In a down economy with no job, you have to find ways to make money right?

Example 1 and 2 pictured above are what keeps me floating along with my rainy day account and unemployment benefits.

I’ve been doing the ticket re-selling thing for about 3 years now. It helped me make some good money in college, and I cant complain about the miles it got me on my AMEX (Australia? Hmmm). I remember I had a season ticket account for every team from the Yankees, Mets, some Warriors/Cavs plans, Bills, Cowboys, and Titans. Did great on some, broke even on others, and lost bits of money here and there. The only area where I lost money was when buying individual events like concerts or plays that I thought would have solid demand, but ended up costing me because the market just collapsed or I overestimated the popularity or selling power of an act. But, there are then your Billy Joel or Kanye West or Phish tickets that will make you laugh all the way to the bank.

Ticket re-selling isn’t as profitable as it once was. You have soccer moms, droves of college students and now with the economy the way it is, everyone’s doing it. Some of the newbie’s who have entered cut prices right away for no apparent reason or just take minimal profit when they can really make so much more. Why order tickets for a total of $160.00 and be fine selling them on Stubhub for $200.00 when you can get so much more? That’s a 20 percent profit and its always great to stay in the black instead of the red, but you don’t get into this unless you want to make some serious mula. But, many of these new kids on the block panic once they see a ticket cheaper than theirs in a similar section and immediately, out of fear that the market is going to tank.

This is my third year with Yankees season tickets. My first year was great because of the playoff appearance. Last year was ehhhh, but I didn’t lose any money. This year has been great so far. I’ve made more profit combined than I made in my first two go arounds. Its all because of the new stadium, their signings, and this being a major market with loads of $$ in it – bad economy or not.

I also have a Phillies season plan which I’ve had since the beginning of the 2007 season. I lost a few hundred in my first year, but when the playoff games arrived against Colorado, I made my losses back and some profit. Entering last year, I was a bit hesitant to renew, but I did. Lucky for me, the Phillies won the title and I had a total of 7 home games that averaged anywhere from 200.00 to 700.00 a ticket on the open market. Oh, and my tickets per game in the playoffs were an average of $40.00 to a $80.00 a piece, so I guess you can do the math and see I did pretty (understatement) well.

Now, there will inevitably be folks who run into this post and their opinion of me will drop and they’ll call me this and that. Scalper, reseller, broker, etc. No one ever has a great view of them (us); but this is a free market right? I don’t do this full-time. I only do this when it needs to be done so I can’t be put in the same boat as the full-time folks. Considering I’m out of a job like the other millions of Americans, can you really blame me? If you yourself knew how to make money off something, you’d do the exact same thing.

At the end of the day, whether a show has no demand and tickets are selling on sites like Stubhub for $20.00; or it has high demand and selling for $300.00, people will pay for it. Phillies WS tickets were 500 per ticket and up and the place was sold out. Arizona Cardinals tickets were running for 300.00 a piece and the place was sold out. Tickets aren’t a necessity, they are a luxury.

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