The "convenience" charges of Ticketmaster and Live Nation gouge our pockets enough. Now, thanks to Stubhub's unregulated "self service" marketplace, scalpers are purchasing tickets for the sole purpose of turning a profit. They are buying up all the tickets before real fans have an opportunity to purchase them and then inflating the prices to astronomical levels.

A few examples:

System of a Down @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre: Pre-sale tickets were made available at 10am. As of 10:09am, 180+ tickets were already listed on Stubhub.com at prices up to 10x the ticket price. (Original prices were $35-$70. The top listed price on Stubhub is $599 with the lowest being $159).

The Black Keys @ Madison Square Garden: A sold-out show riddled with rows of empty seats from fans being unable / unwilling to pay the overly inflated prices of scalpers trying to turn a profit on Stubhub.

Thrice @ Irving Plaza: A single user purchased 58 tickets to this concert, inflating the price 2x the original amount.

Roger Waters @ Yankee Stadium: There are nearly 4,000 tickets listed on Stubhub with some tickets listed at over $1500.

Until Stubhub regulates the number of tickets a user can sell to a single show AND limits the amount they are able to mark up their prices, this legalized outlet for scalping will continue to keep real fans from the experience they enjoy. They will continue to take money out of the pockets of venues and musicians who rely on bar and merchandise sales. They will continue to make a living off scalping tickets in the unregulated marketplace of Stubhub.

When I contacted Stubhub to see how they can justify such large mark-ups and obvious scalping practices, they responded with the following:

"StubHub cannot be held responsible for other users' content, actions, or inactions, including without limitation the listing and/or selling of tickets in violation of local, state, national or international laws."

They feel they are above the law and I'm calling upon everyone to help me change their attitude.