Tips and Tricks for Buying Tickets on Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster Presale Codes

Ticketmaster presale codes are easy to find when you’re looking for credit card presales; however, these presale codes won’t work unless you have one of the actual credit cards.

For the Ticketmaster American Express Presale, you can enter the code: INGOLD. This will allow you to view the tickets, but when you reach the checkout, you’ll need to use an American Express card.

The Ticketmaster Presale code for Citi Card is: 412800

The Chase Presale code for Ticketmaster is: 541712

Having these cards is the only way to access these specific presales; however, Fan Club, Mobile, Facebook, and other Ticketmaster presales are also available and can be easily found via a quick Google search. We at TickPick are always up on the latest concert tours being announced and the presale codes for those tours.

Use Multiple Browsers When Tickets Go On Sale

When tickets go on sale, don’t worry about the warning Ticketmaster gives users that instructs them not to use more than one web browser. For example, let’s say you manage to get tickets into your checkout cart at 10:01 am, and you have two seats in your cart. How do you know that those really are the best available seats?

By using multiple web browsers (I recommend Google Chrome, as it’s the fastest, but Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer also work), you’ll be able to maximize your options. If you use only one browser with multiple windows or tabs to search for tickets on Ticketmaster, the last window or tab that loads is the only one that can proceed through the checkout process.

Here’s the key: focus on one browser at a time. Leading up to the on-sale, refresh the page frequently.

The Best Way To Buy Ticketmaster Tickets – The Mobile App

If you have a smartphone, downloading the Ticketmaster app for the iPhone or Android will be your best bet for speed and even ease (as long as you already have an account). This will also enable you to have your mobile ticket scanned from your phone at the venue to be admitted via mobile entry.

Two reasons why you should download the Ticketmaster App:

• As we mentioned earlier, both Ticketmaster and Live Nation allocate tickets specifically for mobile sales. This makes sense, since Ticket Broker Software, also known as “bots,” doesn’t work with mobile devices, so this is one way to reduce the resale of tickets.
• Buying Ticketmaster tickets on the app is the fastest way to purchase tickets online. That’s because by following some simple steps (provided by Ticketmaster), you can avoid having to enter the security code, which apparently checks if you are a human. Unfortunately, this feature is only available in the iOS app, to the best of our knowledge, and not in the Android app.

Step 1. Exit the Ticketmaster app and go to your iPhone settings (then) —> Notification Center —> then select Ticketmaster or Live Nation and make sure to change the “Alert Style” from None to Banners or Alerts (see picture below).

Step 2. Then go back into your Ticketmaster / Live Nation app, go to More -> Settings -> Notification Settings, and then select push notifications to “On.” Once complete, restart your app and say goodbye to typing security codes (note: on occasion, you may need to enter the code, particularly if you refresh too quickly).

General Ticketmaster Tips

Don’t get greedy; it’s easier to get a pair of tickets (two) rather than four.

Once you get through the security checkpoint, start searching for tickets in your other browser(s).

Remember: the clock is ticking. The first page in the checkout process only gives you 2-3 minutes to decide whether you want to proceed or search again.

The whole point of the second browser is to keep the tickets that you got in the first browser while searching for new tickets, so if time is running out on the first pair of tickets (before the second pair of tickets becomes available in a different browser, or if the second pair of seats is worse than the first), move through the process on the first pair of tickets.

You’ll have roughly ten minutes to search for a second pair of tickets (in a different browser) while holding on to the first pair in the other checkout. If, within 10 minutes, you don’t find anything better, we highly recommend purchasing the tickets you initially found in your browser. You can spend an hour doing this, and ultimately, you may not get anything better than others, as better tickets are being purchased by others.

Ticketmaster itself recently published its own Insider Tips, and to be honest, we didn’t find any particularly valuable information. Additionally, they say one thing that we disagree with, which is to only use one browser. If I refresh a browser too quickly, I have had my IP address blocked for a couple of hours; however, this has never happened when using multiple browsers.

Ticketmaster suggests using various computers, but unless you’re a ticket broker, there’s no reason to do so.

The Best Way to Buy Tickets

Have you considered checking for tickets that may already be available for sale on other sites, such as TickPick and StubHub? We previously discussed how Ticket Brokers Get Their Tickets, and this may come to you as a surprise, but you can often benefit from ticket brokers.

If you’re a pro, you’ll keep an eye on ticket prices in the secondary ticket industry. That’s because the ticket price often drops below face value, or available face-value tickets may not be the best deal. For instance, for a Jay-Z concert like this previous one, you should check TickPick before committing to the assigned seat & tickets that Ticketmaster limits you to.

If you were looking to spend around $200 a ticket, would you not pay $15 more to sit in a lower section and 10 rows closer?

This situation may be a toss-up, but it’s always a good idea to price shop for tickets to live events. Yes, we’re biased, but thanks to our fee structure (which never includes any fees for the buyer), TickPick has the cheapest resale tickets the vast majority of the time.

For more great tips on how to get cheap concert tickets, you should check out our latest guide, which provides tips and info that can save you tons of money on your ticket purchase. For example, did you know that 80% of concert ticket prices decrease as the event approaches?

With that said, we know you can’t always gamble and wait for ticket prices to go down (plus 20% of the time, prices go up). Here’s our last tip: if tickets on Ticketmaster sell out, there’s typically a small window where tickets are available at a slight markup. Once the concert is officially announced as a sellout, ticket brokers know to raise their prices, but if you act fast, you can get a good deal.