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There has to be a better way to allocate tickets


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2 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Before internet sales, what did people do to buy a glasto ticket? Theres a portion of people on here that had that experience 20 years ago and beyond right? What would you say if they made that the process?

Pretty much the same as any other gig - when I first went you could buy tickets through ticket agencies, send a cheque (not forgetting a SAE), through the CND Bookshop in London, over the phone, and I think I used get mine in Virgin Records (it was easy to bunk in then too!). You could also walk up and pay on the gate each day.

That though, was then. It was a much smaller festival (30,000-sh my first year) and certainly wasn't in the public consciousness. Now it's a different matter. Thoughts of queuing up for tickets at Wembley Stadium (!?) or the likes, is an absolute non-starter for various reasons.

What we have is a fair system. Some people get 35/35 tickets, many get 0/2. Some get through on 3G/4G, others with fancy set-ups and multiple mates trying, don't. That shows the randomness of it, and randomness equals fairness. The only issue I had today was that the servers struggled. When you can't even get through to the holding page you have lost control of everything. They need to improve this, but the system itself is fine.

Ultimately of course, demand massively outstrips supply and whatever way you do it, the odds are against you, but can you image having to travel to, and book a hotel in London and join a queue of tens or hundreds of thousands of people only to find, once you get to the front after 12 hours of queuing, that it's sold out...?

 

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14 minutes ago, henry bear said:

When you can't even get through to the holding page you have lost control of everything. They need to improve this, but the system itself is fine.

 

I used 4 devices, each with a different IP address.  One was on a fast non-domestic network - it secured and maintained the holding page throughout (and was the one I got the tickets through in the end) whilst the others kept on being kicked off.

 

I do think its not just down to Seetickets servers that have to gear up twice a year for massive demand, I also think the various broadband providers (Sky/BT/TalkTalk etc) also struggle with the demand, and also contribute to the problem, acting as a bottle neck before you get through to seeticket's servers...

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1 hour ago, Suprefan said:


So? You want to give more people chances, if you live in the uk, thats your advantage. Again, what did people do before online sales  of tickets for the festival became the standard? They had to show up themselves and buy a ticket from a ticket outlet or go to the festival site itself before sell outs became consistent. Whats so different about doing this now? We have been spoiled by having everything at our fingertips. Instant gratification is a crutch now like same day delivery from Amazon. Earning something rather than feeling you’re entitled to it is a better way to go. 

I mean I was only joking but when I said it 2 months ago, but hey I have a few more crazy ideas  

 

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3 hours ago, Suprefan said:


So? You want to give more people chances, if you live in the uk, thats your advantage. Again, what did people do before online sales  of tickets for the festival became the standard? They had to show up themselves and buy a ticket from a ticket outlet or go to the festival site itself before sell outs became consistent. Whats so different about doing this now? We have been spoiled by having everything at our fingertips. Instant gratification is a crutch now like same day delivery from Amazon. Earning something rather than feeling you’re entitled to it is a better way to go. 

Demand was lower than supply back then and now it isn’t. That and twice as many tickets available. That’s the difference. Not complicated.

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6 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Im just using a current example of somebody of note making the effort to fight tours and to not make it as easy as waking up 5 minutes before a sale and opening an app. It shocked lots of peoole because if you didnt leave near a city then you had to do something about it.

 

i think centralizing the sale would be an idea. Use wembley stadium and have a few hundred people processing sales and It couldnt be that ridiculous. Again, this is about flipping the sale upside down, it would certainly change how things went. Sometimes the oldest ways are the better ways. Human interaction, real physical tickets, all analog. Technology has always been abused when the chance is given.

 

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7 hours ago, MEGABOWL said:

The only way that demand is going to fall is something none of us really want-a 2016 followed by a 2007 followed by a 1998 followed by a festival that’s 5x Friday in 2005. 

They should have Melanie headline it every year, like back in the good old days before all these millenials they have now. That would soon see demand tail off.

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10 hours ago, juzza1234 said:

I used 4 devices, each with a different IP address.  One was on a fast non-domestic network - it secured and maintained the holding page throughout (and was the one I got the tickets through in the end) whilst the others kept on being kicked off.

 

I do think its not just down to Seetickets servers that have to gear up twice a year for massive demand, I also think the various broadband providers (Sky/BT/TalkTalk etc) also struggle with the demand, and also contribute to the problem, acting as a bottle neck before you get through to seeticket's servers...

I think you're right about this. I was on two EE connections and I did at least see the holding page for the whole time (using Chrome and Explorer, safari failed to do anything useful and just couldn't connect), eventually then getting in on one. Two of my friends failed to even get to the holding page.... So that's presumably an issue with their own connection?

The hanging thing while paying is obvs a nightmare, but actually for me it wasn't so much the connection but he constant "all tickets have been allocated" msgs etc. But that's not down to the servers, obvs 

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Apologies if this has already been covered, I haven't read back through the thread.

I still think Glastonbury is a little dated when it comes to ticketing.

I think they should adopt the same system as many other festivals, where you are able to reassign tickets x amount of times, understandably to someone who is already registered.

That alone would alleviate pressure on ticket day, as it is always likely we will know someone that can't make it for one reason or another, and they could have a cut off point for reassigning.

Perhaps Glastonbury wouldn't want to deal with the added admin side, but it works well for other festivals.

And yea, our whole group missed out this year, so this Monday is a little tougher than usual!

Edited by joeltg
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Just now, joeltg said:

Apologies if this has already been covered, I haven't read back through the thread.

I still think Glastonbury is a little dated when it comes to ticketing.

I think the y should adopt the same system as many other festivals, where you are able to reassign tickets x amount of times, understandably to someone who is already registered.

That alone would alleviate pressure on ticket day, as it is always likely we will know someone that can't make it for one reason or another, and they could have a cut off point for reassigning.

Perhaps Glastonbury wouldn't want to deal with the added admin side, but it works well for other festivals.

Wouldn't that just open the door back to touting?

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10 minutes ago, joeltg said:

Apologies if this has already been covered, I haven't read back through the thread.

I still think Glastonbury is a little dated when it comes to ticketing.

I think they should adopt the same system as many other festivals, where you are able to reassign tickets x amount of times, understandably to someone who is already registered.

That alone would alleviate pressure on ticket day, as it is always likely we will know someone that can't make it for one reason or another, and they could have a cut off point for reassigning.

Perhaps Glastonbury wouldn't want to deal with the added admin side, but it works well for other festivals.

And yea, our whole group missed out this year, so this Monday is a little tougher than usual!

Touts would love this, and if you can’t go then you get your deposit back anyway.

actually making the deposit larger and non refundable would reduce the numbers on t day. But I wouldn’t be in favour of that.

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People keep banging on about see tickets needing to fix the tech, but tbf this is a once-a-year event with unprecedented demand and not something you can do a dry run for. The fact that all the tickets get sold so quickly proves that the system is largely working (although I feel for anyone who got thrown out of a booking page). I remember the days of hitting f5 for 4 hours and then being confronted with disappointment.

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Can't we at least make it entertaining, for example like the plot for the film Battle Royale?

"42 9th graders are sent to a deserted island. They are given a map, food, and various weapons. An explosive collar is fitted around their neck. If they break a rule, the collar explodes. Their mission: kill each other and be the last one standing. The last survivor is allowed to leave the island. If there is more than one survivor, the collars explode and kill them all."

So in our case the 42 would be the equivalent number of applicants who want each ticket (*which I think is about 17 based on 2.4m reg/135000 tickets)

Edited by clarkete
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4 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

People keep banging on about see tickets needing to fix the tech, but tbf this is a once-a-year event with unprecedented demand and not something you can do a dry run for. The fact that all the tickets get sold so quickly proves that the system is largely working (although I feel for anyone who got thrown out of a booking page). I remember the days of hitting f5 for 4 hours and then being confronted with disappointment.

Agreed.  It's the equivalent of the complaints that our transport systems aren't geared up to function at 100% during the snowfall that we get once a year.

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Anyone remember the days of pre-internet bookings ?  The Oasis "be here now" tour was one that sticks to mind, 9 fecking hours laid on my dining room floor pressing re-dial on the land line.  You internet youngsters don't know how lucky you are and don't get me talking about RSI !? I must've redialled a number at least 900 times.

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Just now, TheGoodWillOut said:

Anyone remember the days of pre-internet bookings ?  The Oasis "be here now" tour was one that sticks to mind, 9 fecking hours laid on my dining room floor pressing re-dial on the land line.  You internet youngsters don't know how lucky you are and don't get me talking about RSI !? I must've redialled a number at least 900 times.

And all that for the BHN tour - imagine the disappointment ;)

 

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