Bots 'scoop up ticket inventory'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Elton John's March concert at Wings Stadium sold out in 20 minutes when tickets went on sale Saturday.

But some fans, including Jason and Lisa Moore of Wyoming, tried to buy tickets the moment they went on sale, but had no luck. They were in charge of buying tickets they'd already promised to get for her mother's birthday.

"We went to the lowest price tickets. They were all gone," he said. "Middle price tickets - they were all gone, too. The high-end tickets were also gone."

But he said he saw tickets available for the show "on other sites I bet within five minutes."

The ticket price skyrocketed on third-party vendor sites like eBay and StubHub. Originally, tickets sold for $39-139. But on the other sites, they went for as much as $1100.

Some of those sites, like eBay, work where you can sell the tickets or buy from other customers. But TicketMaster representative Jacqueline Peterson told 24 Hour News 8 some work shady deals -- they buy the tickets themselves.

"In some case (these sites) use sophisticated computer programs or bots to scoop up that inventory," she said.

Phil Catlett of the Better Business Bureau of West Michigan said if consumers really want the tickets "you'll pay the money" to the third party vendors, "and the people that sold them will make good money and the ticket broker website will make good money."

But selling a ticket at a higher-than-face-value price is a misdemeanor that carries a $1,000 fine.

As for the Moores, they're waiting until the next big show.

"We love our mother a lot," Jason Moore said. "But at some point we can't afford it."