By: Staff Reports Knight Ridder, Gannett Properties Sign Up
Most newspapers are not able to offer direct ticketing to arts
and entertainment events on their Web sites. But a new vendor is
helping papers offer secondary ticket sales online.
San Francisco-based LiquidSeats Inc. offers a turnkey online
system for the re-selling of tickets. The company has been around
for about 10 months and already has several newspaper Web sites
using its services, including Knight Ridder's BayArea.com, ANG
Newspapers' InsideBayArea.com, McClatchy's SacBee.com, and
Gannett's azcentral.com in Phoenix.
At BayArea.com, the ticketing section is called Bay Area StubHub,
and is co-branded with the look and feel of BayArea.com.
The LiquidSeats system allows users to sell their extra tickets
to local sporting and entertainment events, and gives buyers the
opportunity to purchase tickets to sold-out events. The sellers
set ticket prices and buyers must pay a delivery fee and service
fee, which is shared between LiquidSeats and the affiliate Web
site.
Unlike eBay and other online marketplaces, LiquidSeats takes
responsibility for ticket delivery via Federal Express. The
company also works with PayPal, CyberCash, Wells Fargo, and
VeriSign to monitor transactions and process payments.
Jeff Fluhr, CEO of LiquidSeats, said the company's model is to
handle everything. "The buyer and seller don't even know who each
other are," he said.
Besides sold-out events, the service can offer tickets for games
or events that season ticket holders can't attend. Fluhr points
out that many corporations own season tickets that sometimes go
un-used.
Fluhr hopes more newspapers will consider his service. He points
out that for years many secondary ticket sellers have placed
classifieds in newspapers to sell their extra tickets. This
online service is a natural extension of that, he said.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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