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Music

How to get a pair of Depeche Mode Tickets for $3778.45

Posted by Jerrold Litwinenko / March 4, 2009

35 Comments

ticketmasterDepeche Mode is coming to Toronto on Juy 24th, 2009. It's going to be a super hot ticket. Want tickets? Don't go to Ticketmaster - they don't have tickets yet. What about TicketsNow (a Ticketmaster company)?

ticketsnow

A great seat, to a show not yet being sold at Ticketmaster.ca, is currently just $1284 at TicketsNow (but for this seat: sorry, you can't buy singles - you have to buy a pair). Add a $192.60 service charge (for each ticket!) and a shipping charge of $14.95.

tickets now

Total is $2968.15 for the pair. But payment must be made in US dollars, which at today's exchange rate puts these babies at $3778.45 CDN all in (or $1889.23 CDN each).

But wait! The kind folks at TicketsNow have been kind enough to give us a $100 OFF coupon, ABSOLUTELY FREE! How sweet!

ticketsnow.com

Thanks to blogTO reader Rebecca for tipping me off. If I could afford these seats, I'd gladly take you to the show.

Read about Ticketmaster and TicketsNow collusion accusations and class action lawsuits in the news.

Read through Ticketmaster's lengthy FAQ pertaining to TicketsNow.

UPDATE: Less than one day after this article was posted, the tickets to the Toronto show have been removed from the TicketsNow site. Further digging has revealed that Depeche Mode fan forums contain plenty of complaints of similar nature. Maybe the band's management got involved, and finally put an end to it? Do the bands really have any say in this all? We can only hope so.

Discussion

35 Comments

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jamesmallon / March 4, 2009 at 10:16 pm
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Look, if anyone's stupid enough to pay those prices, fine. When Pearl Jam tried to fight Ticketmaster, who joined them? If the major artists cared, they'd band together and create their own ticket agency.
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Maria / March 4, 2009 at 10:18 pm
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Ridiculous! Thanks for the screen shots and for the info. Hope this catches on and makes the authorities(?)/responsible entity(?) aware of what is going on.
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A|Layton / March 4, 2009 at 10:39 pm
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I can think of only 1 band I'd be willing to pay that much to see...the beatles...original members.
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Bloggerton / March 4, 2009 at 11:45 pm
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Ticketmaster and Servant.
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Jerrold / March 4, 2009 at 11:46 pm
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I wonder how much comparable seats will cost when they become available on Ticketmaster?
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Jerrold / March 4, 2009 at 11:52 pm
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I wonder how Leonard Cohen feels <a href="http://www.prefixmag.com/news/hugely-overpriced-leonard-cohen-tickets-available-/26588/";>about this</a>?
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Terence / March 5, 2009 at 12:03 am
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pardon my language, but...fuck this company, honestly.
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Bubba / March 5, 2009 at 12:20 am
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People who run Ticketmaster need to be flogged!
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vinita / March 5, 2009 at 12:37 am
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TicketMONSTER
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Roger replying to a comment from vinita / March 5, 2009 at 12:54 am
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Ticketbastard?
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damonster90 / March 5, 2009 at 03:01 am
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Good to see Ticketmaster isn't involved in ticket scalping.
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mr. hood / March 5, 2009 at 03:42 am
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BTW

those ticket prices are in american.. also when shipped, because ticketsnow is an american company, and its shipping to canada, shipping is 29.95, not 14.95, EVEN THOUGH the tickets are shipped via toronto, and never even cross the border..

so add 22% for the currency conversion, and 30 for shipping..


also insurance too
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Mark Dowling / March 5, 2009 at 06:42 am
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Payday loan people are reading this going "damn, we're in the wrong business!"
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Hamish Grant / March 5, 2009 at 06:57 am
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Why is Ticketmaster not being taken up on RICO charges, I simply do not understand how they remain in business.
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Kelly / March 5, 2009 at 08:09 am
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Wow. That's quite an increase from when I last saw them in Toronto.

Unbelievable.
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Suzette / March 5, 2009 at 08:55 am
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Both the feds and provincial gov't are investigating Ticketmaster (http://www.thestar.com/article/594912 and http://www.thestar.com/article/596630). We'll have to wait and see if anything will come of these investigations.

I agree that people need to stop buying tickets for these outrageous prices. Money talks but so does a fan's desire to see his or her favourite band.

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Ghoul Friday / March 5, 2009 at 09:27 am
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As long as people pay the money, don't expect change. You either protest publicly or with your wallet. As long as there are people stupid enough to support this by making a purchase, there will be people greedy enough to sell it to them.

I agree with the first poster. Change would be most swift if major artists got involved with a new ticketing system. They have the funds and resources to do so, and it would benefit them so much.
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Carlos Weisz / March 5, 2009 at 09:27 am
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Cool! i already got my pair at $3778.45!! and now i'm selling on Craigslist for $5000!
So if anyone is interested send me a message
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Dave / March 5, 2009 at 10:42 am
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Save your money. Wander down to the West end to just about any music bar on any night of the week. You'll be able to see far more talented musicians approximately 500 times on for the same cash. You can even have a beer with them after their set. Ticketmaster only has power because people keep buying this crap.
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Drew / March 5, 2009 at 11:09 am
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Why hasn't anyone raised the more logical issue here...since these tickets aren't available to the public yet (no D.M concerts are listed in Ontario on Ticketmaster), obviously these are being posted by Ticketmaster, yet the tickets in Row K are $267 more expensive individually, than the tickets in the exact same section, yet one row closer to the stage. Not only are they con-artists, but they are also idiots.
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jack / March 5, 2009 at 11:55 am
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i think this is part of being a democratic society...at least they are not asking for bail out money
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GregC / March 5, 2009 at 01:22 pm
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There needs to be more than one major ticket supplier, and tickets should be sold locally first.
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Rebecca / March 5, 2009 at 02:18 pm
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DM Management were made aware of the situation, the tickets are off the site as of now.

Thanks for posting this Jerrold!
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Roger replying to a comment from Rebecca / March 5, 2009 at 03:10 pm
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They were probably jealous that Ticketbastard was making more money then the band for the show.
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bbbb / March 5, 2009 at 04:20 pm
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the is terrible

will someone stop ticketbastard already?
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vinita replying to a comment from Roger / March 5, 2009 at 04:24 pm
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Ticketbastard.
Yes. Effective favoured name.

Someday I hope to catch Depeche Mode live :(
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P / March 5, 2009 at 05:27 pm
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TicketsNow is a marketplace for tickets. They work with many Ticket Brokers across the US and Canada. What you are seeing are brokers speculating on the ticket market. No one has the tickets in their hands yet, but brokers are posting the tickets as if they have them in hand. Ticketmaster does not own any of the tickets on TicketsNow. They are just hoping that people are either rich enough to not care that tickets have not gone on sale or that a sucker will just buy the tix at an inflated price not realizing that the tickets have not even gone on sale. If the broker gets a sale, they will do what they can to fill it.

In no way am I defending Ticketmaster. I have always found them to be one of the most un-fan-friendly companies out there. I just wanted to be sure that everyone knows what exactly is going on here. Brokers can post whatever they want on TicketsNow, or StubHub or Razorgator, etc.

Ticketmaster has stated that they are not letting sellers post tickets for shows that have not had a public onsale yet, this is true for everyday sellers like you or I, but not for Ticket Brokers that use their site frequently.
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Terence / March 5, 2009 at 07:54 pm
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it's true that the obscene pricing for the aforementioned tickets is not directly ticketmaster's fault...it's the brokers that set the initial price. however, what IS directly ticketmaster's fault is the fact that they provide a haven and market for such absurd price gouging, and then take their cut.

having interned for a similar style company (stubhub out of san francisco), i can tell you that these secondary-market companies are little more than glorified middle-men which become de facto scalpers. yes, they enable those with deep pockets to obtain highly desirable seats, but since when is a rock show supposed to be as expensive as a box seat at the opera? and in ticketmaster's case, there IS an inherent conflict of interest when you control the lion's share of the primary market, AS WELL AS a player in the secondary market.

all these companies end up doing is removing the chance you'll be able to score a great seat at face value.
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Miguel / March 5, 2009 at 08:55 pm
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Yeah, I wanted to see Flight of the Conchord in concert at Massey Hall and even those tickets aren't available through ticketmaster... but they are for sale for 160 $US a pop on ticketsnow.ca (from 50 $CAN)!!

I am glad to see that I am not the only one that think that this is outrageous. There is no way to go see a show in this town without paying a ridiculous premium. Oh well.

Thanks for the post and sharing this valuable information.
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jack / March 5, 2009 at 10:48 pm
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as a consumer, you have the option of not buying.. isn't that the most powerful thing you can do? they can sell at whatever price they want..if there are people out there who are willing to pay $4000, that means they have undervalued at the inital offering..
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Ick / March 6, 2009 at 09:55 am
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Yuck. I hope someone isn't dumb enough to pay those prices. But this is what happens when everyone wants to go to a given event - prices go up. Also it's crazy how much prices vary on stubhub/ticketstumbler/ticketsnow/razorgator/ticketcity.

If there's a presale password, try to get it. If the show's in high demand, it's the only way to avoid getting scalped.
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Roger / March 10, 2009 at 02:24 am
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I got a notice today that they're going on sale soon. You can now check out <a href="http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/100042668131500A&;om_rid=AWbFp1&om_mid=_BJtaxlB7gJYgE$&?=&camefrom=CFC_BUYAT_amex&brand=tm" target="_blank">Ticketbastard's website</a> where they list ticket prices at a paltry CDN $31.75 to $95.75 per ticket before all the obscene servile charges.
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spicoli / March 10, 2009 at 12:43 pm
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I just picked up 2 depeche mode tix and they cost a grand total of $95.

Good deal. Get the tix while they are on presale
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bace / March 31, 2009 at 05:31 am
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ticket master owns most of the venues withing which concerts are held. or they own the companies that produce the concerts. goodluck boycotting them.

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?9,548515
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Zara replying to a comment from spicoli / April 30, 2009 at 10:00 am
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Spicoli - where did you get your tickets?
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