Section 176. About Selling Tickets

176. About Selling Tickets

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

124 About Selling on eBay

The basics of selling tickets on eBay are no different from selling any other item, although you obviously have to include ticket-specific information such as the location of the seats you're selling.

The big question for sellers is whether it's legal to sell tickets on eBay. The answer is yes , although with certain limitations on the price you're allowed to charge. Some states have antiscalping laws that regulate the price you're allowed to charge for tickets when you resell themyou might not be allowed to sell them for more than the face value, or you might be able to sell them for only a few dollars over the face value. Other states have no such regulations. And the regulations might apply only if you live in the same state in which the event will take place.

The following table, taken from eBay, outlines what you need to know before selling:

Location of Event	Location of Seller	Location of Bidder	eBay Policy
Regulated location	Same as event	Any location	Seller cannot accept bids above state-established pricing limitations.
Regulated location	Different from event	Same as event	Seller can accept bids without limit, but bidder cannot exceed state-established pricing limitations.
Regulated location	Different from event	Different from event	Seller can accept bids without limit.
Nonregulated location	Any location	Any location	Seller can accept bids without limit, and bidders can bid without limit.

States that regulate ticket sales have different rules. For example, Connecticut and North Carolina have pricing limitations of face value plus $3, but Missouri limits the price to face value for sporting events but has no limit on other events.

WEB RESOURCE

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/event-tickets.html

For details about which states regulate ticket prices, visit this page of the eBay website.

eBay tries to follow each of the state's regulations. It determines where you live by your eBay registration information and determines where the event is taking place by the information you put in the auction page. eBay requires that you disclose the actual face value of the tickets. If you falsely represent the face value of tickets, you can be permanently suspended from eBay and could also be subject to criminal prosecution in the state in which you live. And obviously, you won't have any eBay consumer protections if you violate the law. So, if you're selling tickets, keep your nose clean and follow the letter of the law.

TIP

When creating your auction, make sure that your auction doesn't end after the ticket date. This might sound obvious, but it's easy to forget these kinds of last-minute details.

If you haven't bought the tickets yet but you know that you're going to buy them in order to turn around and sell them on eBay, you might be able to use the Ticketfast delivery service that can deliver tickets through email. Ticketfast delivery is available only if you buy your ticket from www.ticketmaster.com, and only for certain events. So, if you're buying from Ticketmaster, check to see whether you can use the Ticketfast option.