Complaint Review: TICKETNETWORK DIRECT - TICKET LIQUIDATORS - Internet

TicketLiquidators acts perfectly within the letter of the law. The problem is that the law allows them to recuse themselves of any responsibility for the behavior of the sellers they connect with buyers. The seller can be a scalper selling tickets at a price that far exceeds market value and selling the ticket in a city for which scalping is illegal. In principal Ticketliquidators can facilitate that scalper finding a customer to ripoff, taking a cut for themselves and sheltering the scalper from any accountability. It could be a very nice little arrangement for a seller who wants to exploit customers.

They say they can not possibly offer any refunds because the law says they don't have to and it wouldn't be fair to the seller. It also would quite likely significantly cut into their own profits if they held the sellers they facilitate for to good business standards. You can find many complaints about ticket liquidators online, so obviously they know the kind of business some of the sellers they are connecting with customers are doing. Their response to the customer complaint above was obviously a very practiced one. 'Buyer beware, we are legally allowed to do business this way. It's a shame you were so naive to let us take advantage of you'. Admittedly they are under no obligation to vet the sellers they choose to work with, but if customer relations are at all their concern then they would.

My constructive suggestion is that TicketLiquidators be responsive to the negative feedback they get from buyers and stop doing business with sellers who obviously are seeking to take advantage of clients. It doesn't only matter that a seller actually delivers a ticket as described on time. It also matters that the merchandise being delivered has a price that reflects true market value. If Ticketliquidators doesn't have the expertise to assess fair market value, then they shouldn't be in this business. A company which respects it's customers and not just their profits would make a genuine effort at this.

..Then again would ticketliquidators even be in business if they didn't allow sellers to take advantage of buyers?

Having said that, the basic purpose of the resale market is to keep tickets on the market longer than they'd normally be available. The added markup on the tickets is what prevents the latter from being bought up too quickly and thus what keeps them accessible even a few weeks before the event. So, basically, the seller from whom you purchased is charging a convenience fee for accessing the tickets. It's rather like how Macy's or Stop-in-Shop marks up product prices by making it more convenient for people to access other company's shoes and other company's milk. (Plus it's also true that ticket sellers can incur numerous expenses accessing popular event tickets, such as added delivery fees, service fees, fan club memberships, and even ticket mark-ups, if they purchase from another reseller, rather than from the venue directly.)

Unfortunately, though, primary sources may not have very good seats available for sale or may otherwise not have any tickets available at all. We therefore encourage consumers to stop by our website (www.ticketliquidator.com) and check out the tickets that are being listed by the sellers on our exchange. Sold-out events are hardly ever really sold out and most people dont have the time to plan event attendance months and months before the event itself.

On the shipping issue, I also wanted to explain that most sellers who resell tickets through TicketLiquidator print out e-tickets and ship them rather than simply email them. That's because it's much more secure to ship e-tickets so as to limit the possibility for re-printing (and thus invalidating) them. It's also true that the sellers on our exchange usually print e-tickets on secure paper that automatically invalidates the ticket bar code if the paper is copied -- hence, more security for buyers.

On the cancellation issue, it is indeed the case that we at TicketLiquidator arent able to cancel ticket orders once they are placed because 1) we dont actually provide the orders (no one would resell through us if we could unilaterally cancel their orders and take back their money) and 2) the ticketing industry (primary and secondary) doesnt allow order cancellations. An important point to remember is that tickets are time-sensitive items whose value likely falls over time and so sellers may not be able to resell tickets if they are returned (or may have to return them for less money which represents a loss).

We're sorry again for the customer's unhappiness, but it actually appears that his/her unhappiness is due to a basic misunderstanding, again, rather than due to any wrongdoing by TicketLiquidator. The customer ordered tickets, was charged the price listed, had the tickets shipped (per order charges), and received the tickets -- which is to say, the order was completed as planned. We definitely don't want the customer to be unhappy and, if he or she ever needs tickets again, he or she can email [email protected] and access a discount on the purchase.

I am an employee of TicketLiquidator responding to the customer comment above. We're sorry to hear of the customer's unhappiness, but it seems to be due to a basic misunderstanding rather than to any wrongdoing on the part of TicketLiquidator.

Briefly, we at TicketLiquidator are simply a network through which licensed companies resell tickets to events. This means we don't actually own, price, nor ship the tickets you see listed for sale on our website. All that responsibility is in the hands of individual ticket sellers who list tickets through us. Typically, these sellers price tickets based on their perception of the events popularity. As a result, the prices of tickets sold through our website are usually either above or below their face value. We mention this in our Terms and Policies, on our FAQ page, on our Feedback page, on our Glossary page, and above every ticket listing in The TicketLiquidator Lowdown.

Having said that, the basic purpose of the resale market is to keep tickets on the market longer than they'd normally be available. The added markup on the tickets is what prevents the latter from being bought up too quickly and thus what keeps them accessible even a few weeks before the event. So, basically, the seller from whom you purchased is charging a convenience fee for accessing the tickets. It's rather like how Macy's or Stop-in-Shop marks up product prices by making it more convenient for people to access other company's shoes and other company's milk. (Plus it's also true that ticket sellers can incur numerous expenses accessing popular event tickets, such as added delivery fees, service fees, fan club memberships, and even ticket mark-ups, if they purchase from another reseller, rather than from the venue directly.)

Unfortunately, though, primary sources may not have very good seats available for sale or may otherwise not have any tickets available at all. We therefore encourage consumers to stop by our website (www.ticketliquidator.com) and check out the tickets that are being listed by the sellers on our exchange. Sold-out events are hardly ever really sold out and most people dont have the time to plan event attendance months and months before the event itself.

On the shipping issue, I also wanted to explain that most sellers who resell tickets through TicketLiquidator print out e-tickets and ship them rather than simply email them. That's because it's much more secure to ship e-tickets so as to limit the possibility for re-printing (and thus invalidating) them. It's also true that the sellers on our exchange usually print e-tickets on secure paper that automatically invalidates the ticket bar code if the paper is copied -- hence, more security for buyers.

On the cancellation issue, it is indeed the case that we at TicketLiquidator arent able to cancel ticket orders once they are placed because 1) we dont actually provide the orders (no one would resell through us if we could unilaterally cancel their orders and take back their money) and 2) the ticketing industry (primary and secondary) doesnt allow order cancellations. An important point to remember is that tickets are time-sensitive items whose value likely falls over time and so sellers may not be able to resell tickets if they are returned (or may have to return them for less money which represents a loss).

We're sorry again for the customer's unhappiness, but it actually appears that his/her unhappiness is due to a basic misunderstanding, again, rather than due to any wrongdoing by TicketLiquidator. The customer ordered tickets, was charged the price listed, had the tickets shipped (per order charges), and received the tickets -- which is to say, the order was completed as planned. We definitely don't want the customer to be unhappy and, if he or she ever needs tickets again, he or she can email [email protected] and access a discount on the purchase.