We've all heard the stories about eager entrepreneurs scooping up the choice tickets for an event and then reselling them for ridiculous profits. Maybe you've turned to one of these folks in your desperation to get a good seat at the upcoming football game or Bon Jovi concert. Maybe you've been one of those folks.
But when these opportunistic resellers gobble up tickets that were meant to be free to the public and then charge up to $500 apiece, is that going too far?
WalletPop reports that the city of Boston was distributing free tickets to skate on a rink erected at Fenway Park for the Jan. 1 outdoor hockey game between the hometown Bruins and the Comcast
But lined up for tickets, along with the kids who never get a chance to visit frequently sold-out Fenway, were known scalpers who saw visions of dollar signs dancing in their heads. Lots of hopeful residents went home without any Christmas cheer, while the free tickets resurfaced on the likes of Craigslist and eBay
Ticketing services such as Ticketmaster
What's your take, Fools? Is this Scrooge-like greed at its ugliest, or just an example of the free market at work? Light up the comments box below, and the Fool will donate $0.10 for each comment to the Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, D.C., in furtherance of financial literacy. Now that's keeping in the Christmas spirit.