Omari gets Beyoncé tickets
During Super Bowl 50 weekend, Beyonc Knowles upstaged Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, apparently stayed in an Airbnb and to the delight of her millions of fans, announced her next world tour, Formation, that will kick off in Miami on April 27, 2016.
Unfortunately for Beyoncs faithful, it has become notoriously tough for non-scalpers to buy concert tickets online so tough that New Yorks attorney general released a report in January on how the state can promote transparency in the buying process and crack down on those who use ticket bot software that allows buyers to purchase tickets online at high speeds (and then sell them at a higher price afterwards).
Read: 3 ways to find a good deal on a concert or sporting event
Demand is clearly outstripping supply: When about 400,000 Adele concert tickets went on sale in December 2015, some 9 million people went online attempting to buy them, according to Ticketmaster.
Tickets for the Formation World Tour were available for pre-sale starting Feb. 9, for members of Beyoncs fan club the BeyHive and those willing to pay a premium for VIP packages, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and for American Express cardholders at noon EST.
According to TicketMasters site, prices for American Express cardholders and BeyHive members ranged from $45 to (appropriately) $305 in Miami, and the VIP packages in Miami ranged from $311 to $1,746 for just one ticket.
Tickets will be available on Live Nations mobile app at 10 a.m. EST on Feb. 12 (its not too late to download it), then available to the general public on Ticketmaster Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. EST.
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Besides joining fan clubs like the BeyHive, downloading Live Nations app and checking credit-card issuer deals, to have the best chance of scoring a ticket online, Ticketmaster has a few additional tips.
Sign in to the site ahead of time and store your billing information, so you dont have to re-enter it. Make sure its current.
Use a closed Wi-Fi network; public networks can slow you down.
Partner up with a buddy (or two, or three, or 50) who can log on simultaneously and help you try to score a ticket.
Dont try to search for tickets on multiple browsers on the same device; Ticketmaster may mistakenly identify you as a ticket bot.
Look for tickets in smaller groups, rather than trying to get a large amount of tickets together.
In fact, Adam Clemence, a spokesperson for ticket resale site VividSeats, said single tickets can end up being cheaper and more readily available than buying two or more in a row. (The downside, of course, is dancing to Drunk in Love all alone).
He also recommended being ready to purchase tickets in multiple cities so that if one sells out immediately, you already have backups in mind.
For Beyonc and Jay Zs combined On the Run tour, tickets in smaller markets were often better deals, said Cameron Papp, a spokesman for StubHub.
Still, he noted, on the other end of the spectrum, tickets at the largest stadiums on Beyoncs tour date list may be an easier way to go; when stadiums have larger capacities, the added supply makes finding a good deal easier. (This concept doesnt apply to huge stadiums that are also in huge cities, such as Beyoncs June 7 appearance at Citi Field in New York. Despite the capacity of the stadium, a ticket in New York will still be a tough one to get, as its a competitive market, he said).
And if you dont successfully buy tickets during regular sales, dont be discouraged, said David Goldberg, the chief executive of resale site ScoreBig. Even for shows that will likely be sold out, like those on Beyoncs tour, it often still pays off to check sellers on the secondary market.
Consumers shouldnt by and large just give up if they dont obtain tickets in the immediate onsale, Goldberg said. There are lots of opportunities to buy after the fact, oftentimes affordable ones. Papp recommended checking out secondary sellers about two weeks to a month after initial sales start, so there will still be a large selection of tickets available.
Of course, you should make sure the sellers you buy from are credible. Check the resale sites policy ahead of time to see if there is a money back guarantee.
Prices for the tour tickets havent been announced, but based if they are anything like previous tours tickets, they wont be cheap. So of course, make sure you have the money in your bank account:
Beyonc is giving emergency fund a whole new meaning.
Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-you-should-know-about-buying-beyonce-tickets-online-2016-02-09
