Scalping tickets (it's more common than you think)

Spread throughout the Assembly Hall parking lot, on the sidewalk and across the street before the Iowa game Feb. 11, several men, bundled in coats and warm gear, asked students if they wanted to sell them their tickets, and then they resold them to those who came without.\nThe controversial idea of market-forced transactions that previously could only occur in seedy back alleys now occur openly in front of arenas and on the Internet. A practice that was deemed criminal has evolved into students trying to make an extra buck -- or a few hundred. Ticket scalpers and exchangers buy and sell at will, constrained only by the will of the parties involved. It's legal in Indiana, and people are taking advantage.\n"I'll tell you this, without this gig my family wouldn't eat," said one scalper outside of Assembly Hall who wished to remain anonymous. The conversation was short lived however as he said "I can't tell you anymore, it might mess up my money."\nThe reservations of many scalpers who would not talk, despite scalping being legal in Indiana, can be summed up by that statement about money. Profit margins in the world of scalpers can often be more than twice of the original cost. There is lots of money to be made.\nWhere there is demand, people are usually there to supply, and professionals have taken notice. Several Web sites like www.stubhub.com sell individual tickets for up to $230 a piece, as other scalpers purchase large amounts of tickets in order to resell them.\n"I try not to think about the money part," said Hal Baseman, a Carleton College sophomore who spent $215 for a $32 ticket to attend the IU men's basketball game against the University of Connecticut -- a 571.9 percent increase on the original price. \n"I looked on several sites, but no one had anything available," Baseman said. "I don't think I would do it again, but I had an amazing time." \nThe transaction was the perfect model of how market forces take care of themselves: Baseman wanted a ticket, was willing to pay far more than it was worth and someone had an extra one. Everyone got what they wanted. \nMany students are entering the scalping business with the help of online auction sites such as www.ebay.com and www.stubhub.com. Even IU's own Onestart has become a popular place to buy and sell tickets. Some students conduct transactions for profit, and others buy extra tickets and sell them to break even when they themselves want to attend an event.\n"I'm there when people get lazy and really want to go to an event," said IU freshman David Kereiakes, who has been reselling tickets to sporting events and popular concerts since he was 15. \nKereiakes has always gained on his ventures -- never losing money -- and contends that the work is an "easy way to make money." \nThough the market model is spreading, the trend has reversed at IU according to economics professor Roy Gardner.\n"It wasn't so long ago that IU's face value ticket prices were in the hundreds of dollars," Gardner said. \nHe said the University, which benefited greatly from the team's winning legacy, eventually had ticket prices capped by the Big Ten. \nAlthough Gardner suggested that previous prices often "priced out students," he said the University made a lot more money, although games could only be attended by those who could afford it. Drawing the line between where markets are useful and where they can be dangerous is important, said Gardner. He said the University could run the risk of alienating students by charging more, despite losing a lot of money on the market. This can lead to some of the controversy over the idea of scalping.\n"The primary market often resents the fact that the secondary market makes so much money, and that is where a lot of the controversy begins," Gardner said. "Imagine how much IU could make, especially with an academic department financial deficit"