
Ticketmaster Ticketfast Barcode Format - georgiecasey
http://www.georgiecasey.com/2014/09/16/ticketmaster-ticketfast-barcode-format/
======
georgemcbay
Using a proprietary barcode format won't help if people post the barcode image
itself (which they do in the example image provided). More work might be
required to 'unskew' perspective shifts to get it back looking like the
original if the photo wasn't taken from directly in front of the printout, but
barcode readers are generally designed to deal with that sort of skew anyway.

I remember when the Xbox One came out last year a lot of people were posting
ebay listings for digital download games in the form of scannable QR codes and
posting those QR codes as proof of the item existing (since otherwise it is
all digital). Not surprisingly people claimed those QR codes using the ebay
images without ever buying the item.

------
derrik0709
As someone who works in the industry (but not Ticketmaster) and has spoken
frequently to higher ups at TM, people should realize that the majority of the
time "handling charges" are a way for performers to generate more revenue from
sales while deflecting the bad PR to Ticketmaster. That's one of the services
TM provides to their clients (performers/venues).

If you're a performer and you want to sell tickets for a face value of "$50",
but generate revenue at the $60 or $65/ticket range, you add on some fees and
let TM take the hit from the fans for "gouging" them. It's very common.

~~~
tehwebguy
I've never heard of TM sharing ticketing fees with artists.

In my experience TM fees are for TM. They may share with the _venue_ , but the
venue isn't sharing that with the artist. In fact they are taking a cut of the
face value from the artist directly.

In fact I've even seen TM take a small percentage of the gross face value!

~~~
derrik0709
You're splitting hairs between who is considered the TM client: venue or
performer. Of course there may be any number of organizations between you the
ticket buyer and the actual person singing and dancing onstage (venue,
promoter, manager, record label, etc.).

Regardless of which of these is getting the biggest cut of the "fees", the
reality is that in most cases the "fees" are line items used to increase
revenue without raising ticket face prices, and TM is not the primary
beneficiary.

------
badhairday
Just this morning I was selling tickets to an Interpol concert in Seattle and
realized people on Craigslist were posting pictures of their tickets with the
barcodes visible.

I'm sure it's happened before.

~~~
megablast
So you could easily scan it, go in early, get free access to the ticket, and
the purchaser is going to blame the guy he bought it off, not you.

------
prawn
Could you use some form of public/private key combination to prove that you
have a ticket to something without actually giving away a digital ticket?

~~~
lutusp
Yes -- a scheme like this is used to prove the origin of a digitally signed
email without revealing the sender's private key. So there's a model for this
functionality.

------
smackfu
Similar issues when people post scans of mail they get, and don't realize the
barcode encodes the same info that the stuff they redacted had.

------
dan1234
One festival I bought tickets for not only had standard barcodes but also
sequential ticket numbers!

~~~
cdcarter
Many times the order item numbers will be sequential within the order, but
each order will have a different number.

You can order three tickets and you'll get 08737401, 08737402, and 08737403,
but the next person to order three tickets will get 08343201, 08343202, and
08343203.

------
rtanaka
Has this happened to anyone? What would happen if you showed up and find that
your ticket is invalid. I'm guessing it varies by venue but is there any
recourse? I can't imagine they'd just turn you away without at least a little
investigation.

~~~
nsfmc
this hasn't happened to me, but i witnessed it at Outside Lands SF this year
and it is devastating to watch. there is basically zero recourse for the buyer
of the ticket that scans invalid and many of them have very legitimate looking
pdfs and emails they got from craigslist.

neither the ticketmaster folks nor the venue folks tend to be super
compassionate in my experience. it's a real mess though, the venues often have
no in-and-out privileges (possibly due to how scanning invalidates some
24-hour key), so even as a law-abiding consumer, you're stuck at an event for
the whole time just to deal with ticketmaster's implementation details.

i'm sure others have said this, but that is definitely a business that wants
disrupting. there's so many bits of tech that could make this experience
better and safer for consumers, but i suspect ticket fees are more profitable
than user experience.

~~~
cdcarter
I just worked admissions for a festival in Seattle, and we have started seeing
scalpers actually walk with the customer to the gate, and verify they get
entrance. If the scalped ticket isn't valid, the scalper will refund right
there. People have stopped trusting scalpers with print outs, because they
often don't work. The resellers are realizing this and offering guarantee.

As an aside, many festivals and venues don't disallow re-entry due to TM
implementation (I've been to enough TM ticketed events that have re-entry).
They ban in-and-out so that you cannot go elsewhere to drink or eat without
the festival surcharge and kickback.

------
pbreit
Is this one of those theoretical problems that doesn't show up in reality?

~~~
tehwebguy
You'd think so but people actually post pictures like that. Not sure if it's
been taken advantage of but I have a feeling this has:

[https://twitter.com/search?q=my%20new%20credit%20card%20pic....](https://twitter.com/search?q=my%20new%20credit%20card%20pic.twitter.com&src=typd)

~~~
LeoPanthera
A handy real time feed:
[https://twitter.com/NeedADebitCard](https://twitter.com/NeedADebitCard)

~~~
scintill76
Anyone know a story behind this? Some of these have to know exactly what
they're doing, so are they trolling or joking or something?

~~~
colinbartlett
Sadly, I am quite certain the story is that people are just naive.

------
autism_hurts
Hehe, love this. Ticketmaster deserves every ounce of scorn, similar to
Comcast, ATT & VZW

