What is dynamic pricing? How to be a verified fan on Ticketmaster explained as Taylor Swift crash leaves fans enraged

Days after American pop star Taylor Swift announced her Eras tour slated for next year in March, the artist’s official ticketing website, Ticketmaster, crashed owing to the overwhelming demand from fans. The pre-sales for Swift’s tour went live on November 15, causing Ticketmaster to crash over 5,000 times before 2 pm PST, according to Downdetector.com.

The company noted that millions of people were present on the website for the Verified Fan presale for Swift’s upcoming tour. As per reports, millions of fans who had signed up days in advance to get access to a code allowing them to buy tickets caused the website to crash in Eastern and Central time zones.

According to The Guardian, fans reported that they waited in online queues for eight hours, with some fans saying that they were too late to purchase tickets that cost between $49 and $449. Despite having a Verified Ticket system in place, tickets were being listed on resale sites like Stubhub for as much as $22,700.

The ticketing website on its FAQ page explains what Dynamic Pricing is:

“In some instances, events on our platform may have tickets that are “market-priced,” so ticket and fee prices may adjust over time based on demand. This is similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold and is commonly referred to as “Dynamic Pricing.”

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How to access a verified fan presale on Ticketmaster?

To increase their chances of getting tickets, fans can register with the Verified Fan system to keep bots out of the ticketing process. However, as per Ticketmaster, Verified Fan is made available on an event-by-event basis, and participation is determined by the artist, team, or event organizer.

Ticketmaster Verified Fan ensures that it keeps bots out of the ticketing buying process. The company notes that while it does not guarantee that every fan will get a ticket, it does make the ticket buying experience fairer by ensuring that only fans are competing for the tickets. All fans have to do is register to get verified and have the opportunity to be invited to buy tickets.

To gain access to the Verified Ticket system on Ticketmaster, fans can follow the given steps:

-- To register for the Verified Fan Presale, fans will require the email address they use to sign in to their Ticketmaster account and their password.

-- Click on the link in the announcement and head to the custom registration page.

-- Following this step, fans can sign in using their account or they can create one when they register.

-- The final step is to mark the shows in which fans are interested and submit their registration.

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After receiving various complaints online, Ticketmaster released an official statement noting:

"There has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up to buy tickets for TaylorSwiftTix presale."

At the time of writing this article, Taylor Swift’s ticketing page opened the joining queue, which had previously been paused. It now reads:

“Due to high demand for today’s sale, ticket availability is extremely limited. As you continue to shop some options may be unavailable. If you are unable to find tickets today, we recommend checking back frequently as additional tickets may become available.”

Taylor Swift will be hitting the road next year in March for an extensive 52-date tour in the US. The tour will feature Taylor Swift’s albums since 2006 and is Swift’s first time on tour since her Reputation tour in 2018. Swift will be supported by artists Beabadoobee, Muna, Haim, and Phoebe Bridgers, among other artists.