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Scalped by parasites

Submitted by dmenconi on 07/10/2011 - 06:40
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In the old days, ticket-scalping was a pretty unsophisticated business. Scalpers would get people to stand in line, buy what tickets they could, jack the price and try to sell them. But online ticket-selling has introduced ever-more-complex ways to gouge people, some of them quite sneaky. The latest wrinkle is the "sham site," websites that look like they're connected to a venue -- but they're not, and you can wind up paying big bucks for lousy seats if you're not careful. For more, see the story in Sunday's paper.

ADDENDUM (7/14/11): Followup editorial.

SECOND ADDENDUM (9/10/11): More on brokers.

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Having to deal with

Mon, 07/11/2011 - 12:48 — TonyPlutonium

Having to deal with Ticketmaster is scalping enough, thanks.

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About the blogger

David Menconi has been the News & Observer's music critic since 1991. Before that, he spent five years at the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo. He has a masters in journalism from the University of Texas and a B.A. in English from Southwestern University. You can find more of his writing here.

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