How to avoid ticket scams that can shake you off Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in New Orleans
By Justin Mitchell and
Howard Cohen
Before even having tickets on hand, third-party sites were selling the chance to attend the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in New Orleans for $1,300 or more.
Swifties with the Ticketmaster pre-code for Thursday weren’t even in the queue yet when tickets were popping up on StubHub, Vivid Seat and SeatGeek.
Those sites are already preparing to re-sell tickets to those who spent what seemed like eras to get tickets to one of the three Superdome concerts in October 2024, only to be waitlisted to hope for the best.
If, like thousands of fellow Swifties, you failed to scoop up tickets for the three New Orleans shows in the second leg of the record-setting Eras Tour, you may be tempted to buy tickets from a secondary market.
Be careful.
Taylor Swift performs for the fourth night of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles on Aug. 7, 2023. Swift is ending the first U.S. leg of her tour with a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium. The second leg of the North American Tour begins in Miami on Oct. 18, 2024. Sandy Hooper USA TODAY
Don’t buy Taylor Swift tickets before sale begins
There are still two more days of pre-sale for the Eras Tour in New Orleans.
“Consumers should be aware that even reputable sites like StubHub or SeatGeek list speculative tickets for sale before an event is placed on sale by an artist. That means that the seller is selling a ticket before they actually have the ticket in hand and they are betting they can fulfill the ticket order. If they can’t fulfill the order, more reputable sites will offer a credit for the ticket or an order refund, but the fan is still left without a ticket and no way of getting in to see the show,” a Ticketmaster rep said in an email sent to the Miami Herald earlier this week.
Many may turn to the resale market over the next 14 months. Some could wind up with counterfeit or no tickets at all. Some popular sites set up security measures to help ward off scammers.
At StubHub, “there’s no incentive for anyone to attempt to sell a ticket they don’t have, as they will not be paid unless the buyer gets into the event successfully,” a StubHub rep said. “They can also be charged penalty fees and banned for any abuse of our policies.”
▪ Avoid buying off the street or on social media when you don’t know the person— use a trusted service. Don’t pay with cash, money transfer or payment apps since it’s harder or impossible to track your purchase — you may not be able to recoup your money if there are issues with the tickets. Pay Pal is a better idea because transactions can be tracked. Ticketmaster, as the official retailer, is safe. StubHub has security measures, like a FanProtect Guarantee that backs each purchase and claims to have accessible customer service when there’s an issue.
▪ Watch out for scams when you are not on a regulated site with a guarantee. Make sure you’re getting a link to an actual Ticketmaster mobile ticket from the seller. “If the deal is too good to be true, it’s probably not true,” StubHub says.
Taylor Swift performs for the fourth night of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles on Aug. 7, 2023. Swift is ending the first U.S. leg of her tour with a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium. The second leg of the North American Tour begins in Miami on Oct. 18, 2024. Sandy Hooper USA TODAY
▪ Don’t give your credit card information over the phone to people you don’t know, according to a Ticketmaster blog that warns of scams. “Be cautious when purchasing tickets from unknown individuals — especially if they ask for a method that’s a direct transfer of money and doesn’t clearly specify you’re making a purchase. Same goes for giving someone your credit card information over the phone, which is never recommended,” Ticketmaster warned.
▪ Ticketmaster says common scams include asking for an Amazon Gift Card, iTunes Gift Card, money order or any other third-party gift card as a form of payment in exchange for tickets.
▪ You may also be asked to wire funds as a form of payment in exchange for tickets or “to go to a store and buy a gift card.” Don’t do it.
▪ Ticketmaster suggests using mobile tickets, so be wary if someone wants to sell you a paper or printed ticket. They could be counterfeit. Mobile tickets sold through Ticketmaster have bar codes that continually refresh to help verify they are the real deal.
▪ When you do get your tickets digitally, download them to your phone’s wallet so they are readily accessed, even without an internet connection.
▪ If a seller is too eager to sell and asks you what dates you are looking for and that they have tickets for multiple dates, you need to calm down, to quote a “Lover” album hit you’re likely going to hear at the concert. This behavior sounds like a scam, says a Swiftie expert with the Cincinnati Enquirer. They should be able to tell you specifically upfront what day they have tickets for, how many, and what the seat numbers are.
▪ If a seller is selling too cheap, or below cost, and seems too excited, be wary. The tickets might not be real. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, seats for the Eras Tour cost between $49 to $449 before fees, with VIP packages ranging from $199 to $899.
▪ Ask a seller you don’t know or from an unregulated site to take a screen shot of the tickets they are sending via their Ticketmaster app at the time of your chat before you send them any form of payment. You can then have a better idea if the tickets are legit.
▪ Don’t rush. Though we bet demand will stay high after this initial rush and a week or two before the October 2024 dates, you may find tickets in your budget. Consider single tickets because they are harder to sell. Perhaps weekday shows rather than weekend. These sometimes go for a lower price, StubHub says.
Taylor Swift performers during the first night of the Cincinnati stop of the Eras Tour at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, June 30, 2023. Sam Greene The Enquirer/USA TODAY NETWORK
Justin Mitchell is the Sun Herald senior news editor and works on McClatchy’s audience engagement and development team. He also reports on LGBTQ issues in the Deep South, particularly focusing on Mississippi.
Miami Herald consumer trends reporter Howard Cohen, a 2017 Media Excellence Awards winner, has covered pop music, theater, health and fitness, obituaries, municipal government, breaking news and general assignment. He started his career in the Features department at the Miami Herald in 1991. Cohen is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Communication.Support my work with a digital subscription
