@wargul wrote:People's reactions to ticket scalping amazes me. I can buy a residential property, keep it until the price goes up, then sell it at a profit and I am a shrewd investor. If I do the same with sport or concert tickets I am some sorta scumbag. Morally they are the same.
The real issue here is - do people really PAY to see Justin Bieber???!!!
I try (in general) not to comment on the eBay / ticket scalping threads, as for me it's an objection based on a personal set of ethics and I recognise that personal ethics are not necessarily the kind that should be dictated to others. 
But since you asked the question 'why', I figured I'd put my 2c in.
To put that into the right context to start with, it is not a direct accusation that ticket scalpers are unethical - I understand the concept and how it applies to the 'it's just business' side of the argument, and it doesn't outrage me on the same level as the OP (particularly as we're talking about a group I've never listened to... but I digress).
For me, buying a tradeable commodity that exists to be tradeable isn't quite the same as buying tickets to an event soley to make a profit, nor is it the same as buying an item of jewellery etc. Consumer goods that maintain or increase in value is one thing, because they don't cease to exist after a certain point in time (well, usually, anyway...), but an event ticket is sometimes a one-shot opportunity to experience something, and the ticket itself has no value - it's the experience that does, and once the opportunity to experience that event goes, it can never be made available again, to anyone, ever.
The only reason it works is because a scalper takes an opportunity away from a fan, then sells it back to them - and yes, I understand that the practice wouldn't exist if there weren't people willing to pay the price, but that's where the personal ethics side of it kicks in for me - I don't want to hear "a real fan would pre-order their tickets / buy during pre-sale", because when and how a person has the means to purchase their tickets doesn't determine whether or not they're a "real fan". Some of the most die-hard fans hear about an event, scrimp and save for months, finally have the cash....and no opportunity to buy because a profiteer has already taken it...and, well...I just don't like it. 
@davewil1964 wrote:Far better worded than anything I could have said.
Thankyou, sir
Spoiler
I may have practiced that last post in front of the mirror a few times - or whatever the internet equivalent of a mirror is.
