Photo from Barry’s Tickets

Originally Posted On: https://www.barrystickets.com/blog/how-early-should-you-buy-tickets-for-local-events/

Did you know that the average concert ticket price in the United States has increased to almost $100?

It can be hard to know when the right time to buy a ticket to local events is. People debate whether or not you should try to purchase tickets before they even go on sale or if you should wait until they are nearly sold out.

How do you know if buying early will save you money over the longer term? Is it better to take a strategy of buying last minute to find the best deal? How do you know you won’t end up paying more?

In this article, we will walk you through everything you need to know about when to buy tickets for different events, so you don’t end up with an up-charge at the gate.

How Important Is the Ticket

When deciding whether to buy tickets right away or at the last minute, the most crucial question is how badly you want to go to the event. If it’s a concert by an artist you love but rarely get to see, you should approach it differently than if it’s a game by your hometown sports team, which plays dozens of games in your own backyard every year.

Think of this as a much smaller version of supply and demand. If you’re sure you want to go to an event, you won’t want to risk not getting a ticket by waiting. Even if you pay a little more by buying right away, it will be worthwhile if you want to see something.

If you’re not as interested in something and will have other chances to see something similar, you might be better off waiting.

Is The Event Likely to Sell Out

If the event you want to go to is likely to sell out, that’s something else to think about. If the event is sold out, the only way to get tickets will be through the secondary market, which isn’t always bad.

But the price of tickets on the secondary market can change because of many different things. If you wait until the last minute, you might find that tickets on the secondary market are cheaper than when they first went on sale at the box office. But that won’t be the case all the time.

If there aren’t that many tickets for sale on the secondary market, prices probably won’t drop by much if you wait. If you want to buy concert tickets for a limited tour with only a few stops, prices will likely keep going up.

Obviously, if the event isn’t going to sell out, it will be much easier to keep an eye on prices in both the primary and secondary markets. This will make it easier to wait until the last minute to find the best deal.

You might not believe this, but the best time to buy tickets is actually before they go on sale. These sales of tickets are called “presales,” and only special members, VIPs, and people who know the host or the band can buy them.

You can often pay a fee to join a band’s particular fan club, giving you access to these presales while everyone else waits for the regular sales to be announced.

The Regular Sales Period

If you don’t want to spend so much time, money, and effort on the presale, you can just wait until the actual concert ticket sale and buy them as soon as they go online. If you do this, you can buy concert tickets early and have a good chance of getting the best seats in the house, even if they are in the front row.

If you can’t get tickets as soon as they go on sale, you can try again in a few hours or wait until the day of the concert to get tickets from people who had to cancel and don’t want them anymore.

Sports Games

Buying a ticket to a game isn’t the same as purchasing a ticket to a concert because each team has more than one event.

Individual game ticket prices from the teams or the primary seller (if one is available) will be higher than those on the secondary market. This is because teams use dynamic pricing to raise or lower individual game prices depending on the opponent or date of the game.

Season ticket holders, often ticket brokers, are locked into a fixed price per game for their seat or seats. This means they can sell their seats for less than the primary sellers asking for more popular games. This is especially true if you have season tickets to the MLB or NBA, where there aren’t as many sold-out games.

Finding Tickets To Local Events

At the end of the day, the best approach may be to try to purchase tickets to local events before they even go on sale. When tickets go on presale to only special members, you may score a VIP price. Often, you can use the extra money you save to purchase merchandise or join a fan club for the band or artist.

However, there are always exceptions to this rule. You can use an online ticket provider to search through different events and see their prices over time. If you’re interested in finding tickets to local events near you, check out our website here