Flames vs Canucks: Don't pay 'outrageous' ticket prices just yet, says Calgary scalper
His last name is pronounced "crook" but it's not spelled that way.
"It's K-r-u-k," says Rob Kruk. "It's funny right?"
Name aside, the professional scalper — and yes, you can call him a scalper — says he has some honest advice about purchasing Calgary Flames playoff tickets off Kijiji.
"A lot of people list their tickets at outrageous prices. Like about $1,000 a ticket," said Kruk, who works for Box Office Ticket Brokers in Calgary.
"They're still thinking, like they're back 11 years ago, with the Iginla and the hype when the economy was really strong," he said.
Kruk says at this point in the series, you shouldn't be paying more than double the face value for each ticket.
You can scalp tickets, no problem, in Alberta and British Columbia.
But not in Manitoba — where it's illegal to charge any markup on resold tickets. Anyone who does could be fined up to $5,000.
Kruk also says to beware of fraudulent tickets. Even he's been "duped."
"We did get defrauded with paper tickets."
He says the last time the L.A. Kings played in Calgary, about 30 people couldn't get into the Saddledome because they had "bought tickets off random people who duplicated their tickets."
Kruk say scalpers, or 'brokers" as some like to be called, will spend 12 to 14 hours a day searching online for people trying to get rid of their concert and sports tickets.
They negotiate a price with the seller and if they get it, they'll buy the tickets and re-sell them to you for a profit.
"[We] don't have special access to tickets, we just work harder than the individual person to get the tickets."
The most he's ever sold a ticket for? $2000.
Not surprisingly, he scored that price back in 2004 — when the Flames were in the finals, playing for the Stanley Cup.
Not in the first round of the playoffs.
