***BCS tickets for sale and free advice***

[AUBroker 0]

**********PLEASE NOTE THIS EDIT. I AM AN EXTREMELY NICE PERSON. THAT BEING SAID, I PUT A CONCERTED EFFORT INTO TYPING THIS POST. IT IS LONG AND THOROUGH FOR A REASON. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE ENTIRE POST, PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ME ASKING A QUESTION THAT CAN EASILY BE ANSWERED BY READING THE POST. I AM A BUSY PERSON AND DO NOT HAVE TIME TO ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT I HAVE ALREADY ADDRESSED IN THIS POST. IF YOU DO SO, I WILL NOT BE EAGER TO HELP YOU OUT. THANK YOU.*************

Dear AUFAMILY members,

I would like to introduce myself to you all. My name is Mark. I am a ticket broker by trade, and an Auburn Man by birth. I have been posting on the Bunker for several years, and before that, I was a regular on Mark Murphy's site as well. I have been selling tickets for about 13 years now, and have been doing it as my only source of income for 3. I was approached by RunInRed about offering my advice and my services to any still looking for tickets. He welcomes the opportunity to have a trusted professional helping this community. Before I go any further, I want to make a few things clear:

1) I am as honest as you will find in this business.

2) I am doing this both as a ticket broker and as an Auburn fan. I want to make some profit for my time, but the prices I quote are mostly beyond my control. I will treat you as fairly as possible so that we both feel like we've done well.

3) I cannot get you an "amazing" deal on tickets. I will be selling at the market rate, or just slightly below. If you are searching for a bargain basement deal, I'm not going to be able to get you tickets. Feel free to ask questions still, but don't expect me to be able to help you in the procurement of the tickets.

4) If I don't make a dime and I only wind up giving advice to Auburn fans, I'm fine with that too.

So moving on, I just want to give you a little background on the ticket industry so that you can make better decisions for yourself. On big games like this one, there are 2 ways that people will sell tickets, short and long. Selling long is what most of us are used to. The seller buys a ticket as an investment and tries to resell that exact ticket for profit. This is as straightforward as possible, and as long as the tickets aren't fake, you're in good shape. The other method, selling short, is a little more complicated and slightly deceptive. A broker selling tickets short will usually list an actual section and row, but the plan is to buy later on a declining market and provide the buyer with even better seats than they ordered. There are a few problems with this. Sometimes, as has been the case with this game, the prices will actually increase as the event approaches. This is dangerous because at some point that broker may just decide that they aren't willing to take a huge loss and will just try to offer you a refund for the tickets you bought. At that point, you're not out the money, but you're going to have to spend a lot more to buy new tickets at the new market price. There also is the danger that so many have sold short for an event like this that there simply is not enough actual inventory out there to cover the orders, so someone is going to be left with no tickets at all in the end. The last type of risk is the least damaging, but still very frustrating. If you have kept up with the markets, you know that the Auburn sections are much higher priced than the rest of the stadium. So the danger here is that you might pay an inflated price to make sure your tickets are on the AU sideline, but unless you get that in writing from the seller, you're most likely going to wind up with tickets on the Oregon sideline when the broker goes to fill your order because they can put you in much better seats for a lower price. Those are considered an upgrade by the brokers, but obviously not by you.

Ok, so now that you understand that, here's my feelings on this game in particular. Based on my observance of the market daily, conversations with Auburn people I know, and my knowledge of broker mentality, I really believe these prices are currently at the base of the mountain. I think you'll see some stagnation up until New Year's. At that point, I think there will be a run on buying as people realize they are not falling like they expected they would after Christmas. The truth is, we brokers take Christmas buying into account, but we believe these tickets are going to sell well no matter when or what occasion. People want to see this game, and that's a fact. I believe that there are hundreds of short orders through ticket brokers and travel agents out there, and many of them are just holding their breath hoping the prices drop. I know for a fact that one of the largest short selling brokers sold hundreds, and many of them were in the $700 per ticket range. At some point, they realized the market was getting crazy and pulled all their listings. As soon as they start pulling the trigger on filling orders, they're going to cause a huge run on the tickets. I predict that this will really drive prices up well over $1000 each, and possibly back up to the $1200 range just to get in the stadium. That being said, no one really knows, so you just have to go with what you think works best for you.

I've seen dozens of people say they are planning on taking their chances out in Glendale based on the last 2 BCS game prices. While I can see why those with little experience other than outside Jordan-Hare would think that's wise, I caution you to take that approach unless you're perfectly fine with watching the game in a bar in Glendale. I do not think there will be much availability out there, and if you ask anyone that went to the Rose Bowl in 2005, tickets were nearly impossible to find, no matter how many $100 bills you had in your hand. That game is much more comparable to this one than the last two BCS Championship Games. If you're the "I'm going no matter what it costs," I would strongly advise against going without tickets.

Now on to the service I can provide. I have a website, utix.com. I am a full-service broker meaning I sell tickets to nationwide events. You can search for anything on there from professional and college sports to concerts and theatre. I'm offering all board members a 5% discount on any order. You can get this discount by typing in the code AUFAMILY in the discount code box during the ordering process. I can typically beat other websites' final prices. We are often selling the same exact inventory, and we often can buy the inventory on Stubhub with much lower fees as well. Just keep in mind that some websites markup their prices at the initial price point (our site) and others markup their prices at the point of checkout (ticketliquidator.com). So just to give you an example of what I'm offering. Go to utix.com and ticketliquidator.com. There is a pair of tickets in section 407 L Row E. Our website price is $1271 each, and with the 5% discount, they are $1207.50. On the other site, they tickets are listed at $1033, however, after they add in their service fee, your final price would be $1224 each. So obviously, I'm not going to help you pay for the rest of your trip by buying from me, but you'd save some money, you'd be buying the same exact tickets, and you'd be buying from an endorsed source. Now if you're looking for ebay prices, I can't help you there. If you want to take the risk of buying off ebay, you're probably going to save money, but you're not nearly as protected financially as you are buying from my company.

So take my input for what it's worth. Let me know if you have any questions. You can email me directly at bojackcaddy@gmail.com.

War Eagle!

[RunInRed 16,529]

As Mark stated, I asked him to post over here because after personally seeing all the scams and shady deals out there, I wanted us to have access to a trusted ticket provider. He's an AU guy, he will shoot you straight and he will do what he can to help you. Not too mention, with the discount he has graciously agreed to provide, you likely won't find better pricing on tickets.

So if you are still looking for BCS tickets, I would encourage you to get in touch with AUBroker and see if he can help you out.

Thanks Mark for posting and offering your assistance. War Eagle!

[33gles 496]

Full-time student who is FAR too broke to go, but I'd like to thank ya for the info for future reference, hopefully it'll help some folks out.

War Eagle!

[AUTigerCourt 92]

Thanks for the helpful post! Hope you'll stick around the site after the NCG! War Eagle!

[Grumps 3,705]

Thanks for the info AUBroker!

[RunInRed 16,529]

Mark - One thing I'm curious about, how is the demand breaking out between AU and Oregon fans? I've heard everything from 3:1 to greater. What's your prediction on how much Orange and Blue will be in the stands? Also, could you help clarify which sections are the AU sections, UO and neutral? Thanks.

[banditmwp 713]

My concern is one I have never had before. Counterfeits. Is there an exact way to make sure I have legitimate tickets? I bought them from a friend who bought them from Stubhub...

The tix are in my possession and I really don't want to get out to Glendale and have to shoot someone because I have fakes.

TIA and WAR EAGLE!

[dyehardaufan 0]

My concern is one I have never had before. Counterfeits. Is there an exact way to make sure I have legitimate tickets? I bought them from a friend who bought them from Stubhub...

The tix are in my possession and I really don't want to get out to Glendale and have to shoot someone because I have fakes.

TIA and WAR EAGLE!

Someone over on the scout board called the Fiesta Ticket office and they told him the following:

"He told me to take a coin and scratch a small part of white area beside the large block of writing on the back of the ticket. If a watermark appears (it is basically a bunch of slanted words), then they are real"

[AUBURNJAC 53]

Here's my question, and I'm not being an azz just curious...

How is an Auburn/Oregon matchup BIGGER than an Alabama/Texas matchup???? That makes no sense to me. I mean Alabama and Texas have two of the biggest (if not THE biggest fan bases in the county? Why wouldn't those tickets of been harder to get than these?

[Mikey 16,777]

Here's my question, and I'm not being an azz just curious...

How is an Auburn/Oregon matchup BIGGER than an Alabama/Texas matchup???? That makes no sense to me. I mean Alabama and Texas have two of the biggest (if not THE biggest fan bases in the county? Why wouldn't those tickets of been harder to get than these?

A whole lot more seats in the Rose Bowl. Plus, bammer's multitude of fans typically don't have the ability to travel beyond one tank of gas in a '78 Ford truck.

[RunInRed 16,529]

Plus, bammer's multitude of fans typically don't have the ability to travel beyond one tank of gas in a '78 Ford truck.

[War Eagle 96 10]

Here's my question, and I'm not being an azz just curious...

How is an Auburn/Oregon matchup BIGGER than an Alabama/Texas matchup???? That makes no sense to me. I mean Alabama and Texas have two of the biggest (if not THE biggest fan bases in the county? Why wouldn't those tickets of been harder to get than these?

A whole lot more seats in the Rose Bowl. Plus, bammer's multitude of fans typically don't have the ability to travel beyond one tank of gas in a '78 Ford truck.

Wow. Dead on.

[War Eagle 96 10]

I want to thank AUBroker and RunInRed. I learned a lot from that post. Unfortunately, I bought my tickets from ticketliquidators.com (actually coming from extratix.com) at halftime of the SECCG. Otherwise, I would have bought from AUBroker. Cool thing is, I got tickets in the lower bowl (yeah the endzone sec 120), above the goalpost at row 38, I got aisle tickets... and I got them for $679 (before fees), same tickets are $1,150.00+ now.

[AUBURNJAC 53]

Here's my question, and I'm not being an azz just curious...

How is an Auburn/Oregon matchup BIGGER than an Alabama/Texas matchup???? That makes no sense to me. I mean Alabama and Texas have two of the biggest (if not THE biggest fan bases in the county? Why wouldn't those tickets of been harder to get than these?

A whole lot more seats in the Rose Bowl. Plus, bammer's multitude of fans typically don't have the ability to travel beyond one tank of gas in a '78 Ford truck.

Ha ha..... I didn't even take the time to think about the obvious!

[aubiematt 0]

I think the prices will come down. It doesn't look like they are moving on StubHub. Saturday there were less than 2,000 tickets, yesterday there were 2,200 tickets, today there are 2,400 tickets. If the inventory keeps going up that means people aren't buying. At some point something will have to give. I may be one of those "go at all costs" people, but I simply don't have $1000 to put down on a ticket. It is beyond my budget and I have a really nice job. I really don't know anyone else who has that kind of money either. Most people I know who bought tickets paid about $750 for them, but no more.

That being said, if you've got a ticket for less than $800, I'll buy it. I won't pay more for it, because I don't have it.

[RunInRed 16,529]

I think the prices will come down. It doesn't look like they are moving on StubHub. Saturday there were less than 2,000 tickets, yesterday there were 2,200 tickets, today there are 2,400 tickets. If the inventory keeps going up that means people aren't buying. At some point something will have to give. I may be one of those "go at all costs" people, but I simply don't have $1000 to put down on a ticket. It is beyond my budget and I have a really nice job. I really don't know anyone else who has that kind of money either. Most people I know who bought tickets paid about $750 for them, but no more.

That being said, if you've got a ticket for less than $800, I'll buy it. I won't pay more for it, because I don't have it.

Where are you seeing that about the supply? That's pretty interesting. If that number keeps growing, that's definitely a good sign.

[aubiematt 0]

I think the prices will come down. It doesn't look like they are moving on StubHub. Saturday there were less than 2,000 tickets, yesterday there were 2,200 tickets, today there are 2,400 tickets. If the inventory keeps going up that means people aren't buying. At some point something will have to give. I may be one of those "go at all costs" people, but I simply don't have $1000 to put down on a ticket. It is beyond my budget and I have a really nice job. I really don't know anyone else who has that kind of money either. Most people I know who bought tickets paid about $750 for them, but no more.

That being said, if you've got a ticket for less than $800, I'll buy it. I won't pay more for it, because I don't have it.

Where are you seeing that about the supply? That's pretty interesting. If that number keeps growing, that's definitely a good sign.

StubHub shows the number of tickets available on the event screen. Tickets were going for $1100 at the peak when there was only 1900 tickets available. Now ticket prices have fallen to around $925 which is about $25 cheaper than yesterday. I've seen tickets on other sites going for $850, which is another sign they will fall on StubHub. StubHub will always have the most expensive prices, got to remember that.

[Fluk 0]

I think the prices will come down. It doesn't look like they are moving on StubHub. Saturday there were less than 2,000 tickets, yesterday there were 2,200 tickets, today there are 2,400 tickets. If the inventory keeps going up that means people aren't buying. At some point something will have to give. I may be one of those "go at all costs" people, but I simply don't have $1000 to put down on a ticket. It is beyond my budget and I have a really nice job. I really don't know anyone else who has that kind of money either. Most people I know who bought tickets paid about $750 for them, but no more.

That being said, if you've got a ticket for less than $800, I'll buy it. I won't pay more for it, because I don't have it.

Where are you seeing that about the supply? That's pretty interesting. If that number keeps growing, that's definitely a good sign.

StubHub shows the number of tickets available on the event screen. Tickets were going for $1100 at the peak when there was only 1900 tickets available. Now ticket prices have fallen to around $925 which is about $25 cheaper than yesterday. I've seen tickets on other sites going for $850, which is another sign they will fall on StubHub. StubHub will always have the most expensive prices, got to remember that.

Definitely something interesting to follow. As of 9:30 cst today (Wednesday), 2603 tickets available on StubHub.

[dyehardaufan 0]

I think the prices will come down. It doesn't look like they are moving on StubHub. Saturday there were less than 2,000 tickets, yesterday there were 2,200 tickets, today there are 2,400 tickets. If the inventory keeps going up that means people aren't buying. At some point something will have to give. I may be one of those "go at all costs" people, but I simply don't have $1000 to put down on a ticket. It is beyond my budget and I have a really nice job. I really don't know anyone else who has that kind of money either. Most people I know who bought tickets paid about $750 for them, but no more.

That being said, if you've got a ticket for less than $800, I'll buy it. I won't pay more for it, because I don't have it.

Where are you seeing that about the supply? That's pretty interesting. If that number keeps growing, that's definitely a good sign.

StubHub shows the number of tickets available on the event screen. Tickets were going for $1100 at the peak when there was only 1900 tickets available. Now ticket prices have fallen to around $925 which is about $25 cheaper than yesterday. I've seen tickets on other sites going for $850, which is another sign they will fall on StubHub. StubHub will always have the most expensive prices, got to remember that.

Definitely something interesting to follow. As of 9:30 cst today (Wednesday), 2603 tickets available on StubHub.

I agree. I've seen the same tickets posted on all the sites and no-one is buying them. I doubt brokers are just going to take a loss and not sell instead of drop their prices as the game gets closer.

And this is not meant to be directed exclusively at AuBroker, but I've seen guys on other sites who claim to be brokers and they say the same thing as AuBroker does and thats that prices will not go down. I fully expect any broker to say this, they would not benefit from saying to wait for prices to go down. I do agree that we are all just speculating on where prices will go but I have a hard time believing that as the game gets within a week of playing that brokers and other folks will just eat tickets instead of lowering the costs to unload them and make a smaller profit than expected.

[AUBroker 0]

Mark - One thing I'm curious about, how is the demand breaking out between AU and Oregon fans? I've heard everything from 3:1 to greater. What's your prediction on how much Orange and Blue will be in the stands? Also, could you help clarify which sections are the AU sections, UO and neutral? Thanks.

Rob,

I'm not the greatest source to answer this because I have no connections to the UO nation and many connections to the AU nation, but I've heard from many 2nd and 3rd parties that what you've heard is true. However, the difference in market price tells me a lot. You're looking at about a 15-20% price difference to get on the AU side of the field. I think we'll really outnumber them. As for the actual AU and UO sections, I'm not really clear on that. I just tried to contact both ticket offices, but apparently they've closed for the break, which makes total sense when your team is in the National Championship game right?

[AUBroker 0]

My concern is one I have never had before. Counterfeits. Is there an exact way to make sure I have legitimate tickets? I bought them from a friend who bought them from Stubhub...

The tix are in my possession and I really don't want to get out to Glendale and have to shoot someone because I have fakes.

TIA and WAR EAGLE!

Stubhub will guarantee you real tickets. If you get to game and they're fake, you need to call them and they'll replace the tickets for you.

[AUBroker 0]

StubHub will always have the most expensive prices, got to remember that.

That is not true. There are plenty of times that I've bought on Stubhub myself because they happened to be the cheapest out there. You just have to shop and compare just like with anything else.

[RunInRed 16,529]

AUBroker - A follow-up question if I may:

What are you seeing in terms of overall inventory? Or is it too soon to tell? Are the increases in tickets as cited from StubHub indicative of a more macro trend? If so, how do you predict this will weigh on prices (i.e., will it neutralize or even overcome demand)? What are the factors brokers typically watch to predict pricing trends?

[RunInRed 16,529]

BTW - I think I found the answer to my question on seating (via the Fiesta Bowl's facebook page)...

Auburn will be seated on the East side of University of Phoenix Stadium and in the South end zone. Sections 130-141 (lower level), 238-248(mid-level), 444-455 (upper level) and 429-431 (upper endzone).

Oregon will be seated on the West side and in the North end zone. Sections 108-142 (lower level), 201-211 (mid-level), 401-412 (upper level) and 425-428 ( upper end zone).

I assume all other sections are "neutral".

[AUBroker 0]

I agree. I've seen the same tickets posted on all the sites and no-one is buying them. I doubt brokers are just going to take a loss and not sell instead of drop their prices as the game gets closer.

And this is not meant to be directed exclusively at AuBroker, but I've seen guys on other sites who claim to be brokers and they say the same thing as AuBroker does and thats that prices will not go down. I fully expect any broker to say this, they would not benefit from saying to wait for prices to go down. I do agree that we are all just speculating on where prices will go but I have a hard time believing that as the game gets within a week of playing that brokers and other folks will just eat tickets instead of lowering the costs to unload them and make a smaller profit than expected.

Certainly brokers are not going to just take a loss and not sell. However, there are some things that you're not seeing that might change your mind a little. First off, I'm guessing that you probably don't know how to look at either Stubhub or eBay completed sales. If you did, you would see that on Stubhub, in the Auburn terrace corner, 31 tickets sold at an average of $982 each before their fee, and in the Oregon terrace corner, 20 tickets sold at an average of $923 before their fee. On eBay, tickets are definitely selling for $900+ each regularly.

When you're looking at prices on Stubhub, keep in mind that those marked as TBD are short sales. When someone buys these, the seller just relists them again. So what looks like no sales is not accurate.

And as to your comment about whether I'd say tickets are going up because I would want you to pay higher prices, you need to realize what I stand to gain from that. I am not actually holding the tickets. Therefore, I would actually rather the prices drop because I am working on volume more than price. If I sell a ticket for $1000, I make about $45 off that. If I sell a ticket for $700, I make about $31.50 on that. I could sell 5 times as many tickets at $700 as I could at $1000, so I could make more than 3 times what I'll make at these prices if the prices drop. So I would love for them to drop, but it just isn't likely to happen. The demand is definitely there to support these prices. It will likely only get great as the late-buying Auburn fans learn that this market isn't going to be like the market at JHS.

Just another little anecdote for you to keep in mind. At the Georgia game this year, I kept 27 tickets in my pocket until Tiger Walk was over. I sold every one of those tickets for $175-200 in less than 2 hours. I had about 8 people call me names and tell me I was dumb and that they couldn't wait to watch me walk into the game with them. Several others asked what I was going to do when kickoff came and I was still holding them. I told them I would get my price, even after kickoff. I sold my last one for $175 just before kickoff and went looking to buy a single to get into the game myself. Everyone that had tickets left were asking $200. I finally paid $180 for one, and I watched as every other ticket out there was sold at $200. There were literally no tickets left to buy at that point, even if you pulled out $500. I expect that there will be a similar situation in Glendale. Just one man's opinion though (which is shared by several other brokers I know).