tickets and how it could be done better

[tweed1981]

Paying the full price in one go in October, would put the cats amongst the pidgeons as it were.

I disagree with this, tickets go on sale at the start of October and balances are due at the start of April, either way it's just after payday. You've got to have the money minus £50 in April so why wouldn't people be able to find it in Ocotber?

[gooner1990]

I disagree with this, tickets go on sale at the start of October and balances are due at the start of April, either way it's just after payday. You've got to have the money minus £50 in April so why wouldn't people be able to find it in Ocotber?

 

I think you'd see a lot less people trying for tickets. 

[grayfitz]

Save up during the year means about £20 a month into a seperate account and then you have the full price. Simple.

 

If you're also saving for every other expenses that comes with going to the festival (camping gear, spending money etc.), by the time you're back from Glastonbury you've only got 3 paydays to save up the next £220.

 

£80 per month for 3 months is more than a lot of people can save if they're not working a job that pays more than NMW.

[Hugh Jass]

I disagree with this, tickets go on sale at the start of October and balances are due at the start of April, either way it's just after payday. You've got to have the money minus £50 in April so why wouldn't people be able to find it in Ocotber?

It'd make buying in groups incredibly difficult. Whoever gets through would need £1000-£1500 in their account.

[guypjfreak]

My mum expressed shock that I didn't get tickets while people she knew who hadn't been before got tickets. She said regulars should get first dibs. Mums know best!

(I don't agree with her really.)

always look after your regulars .........its normal business sence isnt it old son

[FloorFiller]

always look after your regulars .........its normal business sence isnt it old son

 

if this was the standard practice with tickets then it'd very soon reach the point where there would be no new people allowed to go to Glastonbury until some of the regulars started dying off

[guypjfreak]

It'd make buying in groups incredibly difficult. Whoever gets through would need £1000-£1500 in their account.

yea and who has that sort of dosh ???   i still really like the idea of losing the whole £50 if you pull out and NO REREGISTRATION after tix day

[guypjfreak]

if this was the standard practice with tickets then it'd very soon reach the point where there would be no new people allowed to go to Glastonbury until some of the regulars started dying off

na you wouldnt the festivals are changing so fast nowadays [ musicwise sizewise ] that alot of people just move on to slightly smaller ones ..its like the youngsters that go to reading /leeds some  grow up and move on ..tis normal old son ..lots of people i used to go to glasto with do even think about going to glasto any more ...

[DeanoL]

But in that case they are taking one of the normal tickets out of play with an unfair advantage, so the system is still flawed and biased.

 

Premium glamping tickets come out of the workers/staff allocation, as do corporate freebies. You'd have to be very stupid to risk £700 on entering the ballot three times when you can just pay that much and get a ticket from elsewhere.

 

No its not, we go through this every year. Read some of the threads discussing what people were people successful and you will soon find its down to luck.

 

When it comes to the conspiracy theories: yes. When it comes to the 'basics' - we all know the best way is to keep refreshing the page, and have a couple of browsers open. That's the opposite of what the page tells you to do: it says to wait and keep just one browser/tab open. Then it just mentions that you can refresh manually if you want, but at no point does it make it clear that that's the best way to get through. Most people will just do what they're told, I'd imagine a good 50% of people trying just open one browser, load the page, and let it refresh every 20 seconds like the instructions say.

 

Clearly the knowledge we have does give an advantage, as the success rate is much higher here than, anecdotally, it seems to be elsewhere. Just because reading up on things here doesn't guarantee a ticket, doesn't mean it doesn't confer any advantage.

[DeanoL]

If you're also saving for every other expenses that comes with going to the festival (camping gear, spending money etc.), by the time you're back from Glastonbury you've only got 3 paydays to save up the next £220.

 

£80 per month for 3 months is more than a lot of people can save if they're not working a job that pays more than NMW.

 

Whereas now there's only two paydays between paying for the ticket and going the festival, where you incur all those expenses.

 

[justanothername]

na you wouldnt the festivals are changing so fast nowadays [ musicwise sizewise ] that alot of people just move on to slightly smaller ones ..its like the youngsters that go to reading /leeds some  grow up and move on ..tis normal old son ..lots of people i used to go to glasto with do even think about going to glasto any more ...

Still make it harder for new people to go. Everyone should get the same chance regardless of how long they've been going. It is a festival, not some sort of club that you have special priotiy because you went a few times. Also how are people meant to become regulars if the same people keep taking tickets?

Edited October 7, 2015 by justanothername

[tweed1981]

Premium glamping tickets come out of the workers/staff allocation, as do corporate freebies. You'd have to be very stupid to risk £700 on entering the ballot three times when you can just pay that much and get a ticket from elsewhere.

 

 

When it comes to the conspiracy theories: yes. When it comes to the 'basics' - we all know the best way is to keep refreshing the page, and have a couple of browsers open. That's the opposite of what the page tells you to do: it says to wait and keep just one browser/tab open. Then it just mentions that you can refresh manually if you want, but at no point does it make it clear that that's the best way to get through. Most people will just do what they're told, I'd imagine a good 50% of people trying just open one browser, load the page, and let it refresh every 20 seconds like the instructions say.

 

Clearly the knowledge we have does give an advantage, as the success rate is much higher here than, anecdotally, it seems to be elsewhere. Just because reading up on things here doesn't guarantee a ticket, doesn't mean it doesn't confer any advantage.

 

I think that's is taking it a bit too far. Doubtless some people may sit there and allow the page to countdown but as you say it also gives you the option of refreshing manually. You cant argue a system is unfair because some people sit there gormlessly looking at the screen despite the option to refresh being given to them plain as day on the screen. In any case read through the threads on here and some people swear by doing just that and having success anyway.

[tweed1981]

It'd make buying in groups incredibly difficult. Whoever gets through would need £1000-£1500 in their account.

 

Certainly what it would do is swing the bias more towards the organised. I would have no issue getting my group to get all the money in one account in advance of the sale. it wouldn't bother me but for those who think a ballot is fairer it would make the current system seem even less fair.

 

Would it make tickets easier to get? Potentially yes, although not by much, it would weed out the people who just buy one to wait and see. The knock on effect would be even less tickets available in the resale though, so if you fail in the main sale anyway then it would be pretty much game over, swings and roundabouts.

[guypjfreak]

Certainly what it would do is swing the bias more towards the organised. I would have no issue getting my group to get all the money in one account in advance of the sale. it wouldn't bother me but for those who think a ballot is fairer it would make the current system seem even less fair.

 

Would it make tickets easier to get? Potentially yes, although not by much, it would weed out the people who just buy one to wait and see. The knock on effect would be even less tickets available in the resale though, so if you fail in the main sale anyway then it would be pretty much game over, swings and roundabouts.

i think stopping the "potentially yes" people is very importent ..

[majormajormajor]

What would people make of a random lottery? 

 

I used to like the idea. It completely levels the playing field. Now, I'm not sure that's a good idea. I've come around to the status quo - I think if you really want a ticket, you'll get one. The resale proves much easier. Then there's the secret unannounced resales, which are an absolute doddle - if you know what you're doing, it's piss easy to get a ticket in them.

[Morgs74]

Then why not? At those sort of numbers though, you will start to actually limit your chances to a point where it's significant (though not high) - you essentially won't have a shot at the last 999 tickets, so you're 0.7% or so less likely to get in than smaller groups.

 

I'd posit that in such a ballot system though, the chances of your group of 1000 all getting tickets would be significantly higher than the chance of all 1000 getting tickets in the current system - you'd need 166 successful groups of six (and one group of four). Even if the success rate of a given group is a (generous) 80%, the chance of all 1000 of you getting tickets is therefore 0.000000000000000065467812%

 

So in short, you'd be far better off!

To be precise, using the 80% figure, you're about 1.2 (European) trillion times more likely to get tickets for your entire group.

Absolutely love this post.

[sime]

I like to feel that I am in control (from a human not server perspective) to do everything I could to try and get a ticket. Even if I were not able to get a ticket after all my F5ing etc, at least i would have felt like I did all I could physically. The process as it stands allows this, a lottery doesn't.

[verrymerry]

The current system is fair... It just sucks when you don't get lucky!

I know, I've been there!

[Peroni]

A much calmer T day for me at the moment trying get Harry Potter tickets online... a nice priority queue system with a countdown telling me how many people are head of me in the Q

 

 

[JoeyT]

I'm surprised the conclusion of it couldn't be done better hasn't been reached yet...

There will be those who get lucky and those that don't. End of story.

[stuartbert two hats]

I'm surprised the conclusion of it couldn't be done better hasn't been reached yet...

There will be those who get lucky and those that don't. End of story.

That's because that's not true.  I was lucky enough to get a ticket this year, but I also  was presented with a white screen many times and had the system timing out at every stage in the process, forcing me to hit back.  I don't think there is a fairer way, but the clusterfuck of timeouts, white screens and generally hostile experience can clearly be done better.

[dentalplan]

A much calmer T day for me at the moment trying get Harry Potter tickets online... a nice priority queue system with a countdown telling me how many people are head of me in the Q

You probably wouldn't be very calm if you were in the queue for Glastonbury and were told you were 250,000th in the queue with a six hours to wait.

Edited October 28, 2015 by dentalplan

[eFestivals]

That's because that's not true.  I was lucky enough to get a ticket this year, but I also  was presented with a white screen many times and had the system timing out at every stage in the process, forcing me to hit back.  I don't think there is a fairer way, but the clusterfuck of timeouts, white screens and generally hostile experience can clearly be done better.

a white screen is exactly the same as any other not-getting-tickets-from-this-page page.

The only hostile thing I'm seeing is your reaction to the system.

 

[Crazyfool01]

That's because that's not true.  I was lucky enough to get a ticket this year, but I also  was presented with a white screen many times and had the system timing out at every stage in the process, forcing me to hit back.  I don't think there is a fairer way, but the clusterfuck of timeouts, white screens and generally hostile experience can clearly be done better.

As can the multiple failures once card details have been added , this seems to be like someone waving the tickets in front of your face and then pulling them away and laughing at the purchaser . Luckily I succeded but know several people who put in details and were kicked off , went back and did it again and the same thing happened

[stuartbert two hats]

a white screen is exactly the same as any other not-getting-tickets-from-this-page page.

The only hostile thing I'm seeing is your reaction to the system.

 

No it's not.  It's a white screen.  You do your best not to show a blank screen when eFestivals is undergoing maintenance, under severe load or unable to process requests for some other reason.  You really think that having to click back and resubmit your details multiple times in order to get a ticket is a decent UX?

Edited October 28, 2015 by stuartbert two hats
added "unable to process requests"