How to Buy Sold Out Tickets Online

There are many sites out there that will advertise:
"Cheapest Tickets" "Beat Any Price" "Cheap Seats"

What they don't tell you except in microscopic print is that they add a "service fee" on top of the cost of the tickets. In some cases its as high as 30 percent! So an order that was supposed to come out to $200 is now $260. And guess what? If the show gets canceled or is rained out they will keep your $60!!

Don't worry though, there are plenty of reputable companies that have a minimal and if your lucky sometimes NO SERVICE FEE.

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When you are at the final order screen and its time to enter in your personal information there are two main things to look for: "https" and "SSL Lock".
http://www.mysite.com - Normal Site Address
https://www.mysite.com - Secure Site Address

If the final order page does not have "https:" at the start of its address then it is NOT SECURE.

However, having only "https" is not enough. If the site is actually secure then your browser will display an icon of a yellow lock on the bottom right corner if you use Internet Explorer. If you do not see this lock then there could be a chance that the site does not have all of its security set up properly.

Verisign and Thawte are the two main providers of SSL certificates. SSL stands for "Secure Socket Layer" and what it does is verify that both you and the website you are on are the only computers that can see the sensitive information that is being sent. If there were no such thing as SSL then any hacker-kid could find a way to get inbetween your computer and the website and read the information as it is sent, not good.

In a nutshell SSL puts a lock on the information, and only your computer and the website you are using will have the key. Now, if you're thinking about how real keys can be copied or stolen let me explain how it is different. In a word: MATH.

You may have seen some sites boasting 128bit encryption. What it means is the key that is needed to unlock/view the information is a number that is 128 digits long. Their are so many different combination that if a hacker tried to guess the key once a second it would take more than 100 years!

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What happens when the game is rained out?
What if the show is canceled?
What if FedEx doesn't deliver on time?
Will you get your money back?
Will you get the shipping costs back?

Somewhere on the site there should be a description of what happens in these types of situations. You may be surprised by the different policies out there. Some companies will only refund you the price of the ticket. Some will also refund shipping. Some will refund the ticket and shipping, but they won't refund any "service" fees that they add on to your order.

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If you can't find the phone number then they probably don't want you calling. What happens if there is a problem?

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BBB Membership assures you that the business is legitmate and has a registered physical place where their business is conducted.

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It is required by the BBB for companies to have a Privacy policy on their page that informs you about what types of information they collect. Any company that does not have this posted is a little less trustworthy.

Another thing to look for when considering where to buy your sold out event tickets is whether or not the company you're purchasing from is a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers. Members of this organizaiton are held to strict standards when it comes to online ticket sales, and are held accountable if they are not filling their customers orders properly or efficiently. Any ticket broker site that is a member of this organization has a higher degree of trust associated with it.