As if there wasn't enough drama before the Bruce Springsteen tickets went on sale, Sen. Charles Schumer issued a warning Monday after they sold out in just minutes.
Schumer's warning was directed at hopeful concertgoers who couldn't get tickets today, many of whom will turn to third-party sites like StubHub to purchase re-sold tickets at higher prices.
"Now that the Springsteen tickets have come and gone, fans are forced to wade in to the secondary ticket market, but buyer be ware – there are scammers out there that can take your money and keep shut you out of the show," Schumer said in a statement Monday.
The senator said he plans to introduce legislation that will impose a two-day waiting period from when tickets go on sale via an authorized outlet before a reseller can buy those tickets to put on the secondary market.
Just last week, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced she was suing three of those resellers -- Orbitz Worldwide, Ticketnetwork and Select-A-Ticket -- for "spec selling," the practice of brokers selling tickets before they have them in hand.
Schumer's bill would not make ticket reselling illegal because consumers can benefit from a secondary ticket market. When ticket buyers need to sell their own tickets, or they want to attend an event and are willing to pay more not to be part of the initial stampede for tickets, ticket reselling would be acceptable.
Several months ago, Ticketmaster announced a new policy to no longer allow the prelisting of tickets on its secondary site, TicketsNow, before they're sold via Ticketmaster.
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"I'm thrilled that Ticketmaster is listening and implementing a 48-hour window similar to the one I proposed to them and is now the center of my legislation," Schumer said. "Now we need to extend the practice to the whole industry."
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are playing at Giants Stadium on Sept. 30, Oct. 2 and Oct. 3.
