The Internet has become a major playing field for buyers and sellers of event tickets. One industry that's arisen as a result of this is the secondary event ticket market. From eBay to the local, online mom-and-pop ticket store, everybody's getting into the act. This article discusses the fairly new sub-industry. The Internet has become a major playing field for buyers and sellers of event tickets in the extremely competitive $10-$12 billion event ticket market -- particularly for sold-out sports games and very popular music concerts and plays. Called the secondary event ticket market, this is the part of the event ticket market that includes tickets bought by professional brokers as well as extras that season ticket holders can't use. People estimate the size of the secondary event ticket market to be at about $2 billion although the estimates of its size vary widely. A huge market with tons of small players, the pre-Internet event ticket market was a perfect match for the Internet around 1999, and as we fast-forward to 2006, hundreds mom-and-pop electronic storefronts, auction-based websites and online destinations now resell secondary event tickets. While many of these are smalltime operators, a few major players also exist. As one would expect, eBay members are also in on the act and in a big way. In fact the biggest players of all in the secondary event ticket market are the members of eBay, which as a group sell more than $300 million in event tickets annually and boast by far the biggest community of buyers and sellers. But members of eBay also offer the biggest potential for fraud. Like everything else sold on eBay, stories abound of people getting ripped off by buying fake event tickets. Although buyers can check out how others have rated a given seller, eBay is largely operated on an honor system and offers fertile ground for fraud. To work around this event ticket fraud problem, some secondary event ticket sellers offer 100% guarantees. If you get a bad ticket, they replace it for free. Other secondary event ticket sellers take possession of the event tickets and verify them before listing the event tickets as being available for sale. Online event ticket sales are growing as consumers become more comfortable shopping on the Internet. One source estimates that online event ticket sales will grow by 27 percent this year. Even professional sports teams are involved in the secondary event ticket market. The demand for Chicago Cubs tickets is so high that the team set up their own secondary event ticket market with a team-owned ticket broker. Reselling event tickets, otherwise known as “scalping,” is not against the law. Selling event tickets, however, is often against the law where the event tickets are sold in the immediate vicinity of an event. Thirty-eight states, including California, have no meaningful restrictions on the resale of event tickets. In twelve states, the resale of event tickets is regulated. In about half those states, ticket brokers who take inventory must register with the state. In the remaining six states, event tickets cannot be resold above a maximum price premium. In these states a broker might be allowed to charge 20 percent more than the event ticket’s face value at a maximum. Michael Merten is an Internet marketing specialist who also works as an event ticket broker on the side. He sells tickets to popular, upcoming events through the Rock Concerts and Events Blog and the Pop Concerts and Tickets Blog that feature news, reviews and tickets to upcoming rock and pop concert events. Related Articles - Tickets, Pop Concert Tickets, Rock Concert Tickets, Ticket Broker, Event Tickets,

When you first bring your profession home and begin your stay at home business, you will soon yearn for that tiny little cubicle that you had when you were at an office working for someone else. At least when you were in your own cubicle, you were able to turn your back on impositions and get your work done. However, in an at home atmosphere, this does not always happen. When working for an employer, usually it was a nine to five job where your productivity did not have that much influence on your paycheck at the end of the week. This is not so with your own business. Your salary is DIRECTLY proportional to your productivity. You will need to learn early on in your business how to combat these interruptions, stay focused and on task or you will not be in business for yourself for very long. To be able to overcome your distractions, you will need to recognize where they are coming from. Are they self imposed or are they from family and friends? One self-imposed distraction that can be extremely disruptive is procrastination. It is also easy to fall off task when we have too many interests and try to do all of them at once. This may seem like multi-tasking but really you are just spinning your wheels and exhausting yourself. Self-inflicted distractions are the most difficult to conquer but it can be done. By following a few simple steps, you will have no problem winning against the time wasters. 1. Quiet Time: It is not necessary to step into your office and become involved in the first task on hand immediately. Take a moment to sit and look at your computer and look out of the window. Better yet, step outside for a moment in the morning sun and clear your mind of the daily family activities. This is what you would normally do on your commute from your home to a normal job at an office. Take ten minutes in the morning to begin the transition from family/house life to work life. Begin to think about the projects that are a priority for the day. 2. Create a To Do List: After you have spent a moment “commuting” to work, begin to create a to do list of the projects and tasks that need to be done. It is okay to add to this list throughout the day for additional items that you might have forgotten about. When creating your list, do not just write down a general idea of the project. Give your task a name and break it into milestones. This will eliminate procrastination and make the task easier to manage. This is especially important for long-term projects. Each time you cross off an item on your to do list, it will give you a feeling of accomplishment. 3. Have a Set Schedule for Tasks: Most employees have a set time to work such as your old “nine to five” job. It is also important to follow this same rule when working from home. Have a set time that you will begin work and close up shop at a certain time. Since you own the business, you can choose if you want to work ten hours straight through or break your day into two work periods of five hours each. Also, set a fixed time to answer your email and other daily tasks. You do not have to answer every email that comes to you within minutes of receiving it. Sometimes it is even easier to just turn off your email program all together until your set time. 4. Shut the Door! With smaller children, you will need to address each issue as the need arises. That is not so with older children. They will understand when you tell them you need to work from x to y. Hire an in-home babysitter for younger children or enlist an aunt or grandparent if possible. If the phone becomes a distraction, turn the ringer off for an hour so that you can concentrate on your task. Most of all, do not permit family and friends to distract them. Be firm with them and let them know that you are at work and cannot be disturbed for x amount of time. You will be glad you did. The main key to successfully staying on task while working at home is to identify the problem that exists and nip it in the bud quickly. Copyright @ Suzette Walker http://Candles4EveryMood.com helping others to achieve financial freedom. Most financially successful individuals grow rich by starting their own business. You too can own your own business. Related Articles -