Ticketsnow.com is an on- line ticketing service that specializes in finding tickets for sold- out events. Affiliated with the National Association of Ticket Brokers, Ticketsnow.com first opened for business in the state of Illinois in 1992. This business acts as a broker between the buyer and seller for sporting, concert, and other events requiring a ticket for entry.
What Does This Service Offer?:
Ticketsnow.com sells tickets to events across a few different categories. They are:
Sports- Both college sports and professional sports are represented here, with tickets available for football, basketball, hockey, baseball, even to golf, pro wrestling, tennis, auto racing and other sports.
Concerts- This area is self- explanatory. It includes tickets for many popular acts that are currently on tour around the United States and Canada.
Theatre- Here, you can find tickets to plays, musicals, circus acts, and other popular stage performers.
Travel- Hotel, airlines, and car rentals can be conducted through Ticketsnow.com. However, these services are nothing more than links into a travel web site, travelnow.com.
Other Services:
Aside from selling tickets, Ticketsnow.com offers a few other services. One is an e-mail alert system. If the event you’re looking for doesn’t have any tickets available at present, you can enter your e-mail and Ticketsnow.com will send you a message when tickets are ready for sale. This includes not only scheduled events, but future events as well. It could be that you want to see a musical act that just ended a tour. If so, then Ticketsnow.com will e-mail you when another tour begins and tickets are available for sale.
Another feature offered is the Ticketsnow.com personal account manager. This allows you to sell your own tickets on- line, subscribe to various e-mail lists, and name your price for tickets to an event. Ticketsnow.com will send you a message if/when tickets can be found for your asking price or below.
Shipping:
Shipping charges for delivery of tickets are added to every order, and there is a minimum shipping charge no matter what option you choose. You can have the tickets shipped anywhere in the world, with prices that currently range from $9.95 (U.S. mail, 2-4 day delivery) to as high as $45 (Eastern hemisphere, other than Europe).
Payment Methods:
For payment, this site accepts most major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, and the JCB card). Sales tax isn’t added unless you live in the state of Illinois.
Final Thoughts:
Ticketsnow.com is a large brokerage service, offering tickets for events where a buyer might not be able to find tickets through other means. This web service is able to accomplish this two ways: by purchasing tickets in bulk and then selling them to the general public and by selling tickets that other Ticketsnow.com members are offering for sale.
I have a personal account with this web service that I used every now and then to get reminders for bands currently on tour. One thing that I have learned is that you shouldn’t narrow down your choices too much when you ask for an e-mail advisory. The site gives you the chance to narrow down your possibilities by specifying a price level, a date range, and/or a seating preference. This isn’t a good idea because if you enter a price that’s too high, a date range that’s too narrow, or a seating preference that’s too limited, you could miss out on a show or sporting event that you really wanted to see. It’s best to not enter any restrictions at all and make your buying decision once you see the options and prices.
Tickets for events can be searched by name of artist, team, etc., by venue, by date, or by geographic location. It’s nice to have the different option, but don’t come here thinking that Ticketsnow.com is definitely going to list your favorite venue. If it’s not a very large place, you won’t find it in this web site.
It’s common to get error messages saying that the site is experiencing congestion and cannot complete your request. This is frustrating and it’s most commonplace during the daytime hours, from about noon to 6pm each day. This is one area where the site needs to make improvements to handle more web traffic. The message comes up far too often and it could easily discourage business. I didn’t notice this error very much when I first started using this site, but it seems to appear with more frequency since the summer 2003 season began.
On the positive side, the design of this web site is clean and simple. You won’t find pop- up ads, java script, and other annoying distractions. When I have logged into this site, I have only noticed, maybe, one or two advertisement links on the home page or anyplace else in the site. This is nice for those of us who get sick and tired of all the banners, flashing signs, and other ads that occupy such a large percentage of the space in other web services.
You won’t find tickets for less popular events in Ticketsnow.com. That includes less popular college sports and less than well- known musical acts. It’s the nature of the business. Remember that since Ticketsnow.com purchases tickets in lots for later sale (as well as selling tickets from other members), you can’t expect to find tickets for less popular sports teams or musical groups. The people at Ticketsnow.com have to stick with what is most likely to sell, so that they are not stuck with unsold tickets at show/game time.
Ticketsnow.com specializes in finding tickets for sold- out shows and games and other events. Because of this, the prices here are a little higher than you would pay at the box office. That’s why I turn to Ticketsnow.com as a last resort. Not only are the prices high for the tickets, they are somewhat high for shipping, too. While the site does have a good reputation for customer satisfaction (delivering the goods within the specified time window, handling complaints, good cancellation policy, etc.) and it’s a member of the Better Business Bureau, it’s a place that I would recommend turning to mainly during those times when you really want to attend an event and all other ticket buying options have been exhausted. For events that are not likely to sell out (like baseball games), you shouldn’t waste your time with Ticketsnow.com at all. You will pay much more than you would at the box office or most other ticket outlets.
Overall, though, this is a pretty good web service. It can come through in a pinch and it’s one of the few places I know where you can sometimes purchase luxury seating (like private suite seating for NFL games) that’s not even offered to the general public through the box office. It’s a good place to consult if all other avenues have been checked first. There’s a good chance that Ticketsnow.com will have the seat of your dreams, yes, but you will pay dearly for it. Check other places first!
Recommended:
Yes
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Bryan_Carey
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