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Are the ticket prices based on views


miles

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I signed up to the onebuffalo app to buy tickets today

I found tickets in the 300 level for 45 dollars each. I went to buy them and had to create an account. I did, and when I came back the seats were no longer in the cart. I went back to the same section and the same seats were now 75 dollars. I clicked back to get to the list and tried again, there were no more 45 dollar seats. The upper level were now 75. 

It was definitely the same game and section. I verified before trying to buy. 

I figured that I would check StubHub because they had tickets cheaper and I found tickets in the 100 level for 83 dollars so I snatched them up. 

I went back to the onebuffalo app to try again about 30 minutes later and they were back to 45 dollars  

I dont know if it was a glitch but I rebooted and it hadn't fixed it

 

I'm basing my vacation around going to the games and I was getting irritated with it. Between that and the horrible autotune music at the subway restaurant it wasn't a relaxing lunch break

Edited by miles
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I think I found the issue. Certain rows within the same section have different prices. So row 12 might be 45 dollars and row 11 might be 75 dollars. I wasn't positive on the row, just the section and that it was an aisle seat

Not sure why they were showing no 45 dollar tickets and then later they were, unless they released more tickets

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42 minutes ago, miles said:

I think I found the issue. Certain rows within the same section have different prices. So row 12 might be 45 dollars and row 11 might be 75 dollars. I wasn't positive on the row, just the section and that it was an aisle seat

Not sure why they were showing no 45 dollar tickets and then later they were, unless they released more tickets

Up in the 300's, the 1st 2 rows are Level I seats.  The Level II seats used to be everything else except those seats in the 6 sections (3 at each end) behind the goals, but now it looks like they broke the upper seats from those sections into Levels V & VI (minus the upper seats from the corner most sections).  With the end seats formerly being Level III but now the end seats behind Hutton now being Level IV (slightly cheaper than the remaining Level III seats).

Not sure where that Level II/ Level V/VI cutoff is.  (Your stating it's at row 12 looks about right from the not to scale seating chart.)

And your guess as to how seats opened back up at the lower price is probably correct.  300 Level II single game pricing is $75 and Levels V/VI pricing is $45.  So people probably opened that 8-10 minute window to purchase Level V/VI seats after you originally did and then didn't actually purchase them.  So they weren't available when you went back initially and then became available again.

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1 hour ago, miles said:

Its weird they have different prices like that

Level II seats are considered better than the lower tier (III-VI) seats and are priced higher accordingly. 

Sabres also, as you know, charge more for "better" games.  Good thing they have computers, because it would not be pretty seeing somebody try to add up how much somebody should be billed that wanted to buy seats to multiple games in different sections of the rink.

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I should say, it's weird they didnt color code the seats by price on the site

 

If you choose 45 dollar tickets the section lights up but you cant click on many of the seats. At one point I'm clicking like a madman and I can't select it...it was a 75 dollar seat

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For the lvl 300’s, I don’t like them. Starring through plexiglass, with its top creating a line right down the center of the ice is annoying as all hell. Same goes for row 2-4. I’d like to move my seats up a few rows so I could stand up during the game with no one behind me, except for Rick.

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5 hours ago, miles said:

I think I found the issue. Certain rows within the same section have different prices. So row 12 might be 45 dollars and row 11 might be 75 dollars. I wasn't positive on the row, just the section and that it was an aisle seat

Not sure why they were showing no 45 dollar tickets and then later they were, unless they released more tickets

I remember same issue because I didnt have my credit card ready.  I gave up and checked next day and found cheap prices, similar seats.  Game was in Jersey, gotta be a ticketmaster thing (BS).  Now I know, be ready to do deal right off that bat.

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2 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

I remember same issue because I didnt have my credit card ready.  I gave up and checked next day and found cheap prices, similar seats.  Game was in Jersey, gotta be a ticketmaster thing (BS).  Now I know, be ready to do deal right off that bat.

i went to ticketmaster to see about sabres vs devils tickets in nj, and they had a message that said the prices will change based on site activity for the game. i cancelled my search when they tried to charge nearly 50 dollars in fees for 2 tickets. 

i will check stubhub or just go to the flyers game, even though the flyers is more difficult to get to

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Keep getting a call from a sales guy from Devils for discount tickets, apparently Devil/Sabres in NJ is last home game of the year.  Maybe we could figure something out. What is your price range, dont mind paying a little for good seats.  Last time 3rd row.

8 hours ago, miles said:

i went to ticketmaster to see about sabres vs devils tickets in nj, and they had a message that said the prices will change based on site activity for the game. i cancelled my search when they tried to charge nearly 50 dollars in fees for 2 tickets. 

i will check stubhub or just go to the flyers game, even though the flyers is more difficult to get to

 

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1 hour ago, North Buffalo said:

Keep getting a call from a sales guy from Devils for discount tickets, apparently Devil/Sabres in NJ is last home game of the year.  Maybe we could figure something out. What is your price range, dont mind paying a little for good seats.  Last time 3rd row.

 

We are going to try to get tix to a second game while we are visiting buffalo. its unlikely I will get to another. 

 

Thank you though 

Edited by miles
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so the ticket prices are based on Views. It says the following on the Sabres home page 

prices may fluctuate based on demand.

 

Edit. I found tickets that were 45 dollars yesterday were 75 today. It was the last row in the section too. Unless I'm not remembering correctly, the price is changing 

Edited by miles
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5 hours ago, miles said:

so the ticket prices are based on Views. It says the following on the Sabres home page 

prices may fluctuate based on demand.

 

Edit. I found tickets that were 45 dollars yesterday were 75 today. It was the last row in the section too. Unless I'm not remembering correctly, the price is changing 

Saw that the Sabres have the little asterisk in the single game pricing chart that prices can vary based upon demand.  But really finding it hard to believe that a Rags game the day after Buffalo born Patrick Kane is in town and 2 weeks before the end of the season is in high enough demand to trigger the varied pricing.  Especially considering that price increase from $45 to $75 would place the Silver level game pricing above that for a Platinum level game price ($65/seat) AND that increased price is the exact price of a 302 Level II Silver level game price.  And that the game doesn't seem to be sold out yet.  If demand really were great enough to bump prices neafly 100% would have expected it to have sold out.

Just curious.  Was that last row in the section row 20 something in say section 302, or row 11 or 12?. Because the 300's go well into the 20's but towards the corners 300 Level II seats only go about 1/2 way up into the section and then the higher seats are Level V & VI (as stated in earlier post, not sure where that row cutoff is).

Not really trying to call you out.  Just (as stated above) am curious if the pricing difference is due to looking at seats from different tiers or due to the variable pricing model being very sensitive.

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10 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Saw that the Sabres have the little asterisk in the single game pricing chart that prices can vary based upon demand.  But really finding it hard to believe that a Rags game the day after Buffalo born Patrick Kane is in town and 2 weeks before the end of the season is in high enough demand to trigger the varied pricing.  Especially considering that price increase from $45 to $75 would place the Silver level game pricing above that for a Platinum level game price ($65/seat) AND that increased price is the exact price of a 302 Level II Silver level game price.  And that the game doesn't seem to be sold out yet.  If demand really were great enough to bump prices neafly 100% would have expected it to have sold out.

Just curious.  Was that last row in the section row 20 something in say section 302, or row 11 or 12?. Because the 300's go well into the 20's but towards the corners 300 Level II seats only go about 1/2 way up into the section and then the higher seats are Level V & VI (as stated in earlier post, not sure where that row cutoff is).

Not really trying to call you out.  Just (as stated above) am curious if the pricing difference is due to looking at seats from different tiers or due to the variable pricing model being very sensitive.

The section was 314, row 12. It costs 75 today. This was for the Blackhawks game in March. 

I could have sworn that was 45 or maybe 55 early yesterday. I could be wrong but I thought it was

 

However I got tix for the 2 games I wanted from StubHub for cheaper than I can get today

Edited by miles
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On 9/11/2019 at 1:49 PM, miles said:

I think I found the issue. Certain rows within the same section have different prices. So row 12 might be 45 dollars and row 11 might be 75 dollars. I wasn't positive on the row, just the section and that it was an aisle seat

Not sure why they were showing no 45 dollar tickets and then later they were, unless they released more tickets

Like most systems, when someone "adds to their cart" the system will take those items out of inventory for a set period of time.  When you had to create an account and the information didn't carry over they were likely stuck in the old cart waiting to be bought.  When that didn't happen after a set period of time they were returned to the inventory.

Now imagine this happening with multiple people.

This is a common problem in any system that sells "seats" or similar inventory.  That said, overall, the prices will vary.  If the system detects more views happening for a game it will raise the prices.  This is your classic ML/AI.  It's job is to run algorithmic tests to see if it can't maximize the selling price of every game.  Increased views mean increased interest so raise the price.  See if someone bites.  It likely gets even more complicated if you are logged into the site or if it can read certain ad-tracking cookies, etc.  The depth of this can go one for awhile.

By the way, sometimes it works in reverse.  I was once offered a "one-time"discount by a site on something i had visited a few times in the past few weeks.  It decided to see if it could entice me to buy since i was clearly not buying at the posted price.  It worked.

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4 minutes ago, miles said:

The section was 314, row 12. It costs 75 today. This was for the Blackhawks game in March. 

I could have sworn that was 45 or maybe 55 early yesterday. I could be wrong but I thought it was

You sure it wasn't either 304 or 315?  314 is a Level III section behind the visitor (shoot twice) net which has a list price of $50/seat for that game.  And all the seats on 314 are Level III.

Row 12 in 304 is low in the Sabres zone ( just above the goal line) on the bench side of the ice and 305 is a corner section behind the visitor goal.  Both of those sections are Level II from row 3 to ~row 12-14 (can't tell exact row cutoff from setting map I've got) and then become Level VI and Level V respectively above that.  

Really expect that your initial ticket hold had you a couple of rows higher and then the next time you were looking at a seat slightly lower but much more expensive.

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8 minutes ago, Taro T said:

You sure it wasn't either 304 or 315?  314 is a Level III section behind the visitor (shoot twice) net which has a list price of $50/seat for that game.  And all the seats on 314 are Level III.

Row 12 in 304 is low in the Sabres zone ( just above the goal line) on the bench side of the ice and 305 is a corner section behind the visitor goal.  Both of those sections are Level II from row 3 to ~row 12-14 (can't tell exact row cutoff from setting map I've got) and then become Level VI and Level V respectively above that.  

Really expect that your initial ticket hold had you a couple of rows higher and then the next time you were looking at a seat slightly lower but much more expensive.

It was definitely the section and row. I just checked it. There are no available rows on the site behind it. 

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13 minutes ago, LTS said:

Like most systems, when someone "adds to their cart" the system will take those items out of inventory for a set period of time.  When you had to create an account and the information didn't carry over they were likely stuck in the old cart waiting to be bought.  When that didn't happen after a set period of time they were returned to the inventory.

Now imagine this happening with multiple people.

This is a common problem in any system that sells "seats" or similar inventory.  That said, overall, the prices will vary.  If the system detects more views happening for a game it will raise the prices. This is your classic ML/AI.  It's job is to run algorithmic tests to see if it can't maximize the selling price of every game.  Increased views mean increased interest so raise the price.  See if someone bites.  It likely gets even more complicated if you are logged into the site or if it can read certain ad-tracking cookies, etc.  The depth of this can go one for awhile.

By the way, sometimes it works in reverse.  I was once offered a "one-time"discount by a site on something i had visited a few times in the past few weeks.  It decided to see if it could entice me to buy since i was clearly not buying at the posted price.  It worked.

True.  But to bump pricing of a seat for a random game 2 weeks from the end of the season the night after another home game by nearly 100% from an initial price not listed in the pricing chart seems rather doubtful.

Especially when the exact pricing differential ($45 vs $75) occurs at almost exactly the row the poster was looking at 1 section over.

My guess is, once the prospective buyer decides to look at a seat / section the algorithm shows the " best" seat available given the buyers constraints wherein best will be closest to the ice and closest to the red line within the given constraints.  In this case, when the tickets were 1st looked at, the best available were a bit higher up and thus in the lowest pricing tier in the rink.  After some people had their carts/ caches cleared, the best available seat was now closer to the ice in a different pricing tier and much more expensive.

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7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

True.  But to bump pricing of a seat for a random game 2 weeks from the end of the season the night after another home game by nearly 100% from an initial price not listed in the pricing chart seems rather doubtful.

Especially when the exact pricing differential ($45 vs $75) occurs at almost exactly the row the poster was looking at 1 section over.

My guess is, once the prospective buyer decides to look at a seat / section the algorithm shows the " best" seat available given the buyers constraints wherein best will be closest to the ice and closest to the red line within the given constraints.  In this case, when the tickets were 1st looked at, the best available were a bit higher up and thus in the lowest pricing tier in the rink.  After some people had their carts/ caches cleared, the best available seat was now closer to the ice in a different pricing tier and much more expensive.

Very possible.  Most of my statements were made in generality, not specifically for this instance.

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20 minutes ago, miles said:

It was definitely the section and row. I just checked it. There are no available rows on the site behind it. 

And my bad on 1 item.  Still no idea where the break between Level II and Level V/VI occurs, but there are only 14 rows in the 300's.

Sorry about that.

[Edit: so clearly the break between Level II and V/VI is likely lower than 12.  But no idea where it actually hits.]

Edited by Taro T
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I mentioned earlier I could be misremembering the price. I saw that note about the prices can change and wanted to mention it. 

I'm honestly hoping I'm wrong. The price changes based on sales or views is not something I would like to support 

 

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36 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

We are going to two games one night apart ( Jan 28 & 30). Got the exact same seats same row section 110. They are priced  $45 - $96 each accordingly. So yeah price is based on demand per game IMHO.

Would seem that way.  Strange thing is the Sabres "base" per game spreadsheet doesn't include the 100 Level III seats (which includes section 110).  The 100 Level II base prices are $90 & $125 for those 2 games so would've expected your prices to be about $75 & $95 in Level III.  So it would appear the demand is pretty weak for the Otter game.  (On only the 1st day the seats were available to the general public through the Sabres; though STHers have had about a week to grab extras.)

Interesting.

But my back is finally not killing me, so I need to work on a client project again now that concentration is no longer an issue.

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1 hour ago, sabresouth said:

We are going to two games one night apart ( Jan 28 & 30). Got the exact same seats same row section 110. They are priced  $45 - $96 each accordingly. So yeah price is based on demand per game IMHO.

 

i am pretty sure i figured out what i was doing. the march 21st game the ticket is 50 dollars. The ticket the next day (the 22nd), same exact seats is 75.  I have to believe that was what i was doing. it has to be. 

Edited by miles
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