Looking for the 2017 presale quick guide? Find it here!
Looking for the 2017 general sale quick guide? Find it here!
New York Comic Con put their new ticket buying process to the test today.
Much like how San Diego Comic Con requires Member IDs to purchase badges, this is the first year New York Comic Con has asked interested attendees to fill out a Fan Verification form in order to be eligible to purchase tickets. It is also the first year that no retailers were offered tickets to sell at their location – the only place to get tickets was this online waiting room!
There were still a lot of disappointed fans this morning, who hadn’t filled out a Fan Verification form for various reasons, and New York Comic Con had a pinned tweet that directed fans to an email address and telephone number if they still had not received an email with their unique link to enter the waiting room.
The process very much reminded me of San Diego Comic Con before it switched to a randomized waiting room – and the timeline of ticket sales mirrored the slow process it used to be with, ‘hurry up and wait!’ And the fact that it was held on a weekday, as opposed to SDCC badge sales happening on a Saturday every year, makes the process all the more inconvenient.
#NYCC blue bar: pic.twitter.com/Ylif8X86Uk
— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) June 29, 2016
With no VIP ticket offering this year, 3-Day tickets sold out approximately an hour and fifteen minutes into the process. 4-Day tickets sold out twenty minutes later, around 1:35 PM EST. Saturday tickets were showing sold out for me as early as 1:52 PM EST, but there was no official announcement made from the NYCC twitter account until 2:47 PM EST.
Another interesting thing to keep note of was the 4-Day ticket price of $115, while the 4-Single Day ticket price added up to $190 for those unfortunate enough to get through the process too late. And once I timed out (after 15 minutes), I clicked the link again and was initially told it was invalid, but the original timed out tab was left open and eventually refreshed me back into the room.
All single-day tickets for #NYCC are available still. The NYCC water bottle add-on is sold out though! pic.twitter.com/zHkkhKXt6F
— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) June 29, 2016
At the beginning of the process, the New York Comic Con twitter was very active in addressing questions or perceived issues. The good news is that it didn’t seem like there were very many technical glitches, if any at all, but issues stemming from sharing the unique ticket link with others. Once tickets were purchased, the link went inactive for anyone else using it.
However, as time went on the NYCC twitter made fewer updates and answered fewer questions, only announcing when a day was sold out and failing to answer any new questions about the process.
Mike Armstrong, ReedPOP Event Director for NYCC, also updated his twitter throughout the process. Announcing ticket updates, as well as sharing with fans the fact that they had already begun to cancel ticket scalpers who had placed orders. He also reported the queue as being “virtually empty” around 2:30 PM.
#NYCC ticket update – Just cancelled our first scalper order! 4 more 3-days going back into the pool.
— Mike Armstrong (@armstrongmike) June 29, 2016
As of publishing at 3:00 PM EST – three hours after tickets went on sale – only 4-Day, 3-Day, and Saturday tickets have officially sold out. However, refreshing on the ticket buying page has shown different amounts of tickets at varying times. We will update when and if NYCC tickets do sell out.
And don’t forget that assigning tickets to others begins tomorrow for anyone you may have bought a ticket for and who has a valid Fan Verified account. Use the email they submitted with their Fan Verification within the next 14 days to make sure they get their ticket!
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