Talk:Acquiring a ticket
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User Experiences
Here users of the Wiki can write reports about the personal experience on services listed in the article.
Yahoo.co.jp Auctions Bidding Services
Bid-Service by Juno Francis
Used in March 2006 --Zaxx 00:17, 18 August 2007 (CEST)
I contacted Juno via ICQ instant messanger 2 days before my departure to Japan and 3 hours before the end of an auction for a concert ticket (which was for a concert 5 in days, so not much time left). I was asked to deposit a certain amount via paypal and he set sniper bidding (automatic bidding in the last 300 seconds of the auction) a few minutes later. After the auction was won I was asked to pay the rest of the money including all fees and shipping costs. I then told him my hotel address in Japan. 3 or 4 days later the ticket arrived at my hotel and everything was fine.
Pro: VERY fast. Probably the fastest possible way and the fastest service of this kind. Very easy, no longer than 5 minutes spent on ICQ and everything was perfect. definitely recommended!
Con: The shipping fees are calculated for international shipping always, even if it's just a piece of paper to an address in Japan. The agent fees are applied after all other fees are applied.
Used in October 2006 --Zaxx 00:17, 18 August 2007 (CEST)
This time it was just as smooth as in the report above. But there was a bit more time available. Contact via instant messanger 20 days before the concert. And again 11 days before the concert for a second ticket. 3 days before I left I sent him my hotel address and as soon as I arrived at the hotel both tickets were already there.
Celga
Used in July 2006 --Zaxx 00:17, 18 August 2007 (CEST)
It was my first time using such a service for buying a concert ticket so I was quite nervous. I bid on a fanclub ticket 2 months before the concert. As fanclub tickets are not released until 10~14 days before the actual concert I was never sure if the ticket would arrive in time. But the people behind Celga were very calm and so the ticket arrived in time about 4 days before the concert. As far as I can tell, Celga is located a bit further away from Tokyo so they are using 500 yen express shipping in Japan.
Pro: Easy fee structure. Fast reply to e-mails. Con: E-Mails aren't as fast as instant messanging.
Used in April/May/June 2007 --Zaxx 00:17, 18 August 2007 (CEST)
As I was in Japan for three months I wanted even more flexibility on bidding than instant messanger so I applied for a celga gold account. As I needed one very fast I asked them if they had one with a few positive ratings (required for most ticket auctions) for me and they actually had one. I sent them my credit card details (required for celga gold) - which I wasn't very happy about but it all worked well. I usually bid on auctions ending around 10 days before a concert happened (which mostly was monday or tuesday, as concerts were happening on the weekend of the next week, so enough time for buying/paying in the first week and shipping in the second). All tickets arrived, some only 2 days before the concert. I bought about 8 tickets during the three months using that service.
Pro: Very useful for a bigger amount of bidding. Automated payment via credit card may not be the most secure way, but at least the easiest. Con: Could probably be a day or two faster but may be related to location of Celga headquarters.
Ticket resellers
Gorakudoh in Tokyo - Harajuku - Takeshita Dori
Used in June 2007 --Zaxx 00:17, 18 August 2007 (CEST)
It was very easy. I looked their website with listing of available tickets and wrote down infos about a few ticket pairs I was interested in. I then went in the morning an hour or so after opening and all tickets were still available just as written on the site. They have all tickets behind a glass cabinet so you can see them all. As soon as you decided you ask a person behind the counter by pointing to the tickets or by saying something like 'konsaato chiketto' to them. As the tickets never show the exact seat position or the person who bought the tickets (as this would lead back to the person who sold the ticket to the shop) these info are hidden via some piece of paper and paper clips in the showcase. As soon as you are about to pay, they will inform you, that you cannot return the bought tickets and you won't get any money back even if the concert was cancelled. They have this info written in english on a paper that they will show you in case you look like you don't understand it. I didn't show up in the first minute after opening, as there was still more than week until the concert started. But I heard that if there was less time left for a concert in Tokyo and they had a interesting offer on their website, there are even waiting lines in the morning in front of the store.
Pro: Perfect for getting a ticket fast. The prices itself may be a bit higher than on auctions, but there are no fees of any kind involved and requires no signing up, emailing or credit card payment. Con: Actually nothing for this kind of service.
