NO TICKET REQUIRED — The Veritix Blog

Jeff Kline, President of Veritix:

Recently, StubHub’s CEO Chris Tsakalakis posted a blog regarding Paperless Ticketing that contained some  inaccurate statements and misconceptions about the technology.  While we have the utmost respect for Mr. Tsakalakis, there are some things we’d like to take the opportunity to correct and clarify.

Paperless ticketing has been embraced by consumers  in the airline and hospitality industries for many years.  The same can now be said for the live event space.  Our company, Veritix, offers digital (paperless) ticketing option Flash Seats, which  provides for the safe and secure sale and transfer of tickets.  Our technology  has been used by more than 3 million fans to attend NBA, MLS, and other professional and college sports events, the NCAA Championships, as well as concerts and other live events at major arenas across the country.  Our customers give us a 97 percent customer satisfaction rating, and on average, fans using Flash Seats attend events 7 percent more frequently than fans using paper tickets.

Mr. Tsakalakis incorrectly states that consumers are unable to purchase tickets as gifts or give them to others to use when plans change.  In fact, Flash Seats allows for the instant and secure ability to buy, sell, and transfer paperless tickets from a computer or mobile phone.  Consumers have been doing this with live event tickets for over three years and DO have a choice.  The teams, artists and venues that offer these choices are dedicated to enriching the fan experience  and focused on  ensuring  the tickets they are purchasing and receiving are legitimate and convenient.  Paperless tickets prevent counterfeit or stolen tickets and provide the ultimate convenience for fans.  If a fan has trouble making the event, they can instantly and safely send those tickets to a relative or a friend by email, or sell them.

An important fact that Mr. Tsakalakis fails to acknowledge in his blog is that many tickets listed on Stubhub are in fact from professional resellers or brokers who  often sell tickets they don’t at that time own or possess.  This has, in some  instances, left consumers without a valid ticket or the tickets they thought they were purchasing.  It is difficult to see how that is good for the consumer.  When brokers buy and sell tickets on Flash Seats, consumers are guaranteed that the seller holds the right to that ticket, and that it will be delivered instantly when a transaction is completed.  Many brokers use Flash Seats to buy sell and transfer tickets in markets and venues that use this technology and consumers have embraced and accepted the paperless ticketing alternative for its proven safety and convenience. The ability to buy, sell and transfer a paperless ticket is here, accepted and ultimately more convenient for fans.

Lastly, the blog mentions the  Fan Freedom Project as an organization to preserve and protect fans rights.  If that is the case, and we hope it is, they should be well aware of the convenience and security a paperless system provides.  Although  StubHub and other third party marketplaces try to capitalize on fans that may not be aware another option or alternative exists, Flash Seats is clearly meeting fan demand for a safe and convenient paperless ticketing system.

Since partnering with Dover Motorsports last fall, we’ve diligently been crossing our “T”’s and dotting our “I”’s to ensure that the transition to the Veritix ticketing platform went as smoothly as possible. From building manifests to installing equipment to training, there was a lot to be done in a very short amount of time and finally, two weeks ago, all of the dress rehearsals were over and it was time for our first event at Nashville Super Speedway.

Although race fans may not have noticed anything different about their experience at the box office, it was apparent from the staff’s comments that the transaction process was much speedier than it had been in the past. Additionally, they were visibly excited about our system’s ease of use and touch-screen functionality. In fact, the event day staff was trained in mere minutes, which is unheard of among competitors systems.

In a little more than a week, we’ll have an opportunity to see the fruits of our labor once again as NASCAR returns to Dover International Speedway with the Sprint Cup Series. We will have staff on-hand for box office support and have also installed 8 kiosks to reduce the length of the lines at will call.

With our company’s first ticketed NASCAR events now under our belt, and another big weekend quickly approaching in Dover next weekend, we are excited to be growing our footprint in the motorsports market and look forward to all the excitement of our continued partnership with Dover Motorsports.

Click here for a complete list of upcoming Speedway events.