How to Prevent Ticket Scalping for Your Next Event

You price your tickets at $50 because you want normal people to afford them. Then, ten minutes after selling out, you see them on a resale site for $150.

It feels personal. You aren't Live Nation. You are a human being organizing a workshop, a dinner, or a local show. You’re pouring your heart into this event.

When someone flips your tickets for profit, they are making money, and most importantly, they are putting a wall between you and the people you actually want in the room. Suddenly, your most loyal fans can’t afford to see you, and you’re left playing to a crowd of people who just had the deepest pockets.

There is no single button that deletes scalpers from the internet. As long as there is demand, there will be someone trying to exploit it. But you can make their lives annoying enough that they leave you alone.

Here is how you protect your event without making things miserable for your fans.

The Economics of the Flip

To stop scalpers, you have to think like one for a second. They aren't evil geniuses; they are simple math machines. They operate on a model of efficiency.

They only attack if they can:

1. Buy Low: Get tickets at face value.

2. Buy Volume: Grab enough tickets to make the setup time worth it.

3. Transfer Easily: Hand the ticket off to a stranger without friction.

If you attack those three variables—price, volume, and transferability—you break their model. You don't need a massive security team to do this. You just need to configure your ticketing setup correctly.

Rule 1: Set Strict Limits (The "Two-Ticket" Rule)

Scalpers rely on buying in bulk. If they can grab 10 or 20 tickets at once, the transaction costs are worth it. If they can only buy one or two, they have to work ten times as hard for the same profit.

Most organizers set the limit at 4 or 6 tickets. They think, "Well, what if a family wants to come?"

That is a mistake for high-demand events. Four tickets is a sweet spot for resellers. It’s enough inventory to make a decent profit on a single sale without triggering fraud alerts.

The Fix: Set your limit to two tickets per person.

This forces a scalper to create dozens of fake accounts, use different credit cards, and manage different IP addresses just to get a handful of tickets. It turns a quick flip into a logistical nightmare.

If a group of six friends wants to come? They can buy their tickets in three pairs. It takes them two extra minutes, but it ensures everyone actually gets in.

Rule 2: Kill the Transfer

This is the big one. If a scalper cannot send the ticket to a buyer, the ticket is worthless.

Make your tickets non-transferable. This means the digital ticket is locked to the original purchaser.

When you toggle this setting, you turn a ticket from a commodity (like a gold bar) into an identity document (like a passport). Most modern platforms allow you to do this without writing code. You just check a box.

The Trade-off
This is the nuclear option. It stops scalping cold, but it introduces a customer service load. Real people get sick. Babysitters cancel. Cars break down. If tickets are non-transferable, those people will email you asking for a refund because they can't just give the ticket to a friend.

You have to be ready to handle those refunds manually or have a system that automates returns to a waitlist. It’s more work, but it keeps the integrity of the room intact.

Rule 3: Check IDs (It’s Not as Scary as It Sounds)

A non-transferable ticket only works if you actually check who is holding it.

Require an ID that matches the name on the ticket.

I know what you’re thinking. "I don't want a massive line at the door. I want people to get a drink and relax."

It doesn’t take that long. You don't need to scan the ID or record the data. You just look at the license, look at the name on the scanner app, and nod. It adds about five seconds per person.

For a 5,000-person concert, that adds up. For a 100-person pop-up dinner or a 300-person workshop, it is negligible.

How to communicate this:
You have to be loud about it. If you surprise people at the door, they will be annoyed. If you warn them, they will be understanding.

Put this text on your event page and in the confirmation email:

"To ensure tickets stay in the hands of real fans and not scalpers, we require a photo ID that matches the name on the ticket for entry. Thank you for helping us keep prices fair."

Real fans won't be annoyed. They will be relieved that you care enough to protect their purchase.

Scalper Defense Cheat Sheet

You don't need to use every tool for every event. Use this table to figure out what level of protection you need based on your event size.

Method	Best For	Effort Level	Impact on Scalpers
Ticket Limits (Max 2)	Every event, no matter the size.	Low (Just a setting)	Medium. Forces them to use multiple accounts.
Non-Transferable	High-demand events where sell-out is guaranteed.	Medium (Must manage refunds)	High. Kills the resale market entirely.
ID Checks	Intimate events (Dinners, workshops, small shows).	High (Slows down entry)	Maximum. The ultimate deterrent.
Presale Codes	Events with a loyal mailing list.	Low (Email a link)	Medium. Protects early inventory.
The Lottery	Insane demand (5k people for 50 spots).	Medium (Requires setup)	High. Removes speed advantage.

The Tech Filters (CAPTCHAs and Queues)

You shouldn't have to fight robots manually. Your software should do that for you.

Bots are faster than humans. If you open sales at 10:00 AM sharp, a script can buy 100 tickets before a human can even type their name.

The Waiting Room
A digital queue (or waiting room) neutralizes speed. Everyone who arrives before 10:00 AM gets put in a holding pen. When the clock strikes ten, the system randomizes their order.

A bot arriving at 9:59:59 has the exact same chance as a fan who arrived at 9:50. This prevents your server from crashing and gives humans a fighting chance.

The Invisible CAPTCHA
Old CAPTCHAs made you identify traffic lights or squiggly letters. They were awful and hurt conversion rates. New systems look at behavior—mouse movements, browser history, and network signals—to determine if a user is human.

It happens in the background. When you pick a ticketing tool, make sure they have these protections built-in. You shouldn't have to configure them. They should just work.

The "Secret Link" Strategy

The best way to beat scalpers is to sell the tickets before they know the event exists.

Do a presale. But don't just post the password on Twitter (or X), because scalpers scrape social media for keywords.

Send a private link to your email list 24 hours before the public sale. These are your core people. They are the ones who actually open your newsletters and care about your work.

This strategy achieves two goals:

1. Rewards loyalty. It trains your audience that being subscribed actually matters.

2. Reduces public inventory. By the time the public sale starts (and the bots sniff it out), 70% of your tickets are already safe in the hands of real fans.

Pricing Psychology: The Tiered Approach

Scalpers love predictability. They love knowing a ticket costs exactly $50 and will definitely sell for $100.

You can disrupt this by using Tiered Pricing.

• Tier 1 (Early Bird): $40 (Limited quantity)

• Tier 2 (General): $50

• Tier 3 (Last Call): $60

When you have moving price targets, it’s harder for scalpers to gauge their margin. If they buy Tier 3 tickets, they might not be able to flip them for a profit. If they miss Tier 1, the risk increases.

It also creates natural urgency for your fans to buy early, which helps you plan better.

When Demand is Crazy: The DIY Lottery

Sometimes an event is just too popular. If you have 50 spots and 5,000 interested people, a standard "first come, first served" sale will always be a mess. It will crash your site and anger your community.

Switch to a lottery system. You can do it with a simple form and a spreadsheet.

1. Open a "Registration Window" for 24 hours.

2. Collect names and emails. No payment yet.

3. Close the window.

4. Randomly select your winners (Excel randomization works fine).

5. Email them a private purchase link with a 4-hour expiration.

This kills the speed advantage entirely. It removes the anxiety of the "refresh" button for your fans. It feels fair because it is fair.

Handling the "I Can't Go" Problem

If you lock down transfers and check IDs, you need a pressure valve.

Life happens. A fan buys a ticket two months out and then gets called into work, or their kid gets sick. If they can't sell the ticket, they lose their money. That leaves a bad taste in their mouth.

The Solution: The Face-Value Buyback
You need to become the marketplace. Tell fans: "If you can't go, we will buy the ticket back for what you paid (minus the processing fee) and offer it to the next person on the waitlist."

Here is why this wins:

1. The Original Buyer gets a refund and leaves happy.

2. The New Fan gets a ticket at a fair price and is thrilled.

3. You keep a full house and maintain the energy of the event.

4. The Scalper gets cut out of the loop completely.

Common Questions I Hear

Is requiring ID legal?
Yes. As a private organizer, you set the terms of entry. As long as you disclose the policy before purchase, it is a valid contract. Venues and airlines do this all the time.

Will this annoy my customers?
Communication solves frustration. If you surprise them at the door, yes, they will be mad. If you tell them upfront, "We are doing this to stop scalpers from charging you double," they will thank you.

What is the single best method?
ID checks + Non-transferable tickets. It is the only combination that physically verifies the human at the end of the transaction. Everything else is just a hurdle. This is a wall.

Tools That Get Out of Your Way

You have a dinner to cook, a band to manage, or a workshop to teach. You shouldn't be spending your week fighting bot networks or manually auditing Excel sheets.

You need tools that are opinionated about this stuff. You need Ticketsmith.