There’s more than one way to thwart a scalper, and artists and venues have tried everything from will-call-only shows, to voiding ducats found on secondary sites, to paperless ticketing in efforts to get real fans in the building.
Now, one arena in Tupelo, Miss., has come up with a new solution to scalping – by limiting sales of tickets to ZIP codes within a predetermined area.
BancorpSouth Arena is testing out the policy beginning with an Eric Church concert in April.
In analyzing sales data, officials from the venue apparently found that most purchasers come from North Mississippi, Alabama or Tennessee. But for every onsale, there’s usually a number of tickets sold in other states – sometimes as far away as California. So instead of voiding tickets sold out of the area after the fact, the venue will do it up front.
A notice on the Ticketmaster page for the upcoming Eric Church concert at the venue notes the location of the arena.
“Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of Mid-South and Southeast area,” the note states. “Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside the Mid-South and Southeast area will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
BancorpSouth Director Todd Hunt told the local Daily Journal the policy isn’t perfect, but should edge out some scalper sales and give true fans a chance at face-value tickets.
“We realize that may cut into a grandma who lives in Utah who wants to buy a ticket for her grandson as a gift,” Hunt said. “It makes it harder to buy tickets as a gift. It’s not a perfect solution, but grandma may have to mail a check to mom to buy the tickets.”