kingcole
Well-known member
Great to see another over 35500. From my vantange point in the ESL it looked like a smaller than usual segreagtion area between S1F and S1G. Sure in the past is has been 5 columns but looked less, maybe just 3?
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[Albion] Yesterday’s attendance
- Thread starter kingcole
- Start date
Superphil
Dismember
The segregation bits did look smaller, about time too. Still disappointing to see so many empty seats, why wouldn’t the STHs not put them on the exchange if they aren’t able to make it?
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
35,500?
Green Cross Code Man
Wunt be druv
Haha, the club slipped that one by the planning committee!
kingcole
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #5
Coz they don’t know about it.
The exchange page is very basic and even looks a bit spammy.
The exchange page can’t be accessed from some Apple devices.
You can’t put tickets on the exchange until it sells out, often a few days before and after those who can’t go may have already left on their holiday or to partake in whatever it is that’s preventing them from going.
You are never told if your seat has sold
Some don’t value the £25 shop voucher (less if a concession)
All above are genuine reasons but I can say with some certaintly that mainly it’s the first point
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
Put my ticket on exchange a couple of weeks back, not sure if it was sold, wasn't told. Received nothing back so assume it wasn't. The ticket exchange is a bit of a shambles really. Didn't put it on the exchange yesterday, just didn't think it was worth it.
How much demand is there for the exchange? Are all the tickets listed on the exchange being taken? If not then it doesn't really matter if lots of season tickets holders don't list their tickets.
If there is a lack of demand it may well come back to the point mentioned earlier that people are not aware of it.
If there is a lack of demand it may well come back to the point mentioned earlier that people are not aware of it.
kingcole
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #9
I think everytime the exchange has been activated then all tickets submitted for exchange have been sold. But the number submitted is likely small
There are posts on here from people looking daily for a West Ham ticket
Whether there would be ample demand to snap up all the seats that are not used is another question, but a moot point until the club have an exhange worthy of the name.
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
Aware of it or not, it doesn't seem to work.
"Shambles" is indeed the word for it........
Superphil
Dismember
I agree with what you say about the exchange, it’s a shame, as it does work. Two friends of mine wanted to go, and were disappointed when it sold out and they didn’t get tickets. I kept an eye on the ticket site after it was sold out and got them two “guest” tickets together in the ESU, there’d been put on the exchange, and the owners of the seats will get some club shop ‘money’. It does seem odd club still haven’t got a proper module for the ticketing software to do it properly rather than that odd surveymonkey(?) option, maybe that is the problem.
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
Yep, that is the problem, and no clubs seem to have in-house developers. The websites are dross, handled by the same company, and they end up going to shite like Survey Monkey to do their own business. They need an in-house dev or two to sort this out. I won't be using the exchange again when I can't make it.
Whilst not obvious, you do get an email when your seat sells. It looks like you’ve bought something, but shows a value of 0.00.
Generally agree with you though, it’s a pisspoor way of being able to offer up your seat.
Bob'n'weave
Well-known member
Do we need an App for this? Members, STH's and public can join. If your not going, tell the App and your ticked becomes available. Photo ID check at the gate ( home and away, PNG etc), and in you go. I know the club has it's hands full, but this could be sorted out.
kingcole
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #16
I’ve shouted on these boards for an App before.
As well as what you say above it could also store the ticket to be scanned for games. For non season ticket holders their ticket will also be on their app after purchase.
Although there are clearly some costs with developing a decent app, I doubt it would be much more than a weeks salary for one of our players! And it should be self funding as it would be a great marketing tool for the club to push special offers to members who have the app. Be it retail, tickets, transport or catering. Also sponsorship opportunities too. The Seagulls player thing could be incorportated in it as well
In fact, I can’t beleive it hasn’t happened.
Anyhow, all a bit off topic. How big was the segregated area in yesterday’s game.
I'm not sure if I posted this before, but it's part of an email sent my Paul Barber to me recently on the subject, and he said I could share if I wish. So, just in case...
"We could have had a fully functioning ticket exchange in place some time ago. Again, as previously explained, there have been two key reasons why it hasn’t been put in place: (1) a lack of demand and (2) business models that wouldn’t have worked for the club – or, more importantly, for fans. Instead, we have developed a simpler system built from scratch that is more cost effective for the club and for fans.
It’s currently clunky and it’s highly manual. But it works - and we promote it when it’s active. It’s been used hundreds of times this season already (as well as on several notable occasions last season). It is however a complete myth to suggest transaction volumes will soar with a more automated exchange or a better financial incentive. It didn’t at Spurs back in my day there - and it doesn’t at other clubs now.
For whatever reason there’s a reluctance amongst some fans to offer their seat for exchange. I really don’t know why. It’s the key reason why the big clubs quickly lost very lucrative deals with viagogo and others in the secondary market within a short space of time – quite simply, those providers couldn’t generate a return on the guarantees they had paid upfront because transaction volumes were too low.
I know that many fans think this is a simple problem to fix. I’m afraid it isn’t. There are three basic business models (and some hybrids):
- the provider pays a big fee to the club - and then owns the club’s secondary ticket market; the provider either allows a “free market” on prices and/or they charge a % to buyer and seller. These deals usually only exist for the biggest clubs (and less so now).
- a hefty license fee is charged to the club for the software. The club can either provide a free or fixed market for re-sale pricing (and takes a % of the transaction value if it is above face value) or, more common, it charges fees to buyers and/or sellers.
- the club works with a provider to develop its own exchange, imposes conditions on sale (e.g. to buy you must be a club member to minimise potential security issues) thereby limiting flexibility to a degree but also limiting costs to fans as far as is possible too.
Clearly, a simpler more flexible system will help but the vast majority of PL clubs still experience up to 10% of “no shows” every week. That’s a lot of empty seats every game. And, yes, we are as frustrated as those fans that see the empty seats - and those fans that want to get access to them. It’s a topic of regular debate amongst clubs – and it has been for years. But we can’t re-sell what we don’t get back!
Finally, we have refined the current clunky ticket exchange to make it easier for us to activate and, more importantly, so it will be easier for fans. Unfortunately, the delay is not us “breaking our promise”, it is a complex payment system issue that has much wider commercial repercussions for us to fix at this particular time. Once resolved, it will be a better system that returns cash to fans not vouchers.
In summary, those that want to use the current ticket exchange, clunky and inflexible as it is, are doing so – and some, regularly. It doesn’t ever make sense to activate a ticket exchange when you have tickets left to sell. We can only promote it when its activated because it is a waste of time and resource to pre-list tickets when the exchange might not get activated, hence the long-awaited upgrade."
"We could have had a fully functioning ticket exchange in place some time ago. Again, as previously explained, there have been two key reasons why it hasn’t been put in place: (1) a lack of demand and (2) business models that wouldn’t have worked for the club – or, more importantly, for fans. Instead, we have developed a simpler system built from scratch that is more cost effective for the club and for fans.
It’s currently clunky and it’s highly manual. But it works - and we promote it when it’s active. It’s been used hundreds of times this season already (as well as on several notable occasions last season). It is however a complete myth to suggest transaction volumes will soar with a more automated exchange or a better financial incentive. It didn’t at Spurs back in my day there - and it doesn’t at other clubs now.
For whatever reason there’s a reluctance amongst some fans to offer their seat for exchange. I really don’t know why. It’s the key reason why the big clubs quickly lost very lucrative deals with viagogo and others in the secondary market within a short space of time – quite simply, those providers couldn’t generate a return on the guarantees they had paid upfront because transaction volumes were too low.
I know that many fans think this is a simple problem to fix. I’m afraid it isn’t. There are three basic business models (and some hybrids):
- the provider pays a big fee to the club - and then owns the club’s secondary ticket market; the provider either allows a “free market” on prices and/or they charge a % to buyer and seller. These deals usually only exist for the biggest clubs (and less so now).
- a hefty license fee is charged to the club for the software. The club can either provide a free or fixed market for re-sale pricing (and takes a % of the transaction value if it is above face value) or, more common, it charges fees to buyers and/or sellers.
- the club works with a provider to develop its own exchange, imposes conditions on sale (e.g. to buy you must be a club member to minimise potential security issues) thereby limiting flexibility to a degree but also limiting costs to fans as far as is possible too.
Clearly, a simpler more flexible system will help but the vast majority of PL clubs still experience up to 10% of “no shows” every week. That’s a lot of empty seats every game. And, yes, we are as frustrated as those fans that see the empty seats - and those fans that want to get access to them. It’s a topic of regular debate amongst clubs – and it has been for years. But we can’t re-sell what we don’t get back!
Finally, we have refined the current clunky ticket exchange to make it easier for us to activate and, more importantly, so it will be easier for fans. Unfortunately, the delay is not us “breaking our promise”, it is a complex payment system issue that has much wider commercial repercussions for us to fix at this particular time. Once resolved, it will be a better system that returns cash to fans not vouchers.
In summary, those that want to use the current ticket exchange, clunky and inflexible as it is, are doing so – and some, regularly. It doesn’t ever make sense to activate a ticket exchange when you have tickets left to sell. We can only promote it when its activated because it is a waste of time and resource to pre-list tickets when the exchange might not get activated, hence the long-awaited upgrade."
Bob'n'weave
Well-known member
Elon Musk is working on holidays to Mars, I think we can sort this one out. Any digital Gandalf's on NSC care to offer up a model for our beleaguered leaders?
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Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
To be honest there could be a whole host of reasons why season ticket holders dont list them for resale. Maybe they don't make the decision not to go until the day of the game? maybe they can't be bothered to go through the process of doing it, only to receive a small voucher for Albion tat as a thank you for doing it? Maybe even, and l know this is the case for one particular couple, they simply hate the thought of someone else sitting in 'their' seats!
Either way, one good thing from selling out games, these empty seats or not, is that the club are making more revenue.
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
There is a reason for that.