Another perspective on your thinking here, which I think over simplifies the situation.
On my blog (http://www.ticketeconomist.com/prices-101/), I have a chart that observes internet ticket resale for a couple of sold out concerts in 2005 and 2006. Sticking with your terms, the 900 and the 100 bought and sold out the show in 2 minutes. Now, 900 people who wanted to actually buy tickets and see the show have to go to the secondary market. 900 speculators crowded out 900 fans and now they are clearing prices that are anywhere from $10 to $100 above face. It is relevant to point out that the 900 have a number of methods for essentially cutting the line, so there are instances where the "service" involved some form of cheating the system. Is that good?
In fairness, the scenario you present is also not the norm. More often, 1,000 sophisticated buyers compete with 15,000 average Joe buyers for 10,000 tickets. The 1,000 buy the best 2,000 seats and the 15,000 fight it out for remaining 8,000 tickets, assuming there are no hold backs and that Ticketmaster's website works properly, which it often does not. At that point, some fraction of 11,000 desperate and dedicated fans turn to StubHub, eBay, etc. to find that that the $90 ticket is now $190. On the one hand, there was never enough supply to go around in the first place, on the other, 1,000 buyers were crowded out by speculators. The efficient market is really not so efficient with tickets for a complex series of reasons.
Finally, there are some sophisticated buyers who know that they can wait it out and buy tickets at or near face value close to show time. We are among those few, for now.
On my blog (http://www.ticketeconomist.com/prices-101/), I have a chart that observes internet ticket resale for a couple of sold out concerts in 2005 and 2006. Sticking with your terms, the 900 and the 100 bought and sold out the show in 2 minutes. Now, 900 people who wanted to actually buy tickets and see the show have to go to the secondary market. 900 speculators crowded out 900 fans and now they are clearing prices that are anywhere from $10 to $100 above face. It is relevant to point out that the 900 have a number of methods for essentially cutting the line, so there are instances where the "service" involved some form of cheating the system. Is that good?
In fairness, the scenario you present is also not the norm. More often, 1,000 sophisticated buyers compete with 15,000 average Joe buyers for 10,000 tickets. The 1,000 buy the best 2,000 seats and the 15,000 fight it out for remaining 8,000 tickets, assuming there are no hold backs and that Ticketmaster's website works properly, which it often does not. At that point, some fraction of 11,000 desperate and dedicated fans turn to StubHub, eBay, etc. to find that that the $90 ticket is now $190. On the one hand, there was never enough supply to go around in the first place, on the other, 1,000 buyers were crowded out by speculators. The efficient market is really not so efficient with tickets for a complex series of reasons.
Finally, there are some sophisticated buyers who know that they can wait it out and buy tickets at or near face value close to show time. We are among those few, for now.