Burning Man Tickets

Burning For Tickets

Rearranging books is not beneath her, and lately she's had to be pretty inventive in locating Burning Man tickets for herself and her boyfriend.

“I'm pretty sure I have a ticket from the Netherlands,” says Miller.

Zoe says one down, five more to go.

And she's gotten pretty good at separating the scammers, from scalpers from real McCoy.

“I said you know I have a friend who lives in Florida. So how about you meet my friend and get cash. But they didn't want to do that so I am pretty sure it was a scam. They say, "oh no western union," says Miller

News of a sold out Burning Man this year has added a new dynamic into an already eclectic event. Tickets which sold for $210 to $360 are now going for $1500 or more on Craigslist and Ebay.

Such prices make those who work at the Melting Pot blanche.

This is "the hot spot" for Burning Man--with outfits, bike decorations, and lights. And yes, they sold tickets here too until the beginning of July.

“And its traditional that people aren't suppose to sell their tickets for more than the face value. That's part of the community motto. You know people are scalpers and what not and are selling them for a lot more than they should,” says Sarah Shepherd and Melting Pot employee.

On the official Burning Man website there is advice about buying tickets and guidelines to go by but no guarantees there are enough tickets for everyone.

For 13 years the Burning Man organization would send people to the Melting Pot to purchase their tickets before heading to the playground.

But with the event being sold out that's not the case, and the Melting Pot wonders what will happen next year.

Burning Blog » Blog Archive » Burning Man Tickets Have Sold Out ...

A. We do sympathize, but we’ve been warning people about the possibility of tickets selling out for months now, including the JRS, artist lists, theme camp lists, mutant vehicle lists, volunteer team lists, and more. We recommend a ticket be the first thing, not the last, on a planning list to come to the event. You can try and buy a ticket in the aftermarket (see above).

Q. What can be done about the scalpers? A. Scalping is not regulated in Nevada where our event is held, so there is nothing we can do about it from a legal standpoint. We have had controls in place to help keep anyone from buying up large blocks of tickets throughout the cycle, and we’re not of the mind that scalpers are sitting on large piles of tickets.

We encourage our community to not buy/sell tickets above face value, which will only encourage the scalping market. Participants are encouraged to be patient, and look for the usual flood of Burners who decide as the event approaches that they can’t go, and sell their tickets.

Selling for a profit hits at our core principles; public sentiment in our community is very opposed to selling above face value, and we do think Burners should refuse to buy or sell a ticket that lines a third party’s pocket with unearned profit. We’re working on communications to the community that will further address this issue.

Q. Is Burning Man becoming an “exclusive” event? A. We continue to offer a spread of ticket price tiers, as well as low income and scholarship ticket programs, which provide cheaper tickets for those who need them. For the past 7 months, tickets have been available to anyone who wishes to attend … in the future, as demand continues to be high, the only exclusivity present will be in favor of those who plan ahead.

Q. Now that tickets have sold out, what’s going to happen next year? A. We’ll sit down to weigh all the variables. It’s logical and likely there will be more demand on ticket launch day, and perhaps a faster sell-out of all available tickets. We’re going to be discussing internally how to best handle this and plan for it. We have a lot of great advisors in our Regional Network who have faced sellout points for their events, and come up with lots of creative solutions.

Q. Can we increase Black Rock City’s population next year? A. Certainly Burning Man has always grown from year to year, and interest can be expected to continue increasing. We are working in a cooperative partnership with the BLM on a new 5 year permit; through that process our population’s size and impact are being evaluated, hopefully so we can continue to grow as appropriate.

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