Nevertheless, look at how the Masters does things. I’d say the Masters is the gold standard for ticket security. You have to scan your badge when you enter and exit, if you’re caught selling your badge, they revoke your privileges for life, etc. That’s a bit much for the DBF, but it clearly shows that an event has several methods available to severely limit ticket resales.

Also, the services fees charged by TicketMaster et al. are anti-competitive. A very few companies have the market cornered on ticket sales, so the venues/promoters don’t really have much choice but to use one of the big companies. Then, they just charge whatever fee they want because the consumer has no other way of getting the tickets. Sure, that’s pure capitalism, but it’s also anti-competition.

Capitalism without competition is basically a recipe for extortion.

And here’s where, like Larry Craig, your stance is a little too wide: Kroger doesn’t charge me two to three times for the opportunity to buy groceries.
Service fees are just another charge–call it capitalism, extortion, highway robbery, or any other over-bloated description– it’s all the same.

My point is that people are complaining about scalpers but not about Ticket Service Charges/Convenience fees which should be built into the ticket prices. There’s a difference between prices being set by supply and demand and charging a fee just for the ability to buy a product.

Think about it: a “convenience” is something that is easier than an alternative. There is typically an increased cost associated with the convenience, e.g. milk might cost more at Walgreens than Kroger. But if there’s only one possibly way to purchase a product direct from the issuer/manufacturer/producer of that product, then a “convenience fee” is basically extortion.

How would you like it if Kroger charged you a $2 cashier charge?