Dota 2's International 2017 tickets went on sale in two waves yesterday, one starting at 10 a.m., the other at 10 p.m. Both waves sold out in a matter of minutes.
That's where the scalpers come in.
Just doing a quick eBay search will find more than 100 listings for the International's Midweek and Finals tickets, both at huge markups. Ticketmaster was listing those tickets at $100 and $200, respectively, with the Midweek ticket giving you access to the Key Arena venue for every day but the finals, and the Finals ticket giving you access to the conclusion of the tournament. So $300 would buy you access to the entire event, indoors.
Midweek tickets are being sold on eBay for around $200, and Finals tickets are selling for closer to $400, sometimes exceeding $400. Even if the price is worth it, there are obvious questions regarding a purchase such as this. How does it work? Is it safe? What are my protections as a buyer?
Any resold International tickets will not be a straight-forward ticket transfer. Since the tickets are sold through Ticketmaster, you can't transfer those tickets in exchange for money. Instead, scalpers either opt for a PayPal transactions, where you exchange money for nothing over PayPal and get the tickets transferred to your Tickemaster account for free, or they opt for eBay, where the buyer will purchase a ticket now but will have to wait until the seller actually receives the Badge from Valve where the seller will then mail the badge to the buyer.
As you can see, with either option, the risk to the buyer is obvious, because you are spending money for something that you have no guarantee of receiving. eBay, though, does have its money back guarantee, which reportedly heavily favors the buyer, and eBay customer service says it would apply to these purchases where the goods are delayed. With eBay, you will also have 30 days to file a claim, which starts after the day of the event. So that 30 days won't expire as you're waiting for your International tickets to get to you.
A potentially better option is Stub Hub. Not only are the prices cheaper at the moment (around $150 for the Midweek ticket and around $270 for the Finals ticket), but they will guarantee instant protection for phony tickets. So, if you get to an invent to find that you've been given counterfeit or otherwise faulty tickets, Stub Hub will find you tickets with one phone call.
