Ten in the morning. You are ready.
Two devices. Both logged in. Card saved. Fingers hovering.
The clock hits ten. You click.
You are number 14,000 in line. Then 9,000. Then 3,000. Hope builds. Then the screen says the event is sold out and you should try the resale marketplace.
You click the resale marketplace. The tickets are there. All of them. Hundreds of them. At four times face value.
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Sold out in ninety seconds, fully restocked in ninety one.
Here is what actually happened, and it is not what most people think.
You did not lose to other fans. You lost to a business. A real one, with employees and inventory software and lines of credit and a chief financial officer. Someone whose entire job is to acquire tickets and resell them, who has never heard the band, and who will not be attending.