy the tickets. The seller can set their own delivery deadline and they can set it to be as little as 2 days before the event.
In some cases for other tours, tickets cannot even be transferred until 2-3 days before the event to discourage reselling. On top of that, the seller may not even have the tickets they are claiming to sell when they put up their listing. In the best case they are a speculative seller (google "speculative tickets super bowl" for more info). In the worst case they are an (attempted) scammer and a total idiot because they will not be receiving any money if they do not deliver, and the resale site will be coming after them with heavy penalties.
There is also a possibility that even after paying all that money for tickets, you don't get the tickets you paid for from the seller and the resale site fails to find replacement tickets, resulting in you potentially wasting money spent on travel arrangements, if this failure to deliver occurs close to the event date. All you can do is hope that the seller sends you the tickets well before the event and better yet hope that they set a guaranteed delivery date that is far before the event. But you won't have the actual seller's contact info and it is against the site's policy for them to even contact you directly anyway.
Another mistake that you could definitely say Ticketmaster or Taylor's team made - the verified fan system in no verified that you were actually a fan. Anyone with a phone number and email could signup and get a chance at the presale. In the future I expect that they will have some kind of way to verify that you are actually a Taylor Swift fan. It won't be perfect but it will probably be better than nothing. I'm aware that there was a boost system but it only seemed to come into play for second chance tickets.
Was Taylor Swift herself responsible for the disaster of a general sale? I am biased obviously, but I think not. She, like most artists, trusted Ticketmaster to handle the sale, as they do for almost all major artists with their effective monopoly. And she made a couple decisions that did take the fans into account - she requested that platinum (dynamic) pricing be disabled - this is a pricing system that increases or decreases the price of tickets based on the amount of people currently buying them - you could imagine what that would have done for the Eras Tour prices. She also requested that the ability to resell tickets through ticketmaster be turned off, obviously tickets can still be sold on other websites or through private sales but this was an attempt to cut down on scalping.
Finally, she clearly priced her tickets lower than market value, aka she could have doubled the price of every non-VIP ticket and likely still sold out, if the resale market is any indication of what people are actually willing to pay. I won't go into a long aside on market forces, but scalpers can't dictate the price of tickets by themselves, not for long anyway. If scalpers theoretically bought up 90% of tickets and were trying to sell them far above face value, at some point there would need to be enough people willing to buy them at inflated prices or there would be a mad rush to sell all of the hoarded scalper tickets before the event actually happens. So if prices don't collapse right before the show(s), you'll know that the inflated prices were what Taylor could have charged upfront, if pure profit was the motive for her tour (I don't think it was).
