Why don't ticketmaster just tell you if a gig is sold out?

[flobadob]

Why is it that when you go onto ticketmaster to look to book tickets for a gig it takes you through the whole process of choosing how many tickets you want and entering the two words only to be told at the end there is no match, ie it is sold out. Why can't they just tell you at the start that it is sold out. It is quite infuriating I find.

[Mr Veritas]

I too find it really infuriating flobadob.
I often book theatre/opera/concert tickets online,and dread when they are only available from Ticketmaster.
Whoever has programmed their site is an idiot.Why can't it bring up gig etc,and tell you if it is fully booked.
It's even worse when the gig is (as in opera etc) being performed over a week or so.I have to theough all the proceedure over and over again,till I find the right day.
Then sometimes I think,"Oh,I will go back and book for that other day as It has better seats" only to find I have forgotten WHICH day!
I am afraid now that I won't book seats with Ticketmaster,and BTW they have the nerve (with some venues) to charge £3.50 booking fee.
I can't suggest how you avoid this,but just to let you know that someone else is annoyed TOO!

[ChuckFickens]

There has to be some clearly defined point in the transaction where the quantity of ticket available is checked and the amount you are buying allocated to you and as far as I can see the only workable point they could use is when you click on the final "Confirm transaction" button

If this point was at the beginning of the transaction they would have to allocate X amount of ticket to you, if you then decided not to complete the transaction and just closed your browser there would be an amount of tickets allocated that can't be used by anyone else.

[KaiHallarn111]

Why couldnt you just check the site of the group or groups playing at the gig and see whether or not they have said its sold out? Might save you the bother.

[bushbaby_de]

Because the group etc will say its a sell out if they have sold all their tickets to agents... the agents haven't necessarily sold them on to punters yet!

[northernmonkey]

well you find out yourself anyway

[flobadob]

It would just be easier to have a little icon saying "Sold Out" before you go through it all, that's all I'm saying.