#this is about scammers and scalpers

[ghostieking]

stop ruining trinkets and collecting please we need the whimsy

[brxkxnhxxrtsclxb]

i wanted to make a list with tips for those who have recently discovered monster high and love the dolls and wanna partake in the hobby in starting a collection 🖤

for starters: i wanna say you do not need to watch the show / media attached to it if you don’t want to or don’t have the time. you can still enjoy the dolls cuz at the end of the day, they’re dolls and you can do whatever you want with them :3 they’re for play so create your own lore and enjoy it however you please 🖤 also, if the show wasn’t for you, that doesn’t make you less of a fan. you can still enjoy the dolls and hobby 🖤

also: MONSTER HIGH IS FOR EVERYONE !! it doesn’t matter if you’re male, female, nonbinary, straight or queer, you can partake in this hobby !!

꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷

to start, find the dolls / characters that interest you most

whether you want to collect only dolls of one character or multiple of any and every character, it’s up to you to decide :3 it’s okay. there’s no right or wrong way of collecting. narrowing down the dolls you like best helps to get started. you wanna be sure your first doll(s) is special and really speaks to you 🖤

if you like several dolls and are undecided on certain ones, feel free to wait it out and see how you feel about them in a few days, a week, a month or however long you need

sometimes it’s best to wait and contemplate so you don’t end up regretting a purchase. of course if you do, or loved the doll at first but then changed your mind, it’s okay. you can always sell the doll later. you might be holding onto someone’s grail there !!

if you find you like a doll that has been available for a while but can’t decide between that one and a newer doll, go for the older one (this is specifically for G3 since that’s what we currently have widely available)

dolls have a shelf life of about a year. eventually lines start being phased out (currently SS3 is slowly being phased out) and we have no idea how much they’ll go for in the resell market (see SS1 and SS2 draculaura)

if you wanna collect G1 dolls, check out ebay, mercari, facebook marketplace and your local thrift stores. you never know what you may find and sometimes there’s good deals !!

when it comes to G1 dolls, you have to play the long game and have LOTS of patience. many of these dolls go for hundreds and that’s not okay imo. you don’t have to dump these amounts of money on them, especially since bills and other necessities gotta get covered first !! again, patience is key !! eventually you’ll score your grails

speaking of secondhand market, be careful and make sure you read the descriptions and ask questions. don’t be afraid to do so

unfortunately there have been a surge of scammers flooding the MH community. these are easy to spot. they will either use someone else’s photos for the listing, have zero reviews or refuse to answer questions and provide more pictures. sometimes it’s a combination of all. also know they’re not entirely honest about the condition of the dolls. some will not say they’re a smoke friendly home. please ask questions !! also, request them to add a photo with their username written on a paper to add to the listing to further verify they do in fact have the doll

do not purchase from scalpers

i know, kind of contradictory to say check the secondhand market and then say do not buy from scalpers. of course, it’s your money and you can do what you please with it, but if you can, try not to buy from them. it’s the reason they keep bulk buying the entire stock leaving fans without a chance at grabbing a doll they love and why they keep pricing what they price. if people stop buying from them, they’ll have no choice, but to lower their prices cuz no one is buying them and they don’t wanna sit with a stock of dolls they obviously do not want. so if you can help it, try not to buy from them. as stated before, it’s about patience and good deals do show up. also, wait from buying collector dolls on the aftermarket. the hype needs to first die down before they are lowered in price (happened with bride of chucky, creature from the black lagoon and addams family skullectors)

watch out when shopping online from walmart or / and amazon. sometimes other sellers will list a doll (G3) for an inflated price while they’re currently available in major retailers

you do not need every single doll

only buy the dolls you love. i know it can be devastating to love a doll and see everyone hating it, but don’t let that deter you !! with everyone sharing their personal collections and mattel pumping out dolls so frequently, it can be overwhelming and think you must have every doll. that’s simply not true. don’t feel bad for missing out on collector drops you weren’t fully in love with. and if you don’t really love a doll, it’s okay to opt out if you feel it’s the best choice. it’s also okay to purchase and sell later if you truly didn’t like the doll after receiving it

check for sales

i’m not sure about other countries but in the US, retailers will have sales and many dolls end up on sale. amazon does this too. check frequently. you never know when a doll you want may be on sale !!

check the community (get involved if you feel comfy enough to do so)

i encourage to check reddit, instagram, twitter and other forms of social media to keep up with doll news and leaks. it’s also a great place to make friends, ask questions and help each other out when drops happen. if you make good friends with someone, we can also use each other as proxy services if we live in different countries and grab each other certain exclusive dolls we have no access to :3 some dolls / lines don’t make it to certain countries

it’s okay to take breaks

mattel pumps out dolls frequently and the market can be so saturated, it’s overwhelming. it’s completely fine to feel that way and to take breaks when needed🖤

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these are all the tips i can think of at the top of my head

collections are personal and there’s no right or wrong way of doing it. whether you’re an in-box or out-of-box collector, the most important thing is to HAVE FUN !!

i hope this was helpful !! enjoy your collection and welcome to the community!!

anyone can feel free to add any other tips they have to help a new collector out 🖤

[oxfordcomma-alt]

Online Presences, the "AO3 Curse", and Spirituality - A Longpost

Many witchy and spiritual folks online use wards and protection spells on their physical spaces and selves.

But not their virtual counterparts. Now, hear me out.

In fanfic circles, there's a phenomenon lovingly referred to as "the AO3 curse", where an author has chronic bad luck rendering them unable to update their fics. I myself have horrendous luck, and happen to be a writer - although you're lucky if I can get an update out once a month.

Now, for most, the "curse" is an ironic stack of coincidences, a funny string of misfortunes - for most, it's a harmless joke about writers down on their luck.

However, as a deeply spiritual person, I believe there is something else at play.

(rest of the longpost/essay post under the cut)

Now, I'm not saying there's an evil miasma around AO3, or a malicious web dev putting curses into the code of the site.

And that's because, simply put, the "curse" doesn't work like a normal curse - because it isn't one.

When you post something online, especially something you worked hard on, like a beautiful art piece, or a new chapter of a fic - you are pouring energy and emotion into that work. In a sense, you are baring your soul for the world to see.

That leaves you wide open for negative energy (intentional or not).

You can have the best wards around your physical self and your space, but if you don't protect yourself online, you are going to leave yourself defenceless.

Intentionally or not, the internet is full of negative energies - hate comments, doomscrolling, trolls, scammers and scalpers, and even just people who don't like you or what you create. For many, it's a place to share their passions and their secrets in equal measure. In more ways than one, your online presence is an extension of yourself, and often, a deeper and more personal one.

And yet, even for witches and spiritual folk, it goes completely unguarded.

I believe this, not any actual curse, is the cause of writers' bad luck over on AO3, and many cybercitizens' misfortunes and woes.

It is vital to cleanse and ward - even banish - your online presence of negative energies.

Now, how do we do this?

The Internet isn't a physical space that you can put a salt circle around, or a physical person you can expel energy out of. But it's still simple to protect yourself.

You can:

Place warding sigils on your devices (for instance, a sticker on your laptop or router, or a slip of paper in the back of your phone case)

Use normal cleansing methods (smoke, sound, crystals, etc) around your device, with a selected account open (for instance, having your Tumblr profile up while doing a smoke cleanse around your computer)

If you can picture things, imagine a ball of cleansing and banishing energy, and release it out into your digital space

Use incantations or chant to rid your digital world of negativity

Incorporate sigils into profile pictures, text dividers, profile banners, or a watermark in your art

Use emojis like runes, and create spells in text fields (just make sure to dodge any problematic emoji combos)

Using these techniques, and just about anything else you can think of, you can protect your digital self, and avoid these quasi-curses through simple defence.

[aropride]

the gwayupdates guide to safely buying resale tickets 🙏🏼, from @.gwayupdates on twitter

copy-pasting this thread here for ppl who don't have twitter:

regular resale marketplaces 🌟

if you don’t want to deal with a potential scam and have the money to spare, ticketmaster’s own resale market is your safest option, followed by third party resale websites like stubhub & seatgeek. the third party ones aren’t foolproof, but you can dispute sales that go wrong to get your money back. tm & third party have the highest prices because they take fees from sellers + are the easiest places for scalpers to sell. if you value saving money over ease of purchase, i’ll walk you thru how i buy my tickets.

cheapest places to buy resale 🌟

my go-to places are twitter, facebook, and reddit. i’ll go over them one by one. on twitter, i use keywords to search for sellers, usually a mix of artist name, city name, and the date. there is no set verbiage so it’s important to cover all of your bases. here are some screenshots of what my search history may look like if i wanted tix for the arlington show. note the variation i use. twt saves your history, up to 5 at a time, so usually i’ll search across diff accs multiple times a day to get to new posts first.

there’s so many other keywords you can use, as well. sometimes fandoms will make a hashtag for dates or tours, and those are great places to look. for facebook, join as many tour groups as you can. look up my chemical romance, and join tour specific ones or any buy/sell ones. on reddit, it depends on the subreddit rules. sometimes there will be specific posts designated for people to list their tickets and you can keep an eye on those. for all of these, it’s important to keep checking because for high-demand tours, well priced resales go fast too.

what to look out for before you contact the seller 🌟

look at their post history. have they tweeted about the artist before? recently, i’ve seen scammers who will change their layouts to look like a fan account, but their profile is completely unrelated, clearly bot posts, or cycles thru fandoms based on whatever tickets they are selling at the time. is their whole profile just selling tickets? do their posts sound organic and human? do they interact with people? note that actual people also do make accounts solely for selling.

another thing to look out for is wording—at some point you’ll start seeing the exact same selling tweets copy/pasted by multiple different accounts. don’t bother with those. when you spend enough time searching, you’ll notice patterns in how bots/scammers tweet.

verifying tickets with the seller 🌟

ok, so you’ve determined the account looks normal, or maybe there’s just not enough info, so you contact the seller. what now? before any kind of payment, ask for proof of them having the ticket. i’ve grown wary and now i’ll only accept screen recordings as proof, since screenshots can be doctored, stolen, and reused. i’m also very specific with what i want out of the screen recording: the seller should start in our open dms, exit the social media app, open up ticketmaster, show me their name on the account, and navigate to the ticket they’re trying to sell me. 99% of the time they’ll say yes, because they’re an actual human being who actually wants to sell their ticket for a good price. occasionally i’ve had people say things like “you don’t trust me?” or try to guilt trip me, and i just block and move on. scammers will do anything to convince you they’re trustworthy but actually show you real, undeniable proof. when i ask, i usually start with “sorry i’m paranoid of being scammed, could you please send me xyz” and normal people will understand & do it.

payment 🌟

unless you know this person, either directly or thru a friend, ONLY use the goods & services option in paypal/venmo to pay, and state in the description exactly what you are buying. if you get scammed, you can dispute it with the service, and they’ll refund you. using zelle, cashapp, or regular venmo/paypal opens you up to scams. note that g&s takes a fee from the seller, so i’ll always add 2% or whatever the fee is to my payment so they get the full amount, and i offer to do that upfront when suggesting my method of payment.

other random notes and tips 🌟

some sellers don’t like using g&s because after a certain amount you have to pay taxes on your sales. for a purchase this big, i wouldn’t risk it personally. i’ve seen people send half the money, receive the ticket, then send the other half, i’ve seen people facetime during transactions to ensure stuff goes thru and that there are real people on both sides and all of those are valid options. unless it’s someone i or a friend know, or if it’s a small purchase, i personally always use g&s and leave no room for error.

best time to buy 🌟

this next week or two will have many resellers, and then again in the 1-2 months leading up to the show. the weeks leading up to the show are when i start to do my rounds of searches every few hours, every day. it pays off.

if you’re willing to risk not getting anything, you can get great deals the night before or day of the show, even on those resale sites like stubhub or on tm itself, cuz this is when ppl are desperate to sell. i’ve even gotten free tickets before looking on twt hours before.

ok that’s all. lmk if u have any questions and feel free to dm me if you ever want help vetting someone! i want all of u to be safe and am willing to help make sure things work out for u. thank u! 🌟

again, here's the link to the original thread!!

[toyhou-se-drama]

https://www.tumblr.com/toyhou-se-drama/778650263789731840/ive-never-had-a-bad-experience-in-the-forums?source=share

I'm the anon from this ask, I think I already sent in an ask that's roughly the same of this but unsure if it sent. If it did send, delete whichever is longer

To answer, I block people if they are

Scammers / art thieves / Refuse to credit bases or art / Character scalpers (buy a character & upcharge it with no extra art)

Vague revoke rules / restrictive TOS / users removed from forum game threads for unfulfilled claims.

Put people on blacklists for blocking them / people who say not to block them

I mute minors, people with opinions that upset me severely, people with flashing images on their profile (which the blocked users page will include muted users)

I do block people if they are already muted and I think their more trouble than it's worth.

If I'm on a dni or if a dni is too vague I don't know who it even applies to

If I just don't want to interact with a user or I don't want them to claim me in a forum game

If they complain about people bringing drama to them or being involved with drama (they usually get into drama)

But honestly if we remove the muted users I would say only roughly 4k is individual users that are blocked, when I block people I also block their alts and for the average user I block usually has 3-4 alt accounts (Main, storage, sales and backup account) but some people have up to 12 alt accounts which I will block them all. If they are notorious for block evading, then I block people who claim to be friends with them or tagged as a friend just to be cautious.

All the drama on these blogs sometimes confuse me since I never come across it, I've already blocked most of these people months or years before their name started popping up in the drama blogs.

☕️ I like hearing gossip, I don't like witnessing it or being part of it.

🦫

[copiawife]

the monster high doll selling/trading market is like. really rough right now i'm not going to lie. like i looked up the beetlejuice skullector set that came out a few years ago and it's listed on ebay for on average like 500 dollars when it was like. 60-90 when it came out?? and to add insult to injury there's fucking "PRESALE" listings for the second beetlejuice set which hasn't even been officially announced by mattel creations yet and we only know about/have pictures of through leaks, listed at like 250 dollars which is well over what the listing price will be (2 doll skullector sets typically go for around 90 when they release). offerup and vinted are both so saturated with scammers they're basically unusable. you look up any doll and you find a handful of listings with ridiculous too good to be true pricing from a completely blank account with no reviews and only that listed. mercari and poshmark are slightly better but not much and are full of scalpers. depop is hard because you look up a doll and you get a bunch of people with it in their iso but not selling. you'll find things STILL IN STOCK ON THE MATTEL WEBSITE OR STILL IN STORES listed for double, triple, quadruple their listing price. even fucking goodwill auctions get bid up to insane prices before you can even try to get anything. you'll see people selling their nude playline or budget dolls with hair that looks like it's been dragged through the mud, missing limbs and scratched up paint still asking for like 50 dollars. it's hard being a collector right now,,it wasn't this bad even a year ago

[bloodshedbabys]

I see you've been before, are you American? If yes then I would definitely say don't do it, and I understand that scammers are the problem and in an ideal world we'd all be able to go to the shows we want but we don't live in an ideal world and Canadians have had to wait over 2 years for 9 total dates and are already competing with everyone else because it's the final show dates. I'd say be gentle on yourself, and think of it like giving a ticket to someone who hasn't been yet ❤️

i am american! and yes, i’m a firm believer in never turning it on the fans that want to be there it’s always the scalpers that are the problem and the reason seats go empty at shows. in this environment i totally get how competitive it is and don’t want to ruin that for anyone but i don’t know that my single seat is that massive of a deal. i totally respect where you’re coming from and im like 97% not going to go so dont worry about me taking someone’s seat. <3

[heyftinally]

Y'know, on the topic of Labubus or however they're spelled, there's something that I think is missing from the two sides of the conversation I'm seeing.

So the two opinions that I keep seeing are

Omfg these things are so stupid and if you buy them you have something wrong with you

And

Omfg just let people like things!!!!

And honestly? Like most things, both have a point.

Yes, people SHOULD be allowed to like things without other people bashing on them, provided nobody is getting hurt.

HOWEVER

I think a larger conversation should be had about the intersection of collector culture, overconsumption, and unjustified inflation.

People have always collected things. And on it's own, there's nothing wrong with having a collection. I have a few - as a small child it was ceramic figurines, and as an adult it's enamel pins. HOWEVER, note that I listed two - two in my entire, multiple decades life. And because it's only two, it's not really a problem that I have a decently sized collection of each.

But what I'm seeing with Labubu is that they are one of many. Before these, it was those little baby figures. Before that, it was squishmallows, and before that it was minibrands. And those are just the ones that I've seen go mega viral. There are almost countless brands of blind boxes, collectibles, and the like, and while collecting one or two isn't inherently a problem, when you hope from one to another or have five/six/seven or more at once, it's no longer about collecting for the joy of collecting - it's overconsumption and a quick dopamine hit that's quickly forgotten and discarded for the next one.

Going back to my enamel pins, I don't try to collect every pin I see. I don't even collect every pin I like. I have a binder and a bag that hold the majority of my collection, and they get added to maybe 1-3 times a year. Because I collect pins that I *love*, and often that mean something, not just pins for the sake of having more pins.

What happens if/when you have *every* labubu? Or *every* squishmallow? Okay, you get the initial rush knowing you've completed the set, but...then what? What will that set do for you in two weeks? Six months? Three years? My pins are tied to memories, and looking at them reminds me of those memories and stories. Of how hard I hunted to find some of them, conversations I had with people about pins, etc.

On top of all of this, I mentioned unjustified inflation. I don't mean scalpers here, because every collector culture will have scalpers and scammers. No, I mean manufacturers inflation.

So you want a labubu - I hear they go for $30 each, minimum? Okay...why? Are they handmade? Are they ethically and environmentally consciously sourced materials? Do the profits go back into charity projects that are having a tangible and meaningful impact?

If not...what makes them any different from a keychain plushie that you can pick up at Target for $10? What makes Labubus worth 3x the price?

And I'm sure you're saying "adults can spend their money how they want!" And yeah, you can.

However.

We're seeing this overconsumption with no regard for cost in kids, too. How many 10yos were begging for their 2nd/3rd/4th or more Stanley not that long ago? A cup that was as big as their arm and cost enough to cover at least four meals at a restaurant? Where are those Stanley's now? How about all of the accessories? And how many of those kids are even truly aware of what it meant for their parents to spend $200+ in cups for them?

Kids typically don't understand the true cost or value of things, and that's because they don't have the life experience to. Many of us have probably heard the advice "if you make $10/hr, is a Stanley worth 8hrs of your working time?", but kids don't have that same context. They have tiktok telling them that this next trinket is *the* key to them being cool/popular/up to Dat on pop culture. Only for it to change in a month or two.

It's insidious, and it's 100% capitalism manufacturing faux scarcity and demand in order to profit more and more off poor people, especially vulnerable kids.

If you genuinely like Labubus and you have the means, buy a few. Hell, I might get one once the hype dies and they all end up on ebay for $6.

But I *do* think it's important to be mindful of the line between collection and consumption.

[marastriker]

I want to say something about the CRAZY ALIEN PLANET hazbin hotel merch buyers live on. I thought if I joined a group of FANS of the show, there might be a little more community? People wanting to help each other with their collections? But no, it's full of SCALPERS and honestly, downright scammers. Why are we, as a society, selling a single trading card for hundreds, if not thousands. What is wrong with you.

[baileytomkinsviscomblog]

Depop Survey

I designed a short survey to explore Depop usage, including user preferences, dislikes, and alternative online fashion marketplaces. The survey was distributed via email to the Visual Communication course, shared on my Instagram, and further promoted through word of mouth among friends and family. I kept the survey relatively short to encourage greater audience participation.

The question were as follows.

Do you use Depop?

Yes

No

(If No) What are the reasons you don’t use Depop?

(If Yes) How often do you use Depop?

Daily

Weekly

Occasionally

Monthly

What do you use Depop for? 

Buying

Selling

Browsing ideas

All of the above

What do you like the most about Depop?

What frustrates you about Depop?

What other fashion platforms do you use?

Vinted

Charity shops

Facebook marketplace

eBay

Buy new

Is the community aspect of Depop important to you?

What could Depop do to improve your experience?

The results

Do you use Depop?

Out of 21 participants, 11 said they don't use Depop, 10 said they do.

(If no) What are the reasons you don't use Depop? (11 responses)

I prefer Vinted!

it’s too expensive compared to vinted

i don’t like the layout i prefer Vinted

I forget to look and feel vinted is more advertised

I have contamination ocd

Didn’t hear about it before this questionnaire.

I don’t know it

I use vinted instead

I use vinted more often

I feel I have to try things on before to see if it'll work on me or not

When I used it I found it was more expensive than charity shops + money doesn't go to charity

(If Yes) How often do you use Depop? (12 responses)

Daily: 0

Weekly: 2

Monthly: 1

Occasionally: 9

What do you use Depop for? (13 responses)

Buying: 8

Selling: 0

Browsing ideas: 1

All of the above: 4

What do you like the most about Depop? (14 responses)

easy app to use

cool stuff to look at

It being second hand

second hand things r cool

having high quality items for a more affordable cost

guaranteed authenticity

I like the highly categorized structure of choosing the clothes I want

Variety of fashion styles that aren’t found in most high street shops

Environmental aspect of second hand shopping

The vintage clothing and keeping fashion circular

Its easy to use and nice to find hidden gems without leaving the house

Very sought out items that are sold out. Like shoes

Low prices and environmental benefit of buying second hand

more high end brands (in my opinion) than other platforms

What frustrates you about Depop?

Unethical purchase of Y2K clothes being sold for too much money

resellers who price things too expensive

layout

Things being sold as too high a price

scalpers

sometimes people are incredibly cheap which makes it difficult to sell

prices are quite high

Nothing much really

Too expensive for second hand

Don’t know

overpriced items

The prices, people are selling used items for the same price they bought them for

Not used as much so hard to sell, payment methods and people asking for family friend pay via PayPal, scammers, shipping, delays with posting

GUI and search results relevance

the layout of the app, it’s more expensive

What other fashion platforms do you use? (21 responses)

Vinted: 11

Charity shops: 5

Buy new: 3

eBay: 1

Facebook marketplace: 1

Is the community aspect of Depop important to you? (14 responses)

No: 8

Not particularly: 4

Somewhat: 1

Yes: 1

What could Depop do to improve your experience?

Regulate sellers

stop letting idiots on the app

Not sure

not sure

I'm not too sure, I think their app could maybe be more easily designed for users

A more colourful website

Reduce reseller prices

Not sure

It’s pretty good as it is

Key insights

Depop usage

I found from my results that the majority of people use Depop for buying however the most popular preference was occasional use, which could be interpreted as not very often.

Reasons for Non-Use

The negative responses to Depop generally pointed three main aspects:

Pricing

Layout/Usability

Low awareness

Positive Aspects of Depop

Participants praised the platform for these qualities:

Sustainability

Fashion diversity

Convenience

Categorization

Frustrations with Depop

Common complaints from Depop users included pricing, platform usability, and unethical practices:

High prices/resellers

Scalpers

Layout

Limited activity

Alternative Platforms

Vinted was the most popular alternative, praised for its simple and user-friendly layout. Charity shops ranked second, while eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and buying new were the least favoured.

This trend may reflect the demographics of the survey participants—predominantly Gen Z (ages 18-25)—a group that tends to prefer second-hand marketplaces like Vinted. In contrast, older generations often gravitate towards platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

Community Aspect

The community aspect was unimportant to most participants, with 8 saying no and 4 saying not particularly. Only 1 participant said the community was important, and 1 said it was somewhat important.

Suggestions for Improvement

Suggestions for improvements to Depop's platform included:

Regulating sellers

Pricing

Improving layout

General Consensus

Depop stands out for its diverse offerings, curated fashion finds, and trendy, inclusive vibe. However, it faces strong competition from Vinted, which attracts users with its lower prices and simplistic, user-friendly interface.

Depop also appears to fall short in visibility compared to Vinted, particularly within the UK market.

People primarily use Depop for buying rather than selling and seem to favour occasional visits instead opposed to regular use.

[this-girl-with-glasses]

unfortunately, I am incredibly petty. which potentially goes against being a swiftie, but I am so jaded about not being able to get a ticket to the eras tour that I am just going to pretend as if it didn’t happen. i didn’t watch the eras tour in theatres because I wanted to experience it in person first, now I can never watch it. staying off FB & insta for the next few weeks so I don’t have to see the posts. going to go wash my hair and cry in the shower.

happy for everyone who got to go… but if you went like 10 times i’m giving you hella side eye.

also big FU to the scalpers and the scammers. 🖕🏽🖕🏽

i’ll move on eventually…maybe.

[maximuswolf]

What are y'all's best concert tips?

What are y'all's best concert tips? Would love to hear everyones tips for attending concerts and buying tickets as I'm sure there's tons of experienced peeps on this subreddit! Here are a couple of mine to kick it off:Last Minute PurchasesYou can get tickets for 10-30% cheaper by buying them at the last minute (10 min or so before the show starts) especially on Ticketmaster which has more flexible pricing.To test if this is feasible for a specific artist / tour, check tickets for a concert in another city a couple weeks before, 10 min before, and during the concert to see how prices move and if / how rapidly tickets sell out.For medium-popularity concerts you can sometimes get “fill in” tickets which are often handed out in arenas just before a show to make the venue look more full. If it's not a sold out show there's sometimes a workers whose job it is to hand out these tickets for free.Buy directly from venues whenever possibleBuying tickets directly from the venues box office can save you from paying extra fees charged by online ticketing providers, but some venues only have a limited amount of seats they sell directly, as the major ticketing providers often have pre-arranged deals for seats they are entitled to.Be very careful about buying from third parties - there are tons of scammers - in general if it's too good to be true it isn't true.I've also had success using Bandsintown to find my favorite artists, Facebook groups like Concert Raptors and price comparison extensions like ConcertPal that find the cheapest tickets across all providersPresale StrategiesWhen your favorite artist announces their concert, look up the following info: How many dates are there? Are there gaps between the dates? Is there potential for more dates if the tickets sell well? If there are, prices will go down significantly especially for a specific city if more dates are added in that city - this often happens for multi-night runs or in cities that sell out early such as NYC or LA.Have as many devices as possible in the ticket "waiting room" for queued ticket drops, especially when the queue placement is random. And don't be shy about having friends and family submit raffle entries for you.Be careful about refreshing too much while queued up on AXS - they have more aggressive anti-scalper measures and might think you're a bot and auto-ban you. Submitted November 24, 2024 at 08:11PM by yea-high-and-muddy https://ift.tt/twvhUd1 via /r/Music

[infinitesimalstarrlight]

This is a probably-cringe post for something that I very much want to happen--something that is highly improbable to actually happen.

Still--here goes (I know it's long, but please read!):

This is my last ditch effort to try to see @taylorswift at the Eras Tour in Indianapolis this Sunday.

You might be asking: Why does it have to be there? Why does it have to be that day?

Honestly? Because my passport is expired & I haven't renewed it yet... And Sunday means I can pack & travel on Saturday, because tomorrow (Friday) I'm visiting a loved one in the hospital.

To be able to go would take a miracle because I can barely afford a $500.00 maximum ticket at this time & I still would need money for a hotel, lodging, travel to & from the city/hotel/airport/stadium. I live in the New England area & am currently only driving in a limited capacity, so a car rental is out of the picture.

Still, this is why I want to go & why I'm putting this out into the universe:

I started paying attention to Taylor Swift after the songs, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" & "I Knew You Were Trouble," but I became a full-fledged "Swiftie" after surviving a concussion & ruptured brain aneurysm 6 months apart in 2022. I remember listening to Midnights' tracks after coming out of my 3rd brain surgery in 6 weeks (January 19, 2023).

During my long & tedious recovery, I started going back through Taylor's Versions of her re-recorded albums. I spent time pouring over the lyric videos (one of my favorite things TS does). I fell in love with Midnights, TTPD, 1989, & fell in love revisiting folklore & evermore--really, most of the whole repertoire.

When the Eras tour stopped in the Boston area last year, I was living off a fundraiser my friends had started for me while I was in the neuro-intensive care unit & I wasn't quite ready to go to a show like that yet. And I was also waiting to be awarded disability (another unnecessarily overly long & tedious process).

I'm not naive enough to say that Taylor is perfect (no one is), nor am I happy about her silence on Gaza, nor do I align with her capitalist little heart (albeit a generous heart as evidenced by her sizable donations [that we know of] to food banks along her tour stops in various cities). In the first place, I don't really believe in perfection, silence, or capitalism. Secondly, as a voice hearer, I'm not in love with the harmfully simplistic & single-sided portrayal of voice hearing that pops up in her lyrics (as evidenced in that brilliantly playful & scathing song My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys: "Oh, here we go again./The voices in his head/Called the rain to end our days of wild").

However, as someone who has dealt with a lot of trauma & self-hatred, what I do love is how Taylor embraces the different eras of herself, which I find to be really healing. One of my closest friends is an original Swiftie from the Debut era & the whole Swiftie community (aside from the posing scammers) has been so welcoming & supportive & fun (I'm looking at you, @thediabeticjonasbrother& @agirlnamedally, as well as the Facebook group, Taylor Swift The Eras Tour New Orleans & Indianapolis 2024).

I'm grateful for Swifties. I love live music & I know seeing Taylor Swift perform so many of the songs I have come to love live with a bunch of other Swifties would be healing & empowering.

There's no way I can afford a $2000.00+ ticket from Stub Hub/other ticket resellers since I'm currently not able to work due to my ongoing recovery, so this idealistic (not naive) post is really my last hope of seeing Eras Tour live & in person.

I've had 3 people try to scam me into buying tickets. I've entered so many Eras Tour ticket sweepstakes I've lost count. I've filled out so many forms to buy face-value tickets from dedicated Swifties trying to get face value tickets into the hands of actual fans (thus avoiding scalpers, scammers, & bots), that I have also lost count.

I've looked forward to watching grainy, shaky live streams of the concert throughout the tour & this photo is from a YouTube livestream during one of the New Orleans shows. Thank you @taylorswift for not blocking livestreams 🤍

If anyone has a ticket, a hotel room, some airline miles, some Uber gift cards (do they do gift cards?), please let me know.

Scammers, don't you dare come at me.

Swifties, I'm right here.

@taylorswift @taylornation

[coldasyou]

one of my friends ran a tumblr blog during the 1989 tour to help people find tickets and all it really was was a spreadsheet. like, if people had tickets to sell she’d post it and put in the date and asking price. if someone asked her about anything she could just look it up quickly and it worked pretty well. she also would recommend more local sites to people who were looking for tickets in a specific area or city. like it was work but the most work consecutively was setting up the spreadsheet and choosing the blog theme and she chose to do it so she never really complained about it and it helped quite a few people find tickets so she was happy with that. my point being that someone asking people to pay for something that is most likely just a spreadsheet is actually insane

yeah and I realize it's probably a bit more difficult to verify the tickets now bc there's so many scammers but like 1) there are tons of other accounts who do the work for free 2) she's only getting these tickets bc she's an "influencer" 3) no one is guaranteed to get tickets! like if she was saying oh I will be a middle man and get you face value tickets then it would be a bit different but it's basically her getting thousands of dollars from people who may not even get a ticket! no better than scalpers lmao

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

November!!!!!

your monthly late post is here! and this time it's for a very special month, by far my favorite month of 2023 (we still have to wait until December though, in this house we play fair and square hahah) hello lads and lasses, hoping all is well wherever you are!

oh boy where do i even start! so November is my bday month, CoIdpIay Jakarta month, and CoIdpIay's first Asia/Oceania leg of Music of the Spheres world tour!!! this post is gonna be yet another long one because so many exciting things happened and i want to retell every juicy detail of them!

first of all, a little heads up, for laying low purposes i'll be censoring a few words (lowercase L changed to uppercase i, etc) so rest assured my keyboard is OK! second of all, if you saw my instagram stories or read my tweets you guys must be wondering why all of a sudden i got to see CoIdpIay in Jakarta when i clearly said i lost the ticketing war and that i will never buy from scalpers?

this is where one of the greatest adventure of my lifetime started. that seemingly contradictive event is solved by a very unexpected turn as a causal effect of something i did without much thinking a long time ago: i signed up for Love Button (LB) voIunteering project! a little bit background story, CoIdpIay have been partnering with a lot of non-government organizations working for environment, social justice, and humanity, where LB is one of them. every single concert show the band will bring along these NGOs to create impact at the cities they visited. the NGOs will then open a call for volunteers asking locals to join in. when CoIdpIay Jakarta was announced around May, even after i knew i can't see the band, i only thought that at least i get to join an activity that is endorsed by the band, brings positivity, and provides help. so i quickly signed up for LB, and as time flew by i kinda forgot about it.

around mid October aka 1,5 months before CoIdpIay Jakarta, i got an email from LB's head coordinator asking for confirmation from the people who've signed up whether they're still interested to volunteer, there were 27 people contacted. i remember immediately replying with a "yes please!!!" because i was just so excited 😂 then a week later another email from LB HQ again asking for confirmation from the ones who are still interested whether we have any idea which Indonesian NGOs LB can work with and would we be able to make it to spare some time for voIunteering project, this time only 19 people were contacted. then at last, around a month before CoIdpIay Jakarta, LB HQ made a WhatsApp group for the remaining 10 people. i remember thinking, "oh, only ten people can make it," which is understandable because usually the volunteering project will be held on d-1/d-day of the CoIdpIay show, where Jakarta's will be on a weekday.

here's when things get a whole lot more interesting! after all ten of us joined the group, LB HQ dropped the surprise: all of us will get a CoIdpIay Jakarta ticket, free of charge, courtesy of the band!!!!!

i remember receiving the news on a Friday during a class (yes i played with my phone during class do not imitate) and wanting to scream and jump and laugh but i couldn't because i was on a Zoom meeting with my cam on 😂 i never expected this to happen and never even dared to imagine this stroke of luck will ever come to me 🥺 until this very second as i type this i still can't fathom how when it's yours it will be yours no matter what. i mean: i remember feeling so dejected after not being able to secure any ticket on three different occasions (BCA presale, general sale, Infinity tickets sale) and knowing so many scalpers and scammers are out there waiting to prey on me, yet! i still get the ticket, there's a way for me to see the band at my home stadium, from a very unexpected source, and without spending any money!? i was over the moon, rejoicing over the news with a coldplay twitter friend who also got selected as one of the volunteers. i couldn't really talk about it since i want to keep it a secret because at that time i didn't exactly have ticket already, so i didn't want to jinx it.

anyways, LB HQ announced the volunteering project will take place d-1 CoIdplay Jakarta. here was when i encountered the first problem: during CoIdplay Jakarta week, i also had a orthodontic seminar happening (LB volunteer on Nov 14, CoIdplay Jakarta on Nov 15 while the seminar was on Nov 14-16) and at first i was heartbroken because initially

(edit: 31/12/2023 - i’m crying i actually have this Nov post almost finished in drafts BUT THEN BAM more uni assignments i procrastinated even more 🥲 so now i’m gonna finish this post lol)

because initially i thought i couldn’t make it given that i have to attend the Jakarta Orthodontist Meeting seminars, but biidznillah it was actually the one thing that made it possible for me to clear my schedule in a way that i don’t have mandatory classes and i can just slip away unnoticed! this is again, one of those times Allah helped me in ways i never expected and He came from unexplainable twists…

so yes, the days leading to Love Button volunteering day and coldplay Jakarta were charged with adrenaline, literally the best kind of wait i’ve ever experienced haha. i remember when November 14th finally came, i was sooo relieved and nervous at the same time i had to force myself to go to sleep the night before and woke up super early. my plan was: the volunteer work was from 7-9 AM and then i’d go straight to Kuningan where the seminar was held. important note is that the seminar started at 8.30 AM so i was late for almost 1.5 hours (i volunteered at Lapangan Banteng Park at Central Jakarta and the seminar was at South Jakarta 🥲) but yeah! the rush to be quick while also enjoying it was so fun! volunteer work was trash collecting with friends from Trash Hero Jakarta and though it was scorching hot i got to finally meet the rest of Love Button vols (that now are my very great friends, we’re seeing each other again for Coldplay Singapore haha) also! Nov 14th night i went to ColdplayXtra’s fan meetup and met even more coldplay friends!!! we had singalongs while having dinner and sharing stories, i could feel the way our love for the band brings us together, it was instant friendship bond made one after another we conversed like we were longtime besties.

next day comes, the main event of the month: coldplay Jakarta d-day!!! oh my god. when i tell you i can’t even describe how magical that day was, please believe me i feel like right now it’s kinda pointless trying to write it down because the range of emotions i feel that night was so diverse and no word can bring it justice 🥹 but i’ll start from the morning, i had to come to the seminar first because i had to scan my barcode for my attendance record, then at 12.30 PM after i ate lunch & did my prayers i went to Fairmont Hotel to exchange my ticket (the tickets for Love Button vols are different than the rest, because we got special seated VIP ones with ‘guest of the artist’ tagged for us!!! 🤩) then after that we crossed over to Gelora Bung Karno stadium complex.

apparently our tickets also have different instructions where we were to enter the stadium complex from a different/sterile gate, so we didn’t queue at all 🥹 got our lightning wristbands and then we took photos, literally hunting for any photobox or photo ops around the complex because we didn’t need to queue to go inside the stadium (since our tickets are seated ones) to pass time. dozens of photos collected, then we sat down and ate our meals as we wait until gates open time. another surprise came: Coldplay reposted Love Button’s instagram post!!! another once-in-a-lifetime bucket list checked: having our faces broadcasted to almost 24M of coldplay’s instagram followers 😂

around 6 PM we were finally allowed to enter the stadium and my oh my. GBK is HUGEEE! i have a very bad depth/distance perception at first i was like, oh this stadium is not that big. but when i finally had a fixed point of reference (it was the pillars above my head lol) i realized just how spacious and gigantic it is! i mean, the capacity is 85,000 people!!! woah and seeing the place getting filled slowly was quite a view. we had Rahmania Astrini as our opener and she was great! her songs are nice and her voice is A+, i suggest checking her out!

9 PM finally arrived and i remember saying to kak Jess how buzzing with surmounting energy i was as we all held our breath for the long awaited opening track signifying the band’s entrance: John William’s E.T’s theme, the Flying Theme!!! as a film score enthusiast i was this close to combust up in flames, two of my favorite things in one go, my heart can only take so much 🥹🥹🥹

then Higher Power started playing, and it began, the show i had been waiting for 9 years… i remember feeling like i ascended to cloud nine, as the stadium lit up with colors and all i could do was sing as loud as my vocal cord allowed me to, jumped up and down in the most literal way because i couldn’t stop moving around to the beat and the rhythm, and just overall trying to gulp down taking in

(edit #3, 23/01/2024: lol i am sorry my assignments were really holding me from finishing the post but! here i am d-3 to my coldplay Singapore trip, resuming the story!)

i don't think i can put into words what i felt during the show, it was simply magical. everything and everyone was so fully energy charged. and i'm so glad i saw the band with nine other Love Button volunteers because they were in the same brain wavelength/frequency as me so it goes without saying it was super duper fun enjoying whatever the band gave us during the show 🥺 best day ever, best early birthday present ever. the friends i met and found along the way are some of the best people i've ever had the precious chance to come across. these memories are to last for a very long time. so huge thank you for @coldplay no words could ever express my gratitude enough 💙

then along came my birthday, and my classmates held a mini celebration for me, though hilariously they admitted it was almost a disaster because they weren't sure the exact date - i'm the walking reminder of the class so it was impossible to ask the bday person what's their bday 😭😂

all in all, November's adventures are full of fun! the fact that the most seemingly impossible things to happen still found its way to happen is mindblowing. it cemented even deeper into my psyche that to trust Allah is to have the best plan ever. i could literally meticulously plan from A to Z but when He decided upon another, that's my path. even until today i still can't believe against all odds, with many conflicting schedules, tight spots, i still made it. with my faith in me, i will have not to worry. this actually soothes my overthinking self better than anything! haha

life is good, alhamdulillah. see you in the December post that i'm also currently writing (lol!) and also in January post that i'll write after i'm back from Singapore, from yet another adventure of a lifetime! 😉

[eomayas]

i haven’t seen them:( although they’ve just did a fanmeet in my country yesterday.

i think they’d probably do ep6 after sekai done with their enlistment, so probably in 2025 (maybe they have another comeback first) and tour in late 2025 or 2026, i’d be 21/22 by that and graduate from college so i hope… no, i WISH i can see their concert🤞🏻 the most depressing part is it’s actually pretty hard getting tickets here with all the scammers and ticket scalpers so yeah, i’d just hope if it’s mean to be then it is hehe

omg 2025 😭 ill be about the same age too hopefully i'll actually have money at that point lmao! if they toured now as 6 id still want to go but we all know it wouldn't be the same. and yeah i bet tix are very hard to get UGHHHHHH PRAYING FOR US