Articles | Spotting the Real Ticket Bargains Online: Sea World vs. Authorized Sellers

Sea World vs. Authorized Sellers - that is the big question. You find an online seller of an item you are very anxious to have for the last couple of weeks offered with ground delivery free of charge. You also see that the manufacturer website offers the same item at a slightly higher price. Are you going to avail of the merchant? Robot answers, "more input needed". Human answers, "it depends". Both answers are all right since the more logical response depends upon the additional input given.

Let us carry on from the general to the particular. You see an online ticket seller for discounted Sea World tickets and compare prices with the ticket offers advertised in the Sea World website. You surely would not want to just look at the prices, though. You cannot spot the real ticket bargains by simply comparing prices , whether you are online or at the gate of the theme park itself. It is not, however, being suggested that the prices shown do not matter.

Picking up from the Sea World ticket case, let us consider some real figures . Comparison of admission ticket prices for the second visit free package revealed that advance online purchase prices from Sea World are seven percent higher for adults and eight percent higher for children than the online ticket seller, or more appropriately, the reseller or middleman. Additional information also showed that the latter is an authorized ticket reseller. The price discrepancy may be easily explained as a strategy by the online seller to reduce mark up from the original price of the ticket package based on a formalized agreement . The theme park is in a win-win situation in this regard, since whether a patron buys from them online, at the gates or from the authorized seller, that still spells revenue for the park.

If you will, however, scrutinize the fine prints on the authorized seller's details of the ticket package, the buyer will only have until the end of December this year to use the ticket. This is actually the catch of the lower offer - the ticket is almost expiring and the authorized seller is forced to sell the ticket at a lower price than Sea World because if the ticket is not sold until the expiration, they will have to pay the park based on the agreed amount. If a patron buys the ticket with the intention of using such until about Christmas Eve of this year, it is considered a good deal because the second visit will still be applicable and within the expiry limit. However, in case a buyer purchases the ticket with plans of using the ticket for the following year that would have been an information highway robbery (on the humorous side, eLarceny). Tickets bought with the theme park website are valid within a year from the date of purchase.

There is no denying the fact that the Internet contains a treasure of the best bargains available on the planet. Like the real-life thrift shops or bargain stores in the city, however, many are legit while some are bogus . Even the legitimate stores, sometimes find the need for some dishonest half-truths to prevent losses. The same is true in the information highway. Hence, with or without the caveat emptor signage, let the online buyer beware.