Reselling Revealed
The bell sounds, signaling the end of zero period. Almost instantly, a crowd of students waiting to purchase Homecoming Dance tickets snakes out of the Student Store and around the H building.
With an increased number of students at school, campus congestion is not the only problem at Peninsula. Because the gym can only fit a limited number of people, the demand for tickets to school events is rising. Some students have taken this opportunity to benefit themselves by reselling coveted dance tickets.
Although students are not all aware of the regulations, students are prohibited from selling items on campus.
“I didn’t realize that reselling tickets was against the rules,” sophomore Simon Shin said. “If it’s causing such a problem at school, the rule should be more emphasized.”
To prevent problems, the school keeps electronic lists that contain the names of the students who bought tickets.
“We keep a list for accountability reasons, but we flag certain tickets if we suspect it has been resold numerous times,” Student Store staff member Marie Crossen said.
Adult monitors who check students’ IDs at the dance entrance often only have the time to cross check the list for flagged tickets.
Many students decide to sell their tickets simply because of a change in their social calendar. Popular events such as the Back to School Dance result in some ticket laundering especially at the last minute.
“I couldn’t go to the dance, so I decided to auction it off,” a junior student, whose name has been kept anonymous, said. He sold his Back to School Dance ticket for $20 more than the original price.
Although these re-sales are often overpriced, students are still willing to purchase the tickets instead of buying them earlier at the Student Store, especially with the convenience of transactions through Facebook.
“Students shouldn’t buy extra tickets with the explicit motive of reselling them to others, but selling your ticket at a higher price to people who are willing to pay for it works out as a win-win situation,” sophomore Christina Huang said.
It is a concern that such costly tickets are forced on students who simply wish to attend a school event. Some may say that the scalpers are smart enough to earn the money by themselves, but senior Patti Proch disagrees.
“I admire them for their ability to make a profit, but I think they need to understand that there is a time and a place for that, and school isn’t an appropriate setting,” Proch said.
