Concert ticket woes

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Getting affordable tickets to the hottest shows in town can seem impossible. Not only are tickets expensive, many shows sell out quickly.

There's software called bots that allow brokers to scoop up tickets at lightning speed and resell them online at a huge mark up. The effort to crackdown on the use of bots has begun. The House of Representatives just passed a bill that would make it illegal for people to use them and make it illegal to sell bot software or tickets knowingly bought through bots. The bill is now pending in the Senate.

But for now, how do you avoid being gouged?

One option is to go through an official ticket seller like Ticketmaster, and create an account. That way, you won't have to log on and enter payment details while a bot can go in and grab your seats.

Take advantage of presales through sites like Ticketcrusader.com and Presalepasswordinfo.com. Also, you may be able to find credit card promotions that offer card-holders first dibs and discounts. Consumer Reports also found if you visit the resale sites closer to the event itself, ticket prices can plummet. So patience really does pay off.

Consumer Reports tracked prices for a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game through sites like ScoreBig, Fanxchange and SeatGeek and found more than a $50 difference compared with the box-office price. On the day of the event, for a similar ticket the price went down almost $80 to about $23.

And forget going to a concert in a group. Buying fewer tickets ups your chances for success.