Ben WesthoffBesides the extreme, fluctuating temperatures, the drive, and the dust, folks' main complaint about Coachella is the price. This year weekend passes went on sale for $349, and that doesn't include accommodations, food, or one of those credit-card-like things with which to grind your weed. Plus, they're long sold out. But never fear…
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If you buy tickets from “secondary market” sources like eBay and StubHub right now, they're actually pretty cheap, nearing face value for weekend one and well below face for weekend two. That's according to the kind folks at ticket-aggravator SeatGeek.
These prices seem likely to continue to fall, but, notes SeatGeek's Will Flaherty, if a surprise guest is announced (Daft Punk, anybody?) that could send prices up.
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Other than that, though, things look pretty rosy. Flaherty's statistical breakdown is below. With all due respect to the start of baseball season, who needs Sabermetrics when you've got Coachellametrics?
*At this point in 2012, ticket prices to the first weekend were falling, but were still going for $427, a full $127 over face. Based on trends we've noticed this year and our data on past years of Coachella, we'd expect that fans should be able to pick up a badge for the first weekend at or below face value in the final week before the festival.
*The best value for ticketless fans looking to attend Coachella is weekend two — much like last year. This week, the average sale price of a ticket to the second weekend of Coachella was $267, or roughly $80 below face value and more than $100 cheaper than weekend one!
*At this time last year, tickets to the second weekend were priced in line with the first weekend, so the fact that weekend two prices are already diverging from weekend one prices would indicate to us that there should be good availability of tickets below face value for Weekend Two from now up until showtime.
*If you thought a less expensive GA ticket to Coachella meant less expensive VIP tickets too, then you are in for a surprise. A VIP pass to the first weekend sold for $967 this past week, is down from a high of $1138. VIP passes to the second weekend are a bit cheaper but will still run you $848, which is about $50 over their face value of $799. Prices for the VIP passes are likely to fall in the coming weeks, but we wouldn't expect the same kind of sharp downward price movement as we've seen for standard GA passes.
Happy scalping!
See also: *Our complete Coachella coverage
*College Students Have Never Heard of the Stone Roses or Blur
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