Economics lesson: everyone (both buyers AND sellers) tries to profit from every single transaction. The seller's profit is the difference between the sale price for a good or service, and the cost to acquire, produce, or otherwise make available that good or service. The buyer's profit is the difference between the level at which the buyer values the good or service, and the actual purchase price. So in the case of concert tickets, say the seller puts the event together at a cost of $40/ticket. They sell at a price of $70/ticket. People value the concert at $100/ticket. Both buyer and seller are set up to profit. But now a ticket scalper comes in and buys up $70 tickets to resell. Yeah, it stinks that they're going to sell for more, but they can only sell for so much more - if he raises the price to $110/ticket then people won't buy (i.e., he won't sell) and even he won't profit. You can't profit if no one is buying. So he raises the price only to $90. Now he can still profit over the $70 he bought them at, and buyers still profit, though less than they would've at face value. It can be a little stinky to profit less than you would, but why should that be illegal? Why is it more important to protect one person's profit than another? What makes the buyer's profit more important than the seller's or scalper's profit? By definition, if a consumer is voluntarily purchasing something, it's because they are still profiting. Why should it be illegal for a middle man to jump into that market and try to capture some of the margin? It's the exact opposite of the federal government's stance in the alcohol industry, where producers are legally not allowed by the government to also be distributors, and so the government is actually FORCING an extra middle man into the market who will of course capture some of the profits in the chain of value and leave less profit for the consumer. Or in automobiles, where manufacturers can't sell directly to consumers and so dealerships buy from manufacturers and sell to consumers, capturing some of the profit for themselves. What's next? Illegal grocery stores because it's more expensive than straight from the farmer? Illegal department stores because it's cheaper straight from the designer? Illegal furniture stores because it's cheaper straight from the manufacturer? You know what would help bring down ticket prices? Remove the government's taxes. Both sellers and buyers would benefit from that.