Tick Tock! A Race Against the Illegal Ticket Bot! 

There are lots of different types of bots out there with so many different purposes. And, believe it or not, not all bots were created with the intention of helping. You see, with retail bots, sneaker bots, or even NFT bots; it’s almost always fun and games. People with the bots get there first, others cop off resale platforms if they want to. But, with a ticket bot, it’s VERY different.

What are Ticket Bots?

A ticket bot carries out activities called scraping or scalping of products, mainly tickets. They create fraud accounts in bulk and get around purchasing limits to buy the entire stock! Sometimes they even take over other people’s legitimate accounts too! They monitor the ticket website, reserve tickets beforehand, and then purchase them! 

We’ll paint a picture for you.

Let’s say Kanye West announced a once-in-a-lifetime tour with tickets available for purchase offline. Now, the tour has a specific time and date which you HAVE to stick to. You log online to buy said tickets, until LO AND BEHOLD…they’re sold out completely! It isn’t humanly possible for tickets to sell out completely within the given time frame. So, what gives?

This is the act of none other than a broker with a ticket bot! Now, how is this any different from sneaker botting? Well, although a sneaker bot does allow users to cop sneakers in bulk, ticketing bots go beyond that. Users could find themselves buying over 1,000 tickets to a single concert. And, the resale prices they choose to put are often %1,000 above retail! 

Now, despite the competitiveness of the retail, NFT, and sneaker industry; the prices are still much more reasonable. And, people are not in a time crunch forced to buy the tickets before the concert. So, this definitely makes a ticket bot unfair. This brings us to the next point:

IS A TICKET BOT LEGAL?

In 2015, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer went on a rampage on the Internet over a ticket bot incident. He called it unfair use of copyrighted content concerning convert tickets! A lot of websites have tried developing anti-bot software, security measure, and fraud-fighting tactics. In 2012, TicketMaster invested MILLIONS of dollars in software to fend off any ticket bot attack. 

Needless to say, it was not enough.

So, this prompted authorities to take it a step further and create legislation against bots. Technically, ONLY against every ticket bot out there. This means that all other types of bots – including retail, NFTs, AND sneaker! The legislation “would prohibit ‘the unfair and deceptive act’ of using bots and other software to circumvent safeguards designed to ensure that concertgoers have fair access to buy tickets”. It also includes a fine for resellers up to $1,000! 

Actually, this bill was similar to the Better Online Ticket Sales Act – aka, the BOTS Act. This was a nationwide ban on these bots used for purchasing and bypassing venue rules. However, it didn’t say ANYTHING about automated checkout software used for sneakers and apparel! 

Are Ticket Bot Users Fined?

Well, enforcement of these bills is definitely tricky. We live in a virtual world and catching a ticket bot user is not the easiest thing to do. Keeping bots in check is generally an ongoing war that bots seem to be constantly winning! However, take it from us, stick to the legal bots like retail, NFTs, and sneakers!