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PAX West (Prime) 2016 Tickets on sale NOW! Up: Fri/Sat/Sun badges SOLD OUT

A

Aztechnology

Member
Cybit said:
1) No such system is known to exist - otherwise everyone would be using it. Concerts / Broadway / Comic-Con / etc all have the same problems. At least they're not using Ticketmaster ala Valve and The International. Basically, the more advance notice you give people, the higher percentage of tickets that scalpers end up with. Lotteries, etc etc. The article I linked kind of goes through and explains why most of the known alternatives don't work

2) 4 sets (16 badges total)



Not sure - I think they just use historical numbers and possibly add X%. That'd be an interesting question to ask Robert. A lot of typical media also comes in as exhibitors / panelists (IGN, etc) as well I think.

My personal belief is that they'd love to get rid of Media badges as a whole. :p



If you got in the queue before 1:15 PST - you should be OK.
Click to expand...

I got in at 1:08 but based on sell out time in previous years I'm not hopeful. I'm approaching that time quickly and still not in queue. Thanks for the other info though.
 
V

Virdix

Member
Feep said:
I might be needing a NeoGAF friend to halp me and sell me a ticket = (

I queued up 20 minutes ago, but it's likely not to be enough. I HAD TO BE IN THE SHOWER, UGH
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I got in last year because my phone buzzed while i was in the shower, hopped in the queue dripping water everywhere. You can do it!
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
I'll add the highlights from the interview about PAX tickets here

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/how-pe...nd-why-your-crazy-idea-to-fix-them-wont-work/

Roughly how much would you estimate demand for tickets outstrips supply? 3x? 5x? 10x?

Khoo: It’s hard to model out, but for PAX Prime in Seattle, I’d say it’s anywhere between 5-10x.
Click to expand...

Outside the convention center it feels like there is a lot of scalping going on, but compared to the total number of tickets sold I suspect it is actually a very small percentage. Do you have any quantified data on the number or percentage of tickets that are scalped?

Khoo: That’s always a challenge for us, because seeing someone with a stack of badges or scrolling through auction after auction on eBay is such a visceral datapoint. But without context, it becomes a battle of perception vs. reality, with the truth being less than 1% of all badges we see being sold via third parties.
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First, why don’t you announce ahead of time when you’ll be selling tickets?

Khoo: Since we’re dealing with organized scalping groups, when given advance notice they are able to mobilize teams, friends, and family members to purchase en masse. By not giving warning, it allows a higher percentage of badges to be sold to real fans of the show. This isn’t conjecture – we have over 20 PAXes under our belt at this point and therefore a tremendous amount of data to support this.
Click to expand...

What about releasing tickets in phases?

Khoo: This unfortunately doesn’t address the fundamental problem of demand outstripping supply – all this would do is move badges from one group of folks to another while allowing the scalping groups to recover and regroup after each phase.
Click to expand...

How about a ticket lottery?

Khoo: Ignore for a moment that a lottery doesn’t fix the supply and demand problem. When you think about a lottery, it extends the purchasing window, benefiting scalpers more than anything else. Scalpers could, over time, flood the submission box, profile creation, or whatever means we’d use to collect entries, and ultimately, you’d have a higher percentage of scalpers purchasing badges than before.
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With scalpers reselling tickets for ridiculous prices on eBay, why not tie each ticket sale to an individual and require photo ID to pick them up?

Khoo: We’ve run the numbers behind this, and even with a hundred pickup stations, it would take between 2-3 hours on Friday morning to pick up a badge. So yes, this would be effective, but like everything, there’s a trade off. It would inconvenience 100% of attendees to solve a problem that impacts 1% of badges sold. We’d win the war on scalpers but make the on-site experience much, much worse.
Click to expand...

Louis C.K. has supposedly come up with a way of selling tickets that completely got rid of scalpers. Why don’t you just do what he did?

Khoo: We actually do something similar only are FAR more aggressive. When we find something that trips any of our red flags, we cancel the order and all orders associated with that person. The language for badge limits is clear on the purchase page, and anyone that wants to abuse that takes the risk of having ALL of their orders cancelled and being blacklisted from buying in the future. And yes, we reissue these reclaimed badges to the public.
Click to expand...

Why not at least cut down the number of tickets you can buy at once (e.g. 2 instead of 4)?

Khoo: This negatively impacts families and groups of friends. The badge limit used to be eight badges per order, but we found the happy medium on this was four.
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Now that there is a West Coast PAX, an East Coast PAX, and a Central PAX, have you thought about limiting sales of some of the tickets to each PAX to people in the states that are closest to each event? (e.g. NFL playoff tickets often do this, only people with a CC billing address in WA, OR, and ID could buy tickets to the last Seahawks playoff game at CenturyLink)

Khoo: 90% of our sales for Prime come from the west coast, so this really wouldn’t solve our problem.
Click to expand...

Isn’t this just basic economics? When demand outstrips supply you just raise prices until they reach equilibrium. Why not increase prices a lot more than you already have?

I’m glad you bring up the economics to this, because within that context, there are only a few ways you can “solve” the problem of an equilibrium price that is higher than the solved price.

Increase supply. We attempt to do this by adding more shows, adding additional days, and of course, adding more venues like the Benaroya, Paramount, Grand Hyatt, Olive 8, etc. so we can increase capacity.

Decrease demand. People laugh when I say this, but we can legitimately try to make the show worse. We can invest less in the quality of the event, and make people want to come to it less. I personally do not subscribe to this solution.

Increase Price. And this is what you’re touching on here. I get this “solution” suggested to me quite a bit, and yes, there is validity to it. If scalpers didn’t see the profits they do, they wouldn’t be incentivized to participate in the first place. But it brings up the pickle we are often in, which is that pesky tradeoff again. Yes, we’d get to line our pockets with money for days, but we like to think of PAX as the show for the every-gamer, and if we didn’t keep badges affordable, it’s not fair to those that can only afford our current price.
Click to expand...
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Agreed with previous post about scalping, a huge huge majority are just regular buyers, people are just salty all the time.
Just fly and buy them on craigslist if you need them tbh
Firestorm said:
I've been in queue for over 50 minutes now...
Click to expand...
Same
WEW
 
B

Blues1990

Member
I've been waiting since 1:05 PM, and nothing has changed. I hope that I can AT LEAST get one of the passes, so that I can later acquire the rest through eBay or on NeoGAF. Don't fail me now, you stupid system!
 
M

mike6467

Member
Megatron said:
You should be able to cancel the hotel if you need to.
Click to expand...

Most are showing a cancellation policy of 24 hours, but there's also the "Guarantee" price, which when clicked on basically says if you don't meet the hotels policies they are able to charge you that amount, which is $250ish on a $700 reservation. So I'm not quite ready to make that jump.

Wish the queue had a number on it, I know it wouldn't be accurate based on variation, but it would be nice to have some kind of feedback loop there :D
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Lasthope106 said:
Why did the stop doing the badges for the entire thing? $40 a pop/day seems expensive to me.
Click to expand...
Doesn't matter, people will pay up to $200 a day for weekend days and it will sell out in minutes.
$160 more in ticket fees pales to what people spend on food, drink, flights, hotels.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
Well this is splendid. Got a good hotel reserved, only to never get a confirmation email & be told thirty minutes later that there was a website error. Logged back into the hotel reservation site, was told reservation is still there. Tried to call the site to get confirmation, and they immediately hang up.
 
A

anariel

Neo Member
Been sitting in the queue for about an hour now. Getting a sinking feeling it's not in the cards, again. T_T
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
jediyoshi said:
People ended up buying 4 day passes and then just not going Monday.
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Last year I went two days and sold the rest. I was with people that weren't gamers though and it was more fun to use the money to do other things with them. Last year I really felt like PAX has really begun to change. Felt more about YouTubers/twitch/Esports than actually showing off cool games and creating fun and interesting experiences for the attendees. Willing to give it one more shot though.
 
L

Lasthope106

Member
Well I got my badges for this year and the hotel reserved. Although, I'll probably only go a few days and spend the rest exploring the city.

Aztechnology said:
Last year I went two days and sold the rest. I was with people that weren't gamers though and it was more fun to use the money to do other things with them. Last year I really felt like PAX has really begun to change. Felt more about YouTubers/twitch/Esports than actually showing off cool games and creating fun and interesting experiences for the attendees. Willing to give it one more shot though.
Click to expand...

How much did you get for a badge?
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
Blues1990 said:
Aw, hell. I'm not going to get my passes, aren't I? :(
Click to expand...

Frodo-Hug-Samwise-Elijah-Wood-Sean-Astin.gif


Whelp looks like it settled for me. I don't really feel like buying from scalpers this year.
 
C

chrominance

Member
Thought about it for a minute, but decided I don't want to go after all. My reservation will expire in about five minutes. GOOD LUCK TO WHOEVER GETS MY PASSES.
 
L

Levyne

Banned
Woo. Got my Tickets and Hotel (W Seattle) all set up. Happy to have it all out of the way.

Plane tickets I imagine should go cheaper later in the summer, no reason to book those this early.
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
Lasthope106 said:
Well I got my badges for this year and the hotel reserved. Although, I'll probably only go a few days and spend the rest exploring the city.



How much did you get for a badge?
Click to expand...

I sold them at cost to people who needed them. I sold my Sunday pass halfway through the day on the street though (we left early Sunday) and got like 60 for it.
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
Shadowhaxor said:
Just use the system that Reedpop is using now for New York Comic Con. Issue resolved.
Click to expand...

Already thought of and ReedPOP has said it would not work (since, well ReedPOP also runs PAX)

Lasthope106 said:
Why did the stop doing the badges for the entire thing? $40 a pop/day seems expensive to me.
Click to expand...

Opens up a ton more badges. Many people who bought four day badges were not going all four days; but were using up 4 badge-days worth of tickets.

Aztechnology said:
Names on badges and random checks at the door could potentially work wonders.
Click to expand...

Would take us hours even with 100 stations to pass badges out, and what happens if I buy my wife a ticket under my name and then she gets stopped? Or if I want to share a badge with a friend for a few hours to check out the expo hall while I go get lunch or dinner? (That's a big one due to the heavy local ticket purchases).

Thought of; lots of unintended consequences as well as creating congestion at entrances (fire hazard, and the fire marshal already gives PAX the stinkeye from my understanding).

The key takeaway of that interview is this - 1% of tickets are sold to scalpers.
 
O

OtakuReborn124

Neo Member
Got in queue at 1:06 and it's 2:09 now. Managed to score 3 of each set since 4 for Saturday wasn't an option, so presumably I took the last Saturday tickets (my bad).

Christ, that was nerve-wracking as fuck. But at least I can finally attend PAX Prime (which I guess they renamed to PAX West now)! First time in!
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
OtakuReborn124 said:
Got in queue at 1:06 and it's 2:09 now. Managed to score 3 of each set since 4 for Saturday wasn't an option, so presumably I took the last Saturday tickets (my bad).

Christ, that was nerve-wracking as fuck. But at least I can finally attend PAX Prime (which I guess they renamed to PAX West now)! First time in!
Click to expand...

My god it looks like I missed Saturday tickets by two minutes. I got in at 1:08 and still waiting. I guess buying just Saturday from someone isn't that bad.
 
TriAceJP

TriAceJP

Member
This is stupid. I'm at work and I'm spending my lunch break babysitting the webpage on my phone and still probably won't get a Sunday or Saturday pass.

Who decides these times? It's idiotic.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
TriAceJP said:
This is stupid. I'm at work and I'm spending my lunch break babysitting the webpage on my phone and still probably won't get a Sunday or Saturday pass.

Who decides these times? It's idiotic.
Click to expand...
It's usually on the hour and in the past has been 10am or 1pm most often. Just gotta sign up for those twitter alerts mang. I wasn't expecting it for a couple days and I had a reminder set, but my friend texted me.
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
It's worth noting that you usually can get Saturday passes on the street for $5-$10 over the base price in front of the Convention Center (at least as of 2014 - wasn't at PAX West last year).
 
L

Lone_Prodigy

Member
PA's site and Reddit shouldn't have too many scalpers on there.

I remember when I went, I traded badges with someone (for a different day). Met him outside the convention centre on Friday and walked up to an attendant who verified our badges (UV light?)
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
Cybit said:
It's worth noting that you usually can get Saturday passes on the street for $5-$10 over the base price in front of the Convention Center (at least as of 2014 - wasn't at PAX West last year).
Click to expand...

Depends on when you're trying to buy. It's the same guys out there every year. Usually they sell them for like 3x the cost pre opening. Then like 2x early day. Friends have asked at the door before.

I've never seen someone selling passes that cheap unless it was late into the afternoon.
 
S

Struct09

Member
Cybit said:
It's worth noting that you usually can get Saturday passes on the street for $5-$10 over the base price in front of the Convention Center (at least as of 2014 - wasn't at PAX West last year).
Click to expand...

Also keep an eye on Seattle's craigslist. While there's obviously people trying to scalp there as well you can usually also find people selling them for around cost.
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
Lone_Prodigy said:
PA's site and Reddit shouldn't have too many scalpers on there.

I remember when I went, I traded badges with someone (for a different day). Met him outside the convention centre on Friday and walked up to an attendant who verified our badges (UV light?)
Click to expand...

Super important for anyone buying tickets from scalpers. Before you buy them, Enforcers / Staff should be outside checking badges for legitimacy. Get them checked before purchasing!
 
C

Cybit

FGC Waterboy
Aztechnology said:
Depends on when you're trying to buy. It's the same guys out there every year. Usually they sell them for like 3x the cost pre opening. Then like 2x early day. Friends have asked at the door before.

I've never seen someone selling passes that cheap unless it was late into the afternoon.
Click to expand...

Usually my friends I have to get badges for don't show up till like noon or so anyway. :D

Struct09 said:
Also keep an eye on Seattle's craigslist. While there's obviously people trying to scalp there as well you can usually also find people selling them for around cost.
Click to expand...

Indeed. If you are local to Seattle - about the week before a ton of badges will come on sale. Ask your friends, etc.

Also - remember that this is NOT the only PAX West Ticket Sale. There will be one more later on after they reclaim badges from scalpers. Keep tuned to the PAX twitter in the months ahead.
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
Kyou said:
Sunday is now SOLD OUT!
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I'm closing the queue. No point now. Hopefully I can get some released passes later like I did last year or from a nice Gaffer.

Edit: oh I got through and there's Sat/Sund.... never mind when I added and tried to order it says sold out.
 
L

Levyne

Banned
I was able to get tickets for Pax East last year at a reasonable price through VividSeats. I dunno if that helps anyway but they were legitimate tickets.
 
C

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Of course I didn't see this topic earlier :/ Well in queue but will prob get nothing, again this year. Had to buy from a guy last year...
 
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