Definition

Noun: 1. A person who buys tickets, goods, or other items in high demand and resells them at a significantly higher price, often exploiting shortages or high demand. This term is most commonly associated with the resale of event tickets (e.g., for concerts, sports games, theater) but can apply to other commodities.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The concert was sold out, so I had to buy a ticket from a scalper outside the arena.
  • Ticket scalpers often use bots to purchase large quantities of seats as soon as they go on sale.
  • He was arrested for acting as a scalper for the championship game tickets.

Advanced Usage

• "Ticket scalper": The most common specific usage, explicitly referring to someone who resells event tickets.
  • Laws against ticket scalpers vary from state to state.
• The term can be used metaphorically for someone who profits excessively from any situation of scarcity.
  • During the crisis, some were accused of being scalpers, hoarding and reselling essential supplies.

Variants and Related Words

• Scalp (verb): The act of buying and reselling items, especially tickets, at inflated prices.
  • He was caught trying to scalp his extra tickets.
• Scalping (noun): The practice or business of a scalper.
  • Scalping is a controversial practice that exploits fans.

Synonyms

• Ticket tout (primarily British English): A person who buys and resells tickets.
• Reseller: A more general, often neutral term for someone who sells something they have purchased.
• Profiteer: Someone who makes excessive profits, especially by taking advantage of times of scarcity or emergency. (This has a broader and more negative connotation.)

Related Phrases

• To scalp tickets: The verb phrase describing the action.
  • It is illegal to scalp tickets on the stadium grounds.

Noun

1. someone who buys something and resells it at a price far above the initial cost
   • he got theater tickets through a scalper