New York-based TickPick.com, a new, dynamic two-sided ticket marketplace, aims to use diversified ticketing strategies to create an improved experience for both buyers and sellers.
The site has access to a searchable ticket inventory that buyers can browse and then make purchases if they choose. Tickets are prioritized for users through the company’s “deal rankings,” which highlight the best seats at the best prices available that day.
If buyers cannot find a deal they like, TickPick offers a bid feature in which users enter the highest price they will pay for seats in a variety of sections. Sellers receive this information and have the option to accept or decline bids.
Through the use of these two ticketing strategies, the company’s founders hope to satisfy a larger segment of the ticket resale market by creating a model that meets the needs of buyers and sellers.
“The way I see it differently from most people is I sit on both sides all the time,” co-founder Brett Goldberg told TicketNews in a recent interview.
In fact, the idea of TickPick was born from Goldberg’s mixed experiences trying to buy and sell tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a college student.
Initially making enough money to see the Peppers in a number of cities, he ultimately found himself frustrated by the secondary market when he attempted to buy tickets for additional dates. Goldberg combined his background in finance with co-founder Chris O’Brien’s computer engineering skills, and the two set out to develop what is now TickPick.
In trying to explain how TickPick will stand out from the crowd, Goldberg asks, “Why would you negotiate with one seller when there are 10,000 tickets out there? What we’re trying to do is to optimize the best ticket for the lowest price. If [consumers] are not happy with availability or prices, we have a feature that allows them to tell us what price they want to pay for what sections they want to sit in. It’s entirely unique.”
TickPick’s Web site launched earlier this month, and it currently focuses on events in the New York metropolitan area. Goldberg said the company plans to expand to other cities by the end of the year. Competing sites include ScoreBig, which also accepts bids on tickets.
Buyers on the TickPick site pay no fees, with revenue generated from seller fees. At this time, sellers are required to pay a flat fee to participate, but next month the site will switch to a staggered model: the sooner a seller registers with the site, the lower their fee. Goldberg estimates the fee to be “around 10 percent” if a seller signs up before the end of October, with the staggered fee model beginning in November.
