You are stupid.

[smwhorn]

I responded to several craigslist ads offering to sell tickets. I received many of the canned/fraudulent responses telling me to send them money and my address as they were out of town and lived in . . . whatever city.

My response to an add like this one is to say "Hey, that's great. I have a brother-in-law (sometimes I say an uncle) that is a police officer that lives in . . .(insert city mentioned by fraudlent ticket seller) and he could exchange cash for the tickets.

"You are stupid" is the response I received to several of my offers to have my cop brother-in-law meet them. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE WITH CRAIGSLIST.

 

[DallasTexasEx]

Excellent point...can't be too careful when dealing on craigslist.

Just my 2 cents though, if I were legitimately trying to sell my my tickets on craigslist, I might be hesitant about a cop coming to buy my tickets due to fear of being arrested in violation of "scalping laws." Its probably an irrational fear, but i would be concerned they might be doing some sort of sting operation!!

 

[overmaars]

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[smwhorn]

if they are willing to meet a cop in person to exchange the tickets, i am pretty confident the tickets will be real. it is legal to scalp tickets here in our great State. Also, if they are willing to accept paypal, the tickets are probably real.

 

[Santafe]

Let me just say that everyone should forget about even thinking about buying a game ticket on Craigslist. You are begging or asking to be ripped off. You might as well throw your cash out your front door.

 

[Orangesweat]

I know.

 

[smwhorn]

Santefe: I am going to respectfully disagree. I have bought theatre tickets, super bowl tickets, bcs tickets, etc on craigslist. If you are careful and play by a few rules, you can get good prices.

 

[Santafe]

Sure it is possible, but what are your rules?

Do you have a referral, do you by through people you know, do you get verification of the tickets, do you purchase eye-to-eye?

I'm saying that Craigslist has plenty of bogus listings. For me, it is not worth the risk, particularly for this national championship game.

If you buy from Craigslist, you better be willing to lose your investment.

 

[SunBurntOrange]

A few months ago I tried to buy Taylor Swift tix for the gf’s daughter for her birthday. Answered six ads on Craigslist. The same damn answer every time. Send us the money, we are out of town. Taos, San Diego, Memphis, blah, blah, blah. I finally gave up and bought her a bike. Yeah I could have tried other outlets, but my spirit was busted. It makes me so damn mad that there are those that prey on others like that. It just takes on a whole new level of chicken **** gutlessness. At least try and rob me in person so I have an opportunity to kick your ***. Maybe it is because in my mind they were trying to steal a 13 year old girls birthday present with no remorse at all. Yet another way crime is expanding in a time when we get softer on those who commit it. As far as I am concerned, the death penalty for folks like this is fine. Cuz if they break into my house to steal her bike that is just what they will get.

Stepping off my soapbox now. Sorry for the rant. I know my opinion is radical, but all of us have that one nerve that is easy to trigger.

 

[danthehorn]

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[smwhorn]

The Rules:

1. Insist on paying by paypal, particularly if it is an out of town craigslist listing for you. If they will take paypal, you have nothing to lose, even if they send you fake tickets. I have purchased at least 25 different sets of tickets from craigslist and used paypal. I have never had an issue.

2. Offer to meet the person in public and have your "relative" who is a police officer meet them for the exchange. If they are willing to do this, you are PROBABLY ok. i have bought 4 or 5 sets of tickets this way and it has been no problem.

If they won't play by rule 1 or 2, no dice. no money from me.

 

[4Horns]

Agreed. I prefer cash in hand, but I understand why carrying several thousand dollars makes some people nervous. IMO the ideal meeting place is the lobby of a bank.

 

[Pericles]

Santafe, you mean "ripped off" like StubHub and RazorGator do with their 25%+ fees?

I've bought lots of tickets from people on Craigslist and never once had a problem. Just do the research and find out what a ticket looks like and just make sure the ones you're buying have all of those identifying characteristics.

Meet the seller in person (take somebody else along with you to meet them).

If the person claims they are a Foundation member, ask them if you can call the Foundation to verify that they got tickets through UT, or ask them to bring some piece of paper from UT showing that they are a season ticket holder.

Nobody should pay the outrageous fees StubHub or RazorGator charge.

There are LOTS of ways to get tickets without buying through those outlets.

 

[Santafe]

Doing "the research" and finding out "what a ticket looks like" and making sure the ones you're buying have all of those identifying characteristics is not enough.

I've seen counterfeit tickets that were IDENTICAL copies of legitimate tickets. The difference was in the bar code, which was fake. The only way you know that a particular ticket is real (for certain) is if you can get it scanned in advance.