lifestyle

Taylor Swift tickets are completely sold out at press time. If you go on Ticketmaster, you’ll see the same message for all remaining tour dates: “Sorry, tickets are not currently available online.”

It won’t be easy to come by tickets at a reasonable price, but there are a few options to explore. Here’s how I would look for tickets for Swift’s concerts in Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Toronto and Vancouver.

How to find face value tickets to a “sold-out” concert on Ticketmaster:

Don’t get your hopes too high, but a small number of tickets typically do get released on Ticketmaster last minute, depending on availability. With The Eras Tour being such a hot ticket, quiet drops are often only accessible to those who have Verified Fan status for that city.

The night of Wednesday, Oct. 16, for example, Ticketmaster opened a queue to purchase tickets for the upcoming weekend’s Miami concerts with this message: “A few last-minute ticket releases have been made available to a number of fans who previously registered for and were screened by Verified Fan for this city.”

Why weren’t all tickets able to be purchased by fans at on-sale when they’re so ridiculously in demand? Often some seats are held by the venue, promoter or artist’s team for various business reasons, and if those aren’t put to use they eventually get put on sale for face value on Ticketmaster. For The Eras Tour, based on personal observation and fan reports on social media, it also seems that extra seats that weren’t originally on the floorplan sometimes get added after the crew sets up, if space allows. It’s a shot in the dark, but any unused or just-added seats will go to someone. Swift’s final Eras shows can all be found here on Ticketmaster.

If you’re still in search of tickets a day or two before the concert, you want to set yourself up for the best chance at snagging them in a very limited-release: You know that meme of the Sims mom distracted by the computer while the Sims baby is on fire? Imagine that level of laser focus on the event ticketing page, minus any real-life neglect and imminent danger: “Not now, honey, I’m refreshing Ticketmaster.” (Dark humor, folks!)

Best of luck, sincerely, to those of you trying to get your family of Swifties to a Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Toronto or Vancouver concert.

A girl holds up a sign asking if anyone has a spare ticket as Taylor Swift fans arrive at Wembley Stadium ahead of her performance on Aug. 15, 2024 in London, England.

How to find resale tickets at a price you’re willing, if not thrilled, to pay:

Desperation can sink in if you really want to see Swift with your kids on The Eras Tour and have exhausted all opportunities to find direct tickets from the original point of sale. That’s where the resale market comes in: StubHub is probably the most popular place for that, but there’s also websites like SeatGeek, TickPick and Vivid Seats.

I’ve purchased tickets from StubHub and TickPick in the past and had a fine experience with both. Eras resale tickets are overpriced, most of the time obscenely so, and riddled with fees, but real. In the rare case there’s an authenticity or delivery issue with your purchase (which has never happened here, but the possibility exists), customer service policies say they’ll replace your tickets with “comparable or better tickets” (StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee), or “equal or better quality” (TickPick’s BuyerTrust Guarantee). Check the policies on the website you’re buying from before you go through with an order to make sure you’re comfortable with all outcomes.

How to find the best seats for the best deal through the resale market:

Get familiar with how ticket resale outlets work. Unless you see the obvious Deal of the Eras Tour, don’t buy immediately. Test the website’s different options for sorting available tickets. Memorize the seating chart so you know what sections you want to zone in on. If you’re a family of more than three people, consider splitting up if that helps save a few bucks or gets everyone in better seats — with one parent sitting with one kid, and the other parent sitting with the other kid, or however it works out for the makeup of your family. Keep checking the websites you’d feel comfortable buying from for new ticket listings until the price and seats feel right for your situation.

If you’re not finding exactly what you want and willing to take a risk, you might consider heading in the direction of the venue without tickets just in case a better option pops up. Confirm with the venue if you can park there without a ticket, or park somewhere that’s on the way to the stadium and search. It takes strategic thinking and high hopes. Just remember, if you’re with your kids you’ll want to be at peace with buying from whatever’s left and still spending a good amount of money. For other artists price ranges often lower dramatically across resale platforms as start time nears on the day of the show, but not always. Do not rely on this. Be aware that this has not been the trend with Swift’s Eras Tour tickets.

As disappointing as it is to witness, I’ve spent enough time on real-time ticket-buying research to see incredible seats go unsold on these websites because the total never goes down to a price point anyone’s willing to pay.

Do not buy Eras Tour tickets here, or at least proceed with caution:

Steer clear of buying tickets via an unprotected transaction with strangers via social media. Certainly there are groups made on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit that are meant to feature listings from fans intending to sell tickets they can no longer use directly to other fans, like this account with more than 300,000 followers, but the possibility of being scammed is very real. The people voluntarily running these accounts are connecting Swiftie buyers with sellers and are not responsible for someone scamming you.

If you’re going to gamble anyway, be smart about it. Be aware that tickets sold on Ticketmaster have digital delivery on the Ticketmaster app this tour. A screenshot of the order confirmation is not enough proof that legit tickets will actually show up for the concert — a screenshot can be faked. Use PayPal’s Goods and Services option for any exchange of money, not Apple Pay, Cash App, Venmo or Zelle.

One tip I’ve picked up from research in fan spaces is to ask the seller to get on a video call with you to complete the transaction while they show you the ticket order in their actual Ticketmaster account, at that very moment. Is this whole process a little sketchy? Yep. Is it foolproof? Nope. Could you end up with great seats at a nice price from a kind Swiftie? Of course, but remember, you might never be able to recover the money lost to a con artist.