By Jeremy Lybarger
Yesterday we wrote about 200 Silicon Valley hackers who cut the digital line to bogart a bunch of Burning Man tickets. Today, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports that several tickets (although not the hacked ones) are popping up online at ridiculously inflated rates. Two tickets are listed at $1 million apiece. This handy chart shows the price distribution:
Of course, this is nothing new. Megan Miller, a Burning Man spokeswoman, said that every year scalpers shill gratuitously overpriced tickets on eBay, Craigslist, StubHub, and other online marketplaces.
This year, 21,500 people bought 40,000 tickets in less than an hour, leaving an estimated 40,000 people scrambling for passes to Black Rock City. As the Gazette-Journal notes, more than 500 tickets are on StubHub, with prices starting at $1,000 ($610 more than the original price). eBay is offering a comparative bargain with two tickets and one vehicle pass for $3,999.95, while TheTicketBucket was listing two tickets for $1,691.66.
The question now is whether any of those Silicon Valley hackers will pay the price for their greed — literally.
[via Reno Gazette-Journal; photo courtesy of Sarah Bartell/Flickr]
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