Fanprice.com, a new website where buyers and sellers set asking prices and bids for tickets, is hoping that it fresh new approach will help fans better navigate the often choppy waters of the secondary ticket market.
The idea behind the business is simple. Say a buyer only wants to spend $100 to go to an event, but no sellers have tickets for less than $150. As the event draws near, sellers sometimes lower their prices, and buyers raise their bids, and Fanprice.com allows the two to meet somewhere in the middle. A few clicks later, the seller has made a sale, because the buyer’s credit card information has already been entered into the Fanprice.com system. There is no waiting for payment from the buyer, which could help make the site attractive to sellers.
Representatives from Fanprice.com will be among the featured speakers at Ticket Summit, the largest conference and trade show for secondary ticket sellers, scheduled for July 23-25 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
Buyers may also like the site because it offers detailed venue maps, and allows buyers to set the price they are willing to pay for seats in each section. Thus, fans can easily spell out what specific seats are worth to them.
The site’s operations are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks, according to Scott Daniel, head of sales and marketing. Ticket brokers will soon be able to upload data listing their ticket inventories for specific events.
An intriguing aspect of Fanprice.com’s model, which only charges shipping fees but not convenience fees, is that eventually, with enough buyers and sellers in the market, ticket equilibrium prices will be determined. This data would provide information on the fair price of tickets to both buyers and sellers, which would likely influence future pricing in the secondary and perhaps even primary ticket markets.
