Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell late Friday signed into law a bill that allows anyone to legally resell event tickets online. The new law became effective immediately.
The Keystone State joins Connecticut and New York as the most recent states to legalize ticket scalping, but requires resellers have a presence in the state.
Under the state’s old law, only licensed brokers could resell tickets, and then for a maximum of 25 percent about face value. The new law removes the cap and requires that the reseller guarantee a full refund if the event is cancelled or the ticket is not valid upon entry. . .
Prior to Rendell, a Democrat, signing the bill, the State Senate unanimously approved the measure, which had been sponsored by Republican State Sen. Tommy Tomlinson. In speaking in favor of the bill before the Senate, Republican State Sen. Ted Erickson said the move was long overdue.
“Pennsylvania must make a change that a number of other states have already made,” he said.
Unlike Connecticut, New York, Minnesota or other states that have recently approved the resale of tickets, Pennsylvania’s law is a bit trickier by requiring resellers have a presence in the state: “A reseller that uses [an] Internet website shall not be required to obtain a license to resell through the Internet website if the operator of the Internet website: Has a business presence and physical street address in this Commonwealth and clearly and conspicuously posts that address on the Internet website, or has a business presence in this Commonwealth and one of the following: a registered agent, a foreign business license or a certificate of authority issued by the Department of State.”
Essentially, this will mean that StubHub, Ticketmaster or other sites would have to set up shop somewhere in the state, a relatively easy proposition.
The bill also requires the reseller to issue a refund if the ticket is incorrectly described at the point of purchase.
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I wonder if this law limits the actions teams can take against season ticket holders, etc. who resell their tickets, the way the NY law does?
I have Penguin season tickets and a guy who sat in my row last season had his tickets revoked for this season because he sold too many games on the internet. The Penguins watch that and if they deam you a “broker” they will not allow you to purchase season tickets.
Governor Rendell, I am a Philadelphia native and have supported you for many years ! I’ve always saw you as one that was able to find a way to get things done, and done fairly. You’ve tackled many tough issues facing residents across the great state of Pennsylvania in such a way that almost everyone is happy with the end result. I strongly oppose your signing into law a bill that allows anyone to legally resell event tickets online. Everyone knows that regular ticket prices for major league sporting events are already too high. Most major league teams now cater to those having more than enough money to purchase season tickets at any cost. Hard working middle class families like my own are hard pressed to do this. Most of us are unable to shell out large amounts of cash for these ticket packages, and are pretty much left out in the cold. I’ve been taking my 10 year old son to Phillies home openers as a tradition since he has been 18 months old. We missed only one home opener in all of those years, the year the Bank opened in 2004. I was lucky enough to find two tickets to the first Phillies game vs Cleveland that year but it just was’nt the same. It was a preseason game and the Phillies organization treated it as such providing thoses fans with not as much as a token of appreciation for coming out to a meaningless preseason game. My point is, this law will further the distance between the haves and have nots. Normal hard working middle class people that want to attend a game are being extorted into paying prices that are not regulated. Here’s an idea Mr. Rendell lets be sure to heavely tax those now legal scalpers to make the practice less profitable. Let’s now think about creating a sliding scale tax for resellers based on the difference between the actual ticket price and resale price. Example; Actual ticket price $50.00, resale price at $200.00 profit $150.00 a resale tax of 75% of the profit would be $112.50 (to the state) net profit to reseller $37.50. I would hate to have to tell my son that we just can not afford to go to the opener this year. Ed, can you explain it to my son for me?
So if you can not afford it everyone should pay the price?
I have to further the disgust on this issue since I was not able to get online today to try to get on of the few tickets available for the Pens next home playoff game coming up on Sunday. I checked ticket exchange and the cheapest ticket (it has to be a $90 ticket because it’s in the cheap section) is being resold for $207/ticket. Thanks Ren dumb ‘you know what’ I have been to at least one Pens game since Mario got stopped by Bill Ranford on a penalty shot in 1992. This year I will probably not make it 🙁 Thanks again Ed Spendell.
I was trying to find the bill to reference but I have not found it yet. If someone else has reference to it please provide a link (I will if I find it).
It’s not a point of the rest of us not being able to afford it. If I wanted to rip people off I would go online at the beginning of the season and buy up tickets I wasn’t going to use and sell them for the ‘market value.’ However, some of us have morals. The point of this ridiculous situation is that if the team sets the price for level E seats at the Penguin arena for Round 3 at $90 then you should only have to play $90 for the item.
If you bought something at a retail store and then tried to sell the item at more than retail you are in danger of being reprimanded by the law (and yeah I know people do it and do not get caught). Why are tickets different?
Here is the website to the bill: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2007&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=B&billNbr=0086&pn=1250
I sell cars. Why should a consumer walk into my dealership and ask for a discount. There is a printed price on the window label but noone wants to pay it! Why because there is another one like it at another dealership so you don’t have to. That’s why you have to pay more for tickets to big events. Noone wants to sell them for the price they paid because there are 50 other people you are willing to pay more. I am sure if you just wanted to go to a regular season Penguins game during the middle of the week against a last place team you would buy the tickets for LESS than face value and never feel guilty that someone lost money so you could go. Then why should you be upset when you have to pay more for an event that everyone wants to go to. It is simply supply and demand. Have you checked energy prices lately-same thing.
I am glad to have brokers. That way I can pick the events I want to go to w/o investing lots of money in season ticket plans.
What most people don’t understand is the best way to get the “important tickets” is to invest in a season package. Yes everybody wants to go see the Penguins in the playoffs for face value or see the Phillies clinch the NL east on the last day of the season for face value. What most of you don’t want to commit to is the other 13 Sunday games that come in a season pkg for the Phillies. All the complainers don’t understand about commitment. The Flyers and Penguins both sold playoff strips for the 2008 playoffs. You had to commit at face value to buy 16 games. If you did that and just sold off the other tickets at face value to friend ( or actually use them) you would have gotten them for face value.
The “haves” just simply do what the “have nots” won’t do. That’s why the owner of the business you work for is the owner. He did what others would not do.
So instead of complaining next year just buy a season ticket package and throw away the tickets you can not use, or you could be glad there are brokers that just ask you to pay for one or two events a year that you really want to go.
I am a season ticket holder NOT a broker. Committ or SHUT UP!!!!
I agree that there should be a cap on the price tickets are allowed to resell for. The fact that it is a business to make tickets scarce and then sell them off at outrageous prices is appalling. There is a big difference between needing to offload tickets you can’t use and preventing normal people from being able to afford the ticket price. I’m trying to get tickets to a concerts that sold out in a matter of minutes. About the same time, I see tickets being posted on brokers’ websites for six and a half times the ticket price ($35 to $225). I counter offered $70 a ticket, twice what the artist will benefit from, and the broker responded, “$70 isn’t even in the ballpark, I don’t wake up for $70, $200 or nothing, I’d rather not sell them than lose that much money on the sale.” How is that LOSING? I don’t know. I’m frustrated and wish we still had the protection of our government. Such is life.
I’m a season ticket holder. I’m not made of money, but I spend the funds for the season every year. I choose to put the money out upfront be because I enjoy watching certain games, and I want to make sure I can get in to see those games. There are times when for some reason I cannot make a game, and I give or sell (at face value) them to a friend or family member who can attend. There are some games where I eat the entire amount of the ticket, because for whatever reason no one can attend. Why shouldn’t I be able to recoup my cost of a ticket? Why shouldn’t I be able to sell the tickets at face value (which doesn’t include all my upfront costs, BTW), or maybe even a little more if that is what people are willing to pay. After all I’m the one that took the risk, and there’s nothing saying that the tickets will even sell. So if one game I eat the cost and one game I make a couple bucks, who cares, it’s not like I’m buying just to sell, and who is to judge that, no one really knows why those tickets become available – scalpers or season ticket holder that cannot attend. It’s all what people are willing to pay. Supply and demand.
I don’t think people are disputing that you can make a little off of the sale of the tickets you can’t use. I think the problem is that people get GREEDY. I was looking to go to Game 4 of the World Series. The crap seats face value is $150. People are selling these tickets for $800. Now I have no problem with paying a bit of a premium, however 5 times the price is a little rediculous. Now yes supply & demand do come into play but it seems some of these people bought a lot of tickets with the intent of just selling them for profit. In this case the law of supply & demand was tampered with so to speak. Now it is illegal in NJ where I live to scalp tickets for more than 25% so am I within my rights to agree to purchase at such a high price and bring a friend (who is a cop)along to have them arrested? Just a thought.
I agree with the person above. The prices are ridiculous. I have partial Phillies season tickets and have used each ticket opportunity for the post season that was offered, giving some away to family/friends at face value. Its frustrating to watch some people with their Gucci jeans walk aimlessly around The Bank looking for their seats, obviously never have been to the stadium before. There definitely should be a cap to the price. It just seems that there are so many tickets out there with elevated prices. Its not just 100-200 tickets a game, but 2000-3000 tickets. Did stubhub just get a batch of tickets to sell at their escalated prices? Obviously, the system is flawed.
Yeah, everyone should be able to pay a reasonable price. Street scalpers prices -vs- those of the corporate scalpers this law has created….A sporting event should not be looked upon as a business venture….
I hope your broker is not effected by the economy because you may be S.O.O.L…”I am glad to have brokers. That way I can pick the events I want to go to w/o investing lots of money in season ticket plans”….
When was the the sporting event you attended in Cuba? Do you right the tickets off on your tax return? Do you or your family attend 90% of the games you purchased? NEVER. YES. HALF. I sell the rest….Enjoy your Cuban!
Why is scalping made legal? It’s surely not becasue the many concert going fans want it available. This is why this country is going to the dogs. When was the last time the local governments stopped bowing down to lobbyist organizations? Scalping or ticket touting is against what general customers want.
Those who legalized it, should be ashamed of themselves.
Go to Cuba, where your ticket price will be regulated by the government. I mean seriously! You want to attend an event with a demand that is many multiples of the number of available seats. And you think that the people who buy the tickets with no gaurantee of either being able to use the tickets or recouping their investment should subsidize your going. If you don’t or can’t pay the price then don’t go. If you want to ensure that you do not have to pay over face then get season tickets. By the way those who buy season tickets pay more than face! It is called a seat license.
So if I have tickets and somebody is offering me $800 each I should say thanks but I’ll take $400 a piece instead?
I bought a Nintendo wii when they first came out. I called my friend and told him to come over I just bought a wii and he told me his boss is looking for one and would pay me double what I paid so I sold it to him. What law did I break moron?
BTW you could go online at the beginning of the year and buy up tickets and if that team don’t make it to the finals your going to be out a lot of money. There is no guarantee your going to make money by doing that and I have resold plenty of tickets for less then I paid and nobody felt sorry for my loss so when I have a chance to make money on the tickets I usually take a loss on I’m going to take it.
See, if you are knowledgable of what goes on in our society regarding tickets to events, there are companies like RazorGator and many others who profit by buying as much as possible to an event leaving less or no tickets for a casual individual buyer. It is better to have people who have/own the tickets who may want to get a slight profit over going themselves if people are willing to buy at a higher cost. I understand it is shaddy and I’ve struggled with it, however, I had tickets to the World Series in 2009 and we tried to sell our tickets to high and they didn’t sell, guess what… no body elses did either, unless they were behind home plate! So, don’t cry about ticket costs when the law is now there if you yourself cannot go you, can sell them. And the sites that have a business present in the state charge a 15% commission fee so you have to charge 15% more than face (more if you have seat license) to make your money back. It is just the nature of convenience. If anyone has a problem with that just look at all the convenience in your life. Let me know when you want to give that all up. After all our society is all about money if you don’t have it you don’t go. There are more important problems than “legal scalping” from the common person. I could go on and rant but there wouldn’t be enough space or time.