Toronto concert-goers are voicing frustrations over ticket prices being sold below face value closer to showtime, and one expert says it’s something people should expect.
One social media user recently brought attention to the price drop when they noticed tickets for BLACKPINK’s upcoming two concerts in Toronto began to sell for significantly lower than the initial sale prices back in March.
The K-pop girl group will play two shows at the new Rogers Stadium on July 22 and 23, and the Reddit user said ticket prices are now dropping by hundreds of dollars.
“I bought my ticket during the initial pre-sale thinking it would sell out fast…But now that the concert is getting closer, I’ve been seeing a lot of people in selling groups and resale platforms letting go of their tickets—especially for Day 1—at huge loss,” the user said. “I’ve seen $300+ tickets going for as low as $100.”
As of publication, tickets for the show are as low as $130.
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The user went on to question why the prices for resale tickets have begun to plummet, with some users saying they wished they waited to buy theirs.
“I should have waited… You can find floor seats for Toronto day 2 for only $200,” a user said.
Some users believe the drop in resale prices is due to concert-goers attempting to sell day one tickets for better and cheaper seats for day two.
“It is because they announced a second date a couple hours after selling out the first day,” another Reddit user said.
While the situation isn’t unique to just BLACKPINK’s concert, owner and founder of ticket resale platform Karma Tickets, Jagger Long, says it’s normal and often expected for prices to drop closer to the concert date.
Long says Karma Tickets started out as a Facebook group 10 years ago before evolving into a full company. He says as a fan himself, his goal is to give back and help other people experience shows in ways that suit their needs.
Long says this can be due to many factors, but typically it’s because of demand.
“Not every concert has so much demand, as time gets closer to the event, and as a certain amount of tickets are still left,… they need to be gone, and so the prices will lower,” he said.
Long says about 90 per cent of show ticket in Toronto often lower in price.
However, he says he understands that there is the fear prices may climb higher than they’re already sold for during the initial release, which can often lead people to purchasing tickets right away.
DON’T RUSH BUYING
Regardless, he says he still encourages people to wait, and not rush into buying tickets, because the best time might not always be right away.
But Long adds that waiting doesn’t always mean until the day of the concert. He says over time concert-goers should be keeping track of how many tickets are left because the number can be an indicator of whether or not prices will drop.
“Linkin Park is coming up, right now there’s 1,450 seats, if you check in a week from now and you see there’s 1,350 seats, you’re seeing it selling slow, which is a good thing for you as a buyer,” he said.
Long says if there are a limited number of seats closer to the day of the show then that means prices likely won’t drop.
