The overwhelming majority are going to be large brokers who have dozens of phone numbers who signed up for codes, used bots to jump the line and get tickets, and will use a third party wallet asset delivery tool to give the customer a link that opens up the ticket in their Apple or Play wallet. The ticket is legitimate, but there is absolutely nothing that stops the seller from just...creating another asset link and selling the ticket again. Granted, most large scale operations would not do this, because they operate like legitimate businesses, but there are unquestionably some fly-by-night people who pray on these kinds of tours. They do exactly what I've described, and then cancel their "refund" credit cards before the charge backs hit. It's a whole sub-level scummy industry that goes waaaay beyond just traditional scalping. It became prominent after COVID when tons of people successfully scammed StubHub for millions upon millions by just disappearing when the bills came due. That's why restricting transfers just creates a bigger problem. I get what they're trying to do, but it actually makes things even worse.
I noticed a few pops and clicks on highlighter yellow, but nothing that distracted me from enjoying the album as you've described. I'd say try for a replacement and hope that fixes it.
I guess the only upside of not having a date in Portland was missing out on this ticket fiasco. I hope she chooses a venue that’s appropriately sized when she does come here, considering it’s been a decade since Paramore performed here, and their last show here was canceled due to illness. The PNW demand for Hayley Williams either solo or with Paramore, is through the roof.
if they refuse a replacement (which idk why they would), i'll just swing downtown and grab the highlighter yellow variant, since my local store has it for like $30 at the moment.
On the bright side, Weird Al (who is my freakin’ idol) just announced today he’s performing in my hometown for the first time in over 20 years. So things balance out sometimes I suppose. Still hate that I couldn’t get tickets, but this eases the wound a little bit.
I know someone who works for one of these companies, I don’t know the full details like you do but this seems fully accurate. And they make huge amounts of money doing this.