A Michigan lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would limit the price of tickets for concerts and sporting events to no more than 10 percent above their face value when sold on the secondary market. State representative Douglas Geiss was upset when he found some $100 Detroit Tigers tickets selling on StubHub for $1,000, and said he found that “usurious.” (I'm 100% certain that Mr. Geiss would gladly sell shares of stock he might own for ten times the price he paid for it, and he would not find that price "usurious".)
Q: What would the politician think about coins sold on the secondary market for prices far above face value like the one above that just sold for 16 million times its face value of 10 cents (and $15,999.999.90 above face value)? Wouldn't that be a case of usurious "coil scalping"?
Q: Is there any legal or economic difference between scarce coins and scarce concert tickets that makes "ticket scalping" different from "coin scalping," to the point that one is often illegal (or regulated) and the other is completely legal and unregulated?
I don't think there is any logical, legal, or economic case that can be made to treat tickets and coins differently, and the prices for both should be determined by market forces, and not limited by some arbitrary "face value." But if anybody (a musician or concert promoter maybe?) wants to make that case that scarce tickets are somehow different than scarce coins, and they should therefore be subject to different legal price restrictions, please do so. And then you'll have to also explain why you think it's acceptable for houses, cars, and bonds to sometimes sell (or "be scalped") above their face values/list prices, but not concert tickets.
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