Feedback for On-Sale?

[BillyBeru]

Hello, software engineer here who does web development. I have a couple comments on TBF moving to an online queuing system. Before I start: I got 0 tickets and did not use any scripting or anything in an attempt to get tickets. I stopped after I realized turning off Javascript allowed you to see the ticket selection page.

1) They are ridiculously easy to game if you are so inclined. In this instance, simply turning off javascript before you click the ticket link allowed you to see the ticket selection page. If that was the extent of your programming knowledge you could at least know where the right buttons to click were and practice your speedy checkout. If you had more knowledge you could use a tool such as Selenium or even more simply Tamper Monkey along with that HTML you can now see to write a script to automatically select tickets and checkout for you once your number is called. Lastly if you were even more inclined you could use a tool called PostMan to send the ticket purchase request straight to the API. All of this is just entry level web development that I came up with off the top of my head. Ever wonder why concerts with queuing systems always have a million tickets on reseller sites? Well imagine if you hired expert engineers to try and game this system... they could and they do.

2) When I turned off javascript and was able to see the ticket selection page 30 minutes early there were only 1080 Town Park tickets available and 400 Warner Field Tickets. Are those normal numbers? That seems crazy low for Warner Field.

3) I predict this will be the first year of TBF history with a huge high markup secondary ticket market.

Hope some of you legit festivarians got some tickets! Of my group of 64 friends only 1 got a single ticket.

-Nomadic

Whoa - THIS is mind blowing stuff for this simple tech noob. Thanks for the insight, Nomadic.

[culasthewiz]

Maybe let's not advertise this?

[MB]

Madison, I had 4 passes and I was 322 in line but it would not let me complete the purchase. It would only let me enter a US address for delivery which I don’t have, obviously. Am pretty upset.

Lesley, that's similar to what happened to me... except that I was #970. It was especially frustrating because when the queue let me in, the system allowed me to put 4 WF passes in my cart... but after I clicked on CHECKOUT the next page said that my transaction had been cancelled because there weren't enough tickets left. 😭

[BillyBeru]

Madison, I had 4 passes and I was 322 in line but it would not let me complete the purchase. It would only let me enter a US address for delivery which I don’t have, obviously. Am pretty upset.

Lesley, that's similar to what happened to me... except that I was #970. It was especially frustrating because when the queue let me in, the system allowed me to put 4 WF passes in my cart... but after I clicked on CHECKOUT the next page said that my transaction had been cancelled because there weren't enough tickets left. 😭

I also hit that page -  "the cancelled transaction page" - as I was trying to buy a VP for those in need when it turned out that they were in reality sold out. When I encountered this cancelled page, I hit the back button, removed the VP from my cart and was able to complete the transaction for two TPs. In your instance, perhaps changing the quantity from 4 to 2 would have allowed you to make a purchase of some type.

A lot of people, anecdotally, who were confronted with the cancel page, appeared to have at least 4 tickets in the cart.

[Nomadic]

Maybe let's not advertise this?

This is the only way I know how to let TBF organizers know what is going on and hopefully help them improve. Not talking about it won't make it go away. The people who are doing it for monetary gain are going to do it regardless I am educating the masses to try and bring light to how this type of queuing system is flawed with current implementations of it.

[MB]

BillyBeru, I tried that. I can't recall exactly what each of the choices were, but "Retry" kept me on the same page.  The system wouldn't let me go back. So bummed.

[Debbiefromtucson]

I tried that too- went from 4-3-2-1
Debbie

[BillyBeru]

BillyBeru, I tried that. I can't recall exactly what each of the choices were, but "Retry" kept me on the same page.  The system wouldn't let me go back. So bummed.

That stinks. I only had two TPs to start with - sure sounds like there was a major glitch in the system as I know Debbie was ahead of me by about 80 places (I was 401) yet I was able to get tickets and she was not.

Not sure if it made a difference but I used my phone for this process (as I did with RockyGrass Academy and RockyGrass) and I had only minor issues where were corrected.

[culasthewiz]

I know Debbie was ahead of me by about 80 places (I was 401) yet I was able to get tickets and she was not.

Although you were close in the queue, you could have made it to the checkout process at wildly different times.  I'm not saying that's exactly what happened here but it seems possible.

[Thumpa]

Same here, was 1743 in line, put in for 4 TP=>proceded to checkout and was told there wasn't enough tickets available. Chose 2 TP=>same message, only this time when I clicked on the try again tab, it took me to the main TBGF page that said tickets won't go on sale until 8:45 MST Dec 11th! Well that was at 9:30 MST! Festivarians Unite. Looking back on my past TBGF's, I think I only got tickets from the lottery 1 or 2 times, the rest from the festivarian forum/or our great bluegrass family.

[Australian fan]

I was early in the line and my sale would not complete because THE ONLY OPTION WAS TO ENTER A US ADDRESS. There was no way to complete the purchase without a US street address.

So incredibly annoying especially after getting up at 2.30am.

[OttawaGray]

Same issue as Australian Fan aka Lesley. Non US address but I didn’t let that stop me! I simply put my correct city/state/country in the second address line even though the country and state fields were wrong. Also put in my Canadian postal code and it was accepted by the system. I was proud of myself for not letting a stupid form stop me form getting tickets.  Now I’m worried that the bracelets won’t get here.

Btw I was 1751 in line after the randomization and waited about ten minutes before getting in. I had to keep dropping my number of tickets requested all the way to one lonely ticket. The good news is I got to pay for a ticket. The bad news is it may never arrive!

[BluegrassMadison]

Same issue as Australian Fan aka Lesley. Non US address but I didn’t let that stop me! I simply put my correct city/state/country in the second address line even though the country and state fields were wrong. Also put in my Canadian postal code and it was accepted by the system. I was proud of myself for not letting a stupid form stop me form getting tickets.  Now I’m worried that the bracelets won’t get here.

Btw I was 1751 in line after the randomization and waited about ten minutes before getting in. I had to keep dropping my number of tickets requested all the way to one lonely ticket. The good news is I got to pay for a ticket. The bad news is it may never arrive!

You may want to call See Tickets and switch your order over to Will Call. They will not ship to international addresses.

[ToddG]

For the first time ever our household scored TP tickets through the direct sales/lottery etc... This was my 5th time in my life to try first success, and will be my third trip to TP, 4th TBF.

I felt like the process was a nightmare. Felt like I was going to have a panic attack during the moments between line randomizing and the moment you see your line number. Then again as you attempt to navigate the ticket choice page trying to get to checkout fast enough as you watch the ticket numbers dwindle in front of your eyes.

The process is not only nerve wrecking experience, but not at all friendly for folks who are not computer savvy. While being completely impossible for those who can not commit to being on phone or computer while working, traveling etc...

Beyond all that it seems likely there's going to be nothing to stop high possibility of scalping.

Hopefully these and countless other issues that are popping up here, and on Facebook can be resolved. Personally I'd still prefer the lottery and a rejection letter than the stress of competing.

Sorry for ranting, I am excited to have tickets in hand, and can't wait to see all of you fine folks.

 Listening to: Billy Strings

[FaceOnMars]

I was early in the line and my sale would not complete because THE ONLY OPTION WAS TO ENTER A US ADDRESS. There was no way to complete the purchase without a US street address.

So incredibly annoying especially after getting up at 2.30am.

Sorry to hear this AF!   That must have been frustrating.  Hopefully, something will work out for you!