Top 3 Places to Find Free Presale Passwords

The key to running a successful online ticket broker business is knowing how to get your hands on those tickets that all the die-hard fans are fighting for (and therefore, willing to pay for). It’s hard enough to pull the best tickets through publicly-announced onsales–the ones that all the fans will know about. As a ticket broker, one of your best opportunities to get an edge is by taking advantage of presales.

Presales

The purpose of a presale is to give a select group of people an opportunity to buy tickets before everyone else, and there are several main types of presales that you should know about:

• Venue presales
• Radio presales
• Fan club presales
• Internet presales
• Live Nation presales
• American Express presales
• Citi cardmember presales

Obviously, though, in order to make the presales any different than the on-sales, only those with presale passwords have access to the tickets that are released. Some presale codes are easier to get than others, and some come at a price (Fan Club presales, for example). If you know where to look, though, you can find all the free presale passwords you want.

Here are the 3 best places I’ve found that help me land great presale tickets:

Wise Guys

The #1 Presale Password site out there. These guys have been providing us with presale passwords for years and they’ve become a trusted name in the industry. They also give what they call a “Hot Tip” at the end of each presale post, which is cool and sets them apart from other presale sites. (Update: they’ve recently switched over to paid memberships, but the information they’re churning out every day more than pays for the cost.)

Ticketcrush

When it comes to presale and onsale information, one of the most valuable free resource on the web that I’ve found is the Ticketcrush blog and newsletter. As a subscriber, I get an email every single morning (sometimes even at 6 AM!) with the scoop on all the presale and onsale information I need for that day. In my experience their list is more comprehensive than most of the other presale lists out there. They also have their own iPhone App and they even buy your unwanted tickets. Check them out!

Going 2 The Show

Look to these guys for all the big name presale passwords, also free of charge. Their Twitter feed (@presalecodes) lists all their top presale passwords and you can even check out their site to search presale codes by artist. Very cool.

Of course, you don’t need to subscribe to each and every presale newsletter you see. Most of your presale information could be gathered just by subscribing to one of these. Still, if you have the time (and dedication), I’d recommend signing up to two (or more) newsletters, just in case there was a presale that was missed in one, it will probably get picked up in another. Also, not every site is able to get access to every presale password, so by subscribing to more than one newsletter, you’re more likely to get all the passwords for that day.

Presale passwords straight from the source

You can also choose to get some of your presale passwords straight from the source. As an example, I’m subscribed to the Madison Square Garden newsletter, MSG Insider. Every time there’s a big presale or onsale going on at MSG, I get a notification via e-mail at least 24 hours before the presale takes place. This is great because if the show is huge (something like Lady Gaga at Madison Square Garden), I’ll make sure to rearrange my schedule that morning so that I know to be at the Ticketmaster window at exactly the time listed. You don’t need to subscribe to every venue newsletter you can, just the big ones: the Staples Center, American Airlines Center, etc.

The more experience you get as a ticket broker, you’ll also be signed up to various venue newsletters simply by purchasing tickets from them. I get emails all the time from HP Pavilion at San Jose, the Jobing Arena in Arizona, the AT&T Center in San Antonio, and various others. With so many newsletter subscriptions, your information is bound to overlap and repeat itself, but that’s OK. The important thing is never to miss a big presale, and with all this information at your fingertips, you’ll give yourself the best chance at pulling the absolute best presale concert tickets you can.