There is definitely some collusion among the regular scalpers. From my experience they rarely pay more than $5-10 for tickets and generally hold firm at something close to face price on sales. They have obviously determined that it’s better to eat a few tickets at $5 per in order to preserve the higher selling price on those they can sell. I expect they figure that most people who are at the arena, have already paid to park, etc. are set on going to the game and will eventually pay the asking price in they are convinced that’s all that is available.
When I need an extra ticket, I wait around for someone to talk to the scalpers about extras for sale. My $10-15 offer per ticket sounds pretty good after they have been offered $5 by one of the regulars. When I have extras to sell, I do the same thing in reverse. Let the scalpers set the “market price” and then come in under it. If I don’t have any takers or don’t want to wait, I look for somebody with a little kid and give them the tickets for free. I’d rather do that than sell them to a scalper for $5 apiece. (This system works best if you don’t mind a little verbal harassment from the regulars.)
