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Curious About Pros And Cons Of Paperless Tickets For Events

BOSTON (CBS) - For most concerts and shows, you buy a ticket, and present it at the door to get in. But now for some bigger shows, performers like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber want to make sure the person who bought the ticket is the one going through the door.

Here's how it works: you buy your seats with a credit card, and then must bring an ID and that same credit card in order to get in the door.

Beth from Marlboro Declared her Curiosity.

"What are the pros and cons of going with paperless ticketing? Will consumers be hurt?"

WBZ-TV's Karen Anderson reports.

TD Garden President John Wentzell says it's a tool to protect consumers and the true buyer who is frantically trying to get a ticket. He explains, "The protections it provides far outweighs the inconveniences."

But, businesses like Stub Hub don't like that idea, and are working on what they call the Fan Freedom Project. They are trying to stop these all paperless ticketing concerts, and argue that consumers won't be able to give away tickets or sell them.

What do consumer advocates say?

ConsumerWorld.Org's Edgar Dworsky says while there are some drawbacks, on balance paperless ticketing is pro-consumer.

He says, "There is a real disincentive for scalpers to buy tickets, that means more tickets available to the real purchaser at face value. You're not competing with scalpers on the internet or phone lines."

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