Introduction
I had never bought Drake tickets before this tour. I figure he was going to be as bad as Jay-Z flips. His new album was about as popular as the last one, which means mildly popular. I had put this show as a 2 out of 5 on the risk/reward scale, which means way too risky. However, for shits and giggles, I pulled up AMEX presale tickets anyway and noticed that floor GA seats were “cheap” in the $150 range, and after fees, $170 all in. I put those GA tickets at a 3.5 on the risk/reward scale, and so I went and bought 6 tickets (hey, go big or go home right?) for $1014 total. This was at 11:30AM, so I was AT LEAST 90 MINUTES LATE mind you.
Selling the tickets
After I bought the tickets, I noticed I could sell the tickets back on TM. So I listed them at 11:37AM for $250 a ticket. At 11:41AM, I got an email saying I sold 2 tickets for $437 take-home. At 12:15PM, another pair sold. At 12:56PM, the last pair sold. All in take home of $1312, a profit of $298 (ROI 29%) in about 90 minutes. Here’s the kicker. I could have stopped there since I hit my ticket limit. However, I told my coworker to buy 6 as well. He bought his at 12:54PM, and he sold pairs at 1:10PM, 6;12PM, and 10:39PM. I told a second coworker and same story. She bought 6; sold 5 on the same day, and the lone GA ticket sold 3 days later. This was like shooting fish in a barrel. Even at 2PM, you could still buy GA tickets at face value, so it made no sense why someone would pay $250 vs $150 a ticket. My guess is that the buyers didn’t have access to the AMEX presale. I then told lots more friends to buy to scale up even more. Of course not all the tickets moved on the same day, but the majority of them did. The rest trickled in over the next 3 months. I was all out by 3 months before the concert, which is good timing (don’t want to hold them that close.)
Lessons Learned
I think this was just a coincidence where the stars aligned – cheap GA seats, ability to sell immediately back on TM, AMEX presale excluding some buyers.