VIP Seats, Buying & Selling Tickets
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Company Info - Company Happenings
July 2012 - VIP Seats to run Road Trip to Cleveland!
April 2012 - VIP Seats Invests in Season Tickets for the Nashville Predators!
February 2012 - John Mayer's 2012 Tour to Feature Restricted Tickets?
January 2012 - Is a Super Bowl in Indianapolis Sexy?
December 2011 - NBA Trying to Lure Fans Back After Lockout
November 2011 - VIP Seats Partners with the Buffalo News!
November 2011 - Vip Seats BACK in the Buffalo News!!!
November 2011 - VIP Seats joins the Google+ Phenomenon
September 2011 - VIP SEATS in the Buffalo News!
September 2011 - VIP Seats on WIVB!
September 2011 - Sabres Fans Won’t be Shut Out at the Box Office
August 2011 - The VIP Seats Mobile Box Office Hits the Road!
July 2011 - VIP Seats adds Season Tickets in South Florida!
July 2011 - Coming Soon: The VIP Seats Mobile Box Office!
June 2011 - VIP Seats Boosts Social Media Presence
June 2011 - Congratulations to the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins!
June 2011 - VIP Seats Announces New Season Ticket Investments for 2011-12
March 2011 - VIP SEATS Gears up for a Busy Playoff Season!
January 2011 - VIP Seats Invests in New York Knicks Season Tickets!
June 2010 - VIP Seats Makes Significant Investment in Philadelphia Flyers Season Tickets
June 2010 - VIP Seats Makes Significant Investment in Detroit Red Wings Season Tickets
June 2010 - The Hockey News Partners with VIP Seats!
June 2010 - Alex Szczesny Hired
June 2010 - Chris Marasco Hired
April 2008 - VIPseats.com Make-A-Wish "Best Actor" Gala Sponsor
October 2007 - Gerard Meczka hired
June 2007 - Scalping Now Legal In New York: Teams Can't Cancel Season Tickets
September 2006 - Kim Collins hired
December 2004 - Siblings Nick & Della Giammusso purchase 5762 Main Street Headquarters
May 2004 - Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalist
December 2003 - VIPdesk Concierge partners with VIPseats
August 2003 - VIPSuperBowlTickets.com website created
September 2001 - VIP Entertainment purchases VIPSeats.com domain name and changes its' company name
July 2012 - VIP Seats to run Road Trip to Cleveland!
With the excitement around the Bills at a fever pitch, VIP Seats is getting back to its roots! A staple from the early days of business in the mid-90's, VIP Seats will be running a bus trip to Cleveland for the September 23rd game between the Browns and the Bills.
The packages run at either $99 or $139 a person (depending on the seat) and include round trip transportation, a game ticket, tailgate and more! Any interested parties can book over the phone at 1-800-371-6323 or by e-mailing CEO Nick Giammusso at nick@vipseats.com
Go Bills!
April 2012 - VIP Seats Invests in Season Tickets for the Nashville Predators!
VIP Seats is proud to announce an investment with the Nashville Predators! With our investments, pay NO SERVICE FEES on seats we own, including the remainder of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs as well!!! Look for our "VIP" Logo and SAVE!!!
February 2012 - John Mayer's 2012 Tour to Feature Restricted Tickets?
As seen on our blog posted February 28, 2012:
John Mayer will be strutting his stuff on stage at Shea's Theater in Buffalo, NY on Saturday, April 21st, 2012. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 2nd at 10AM.
We are excited to announce the first dates of the 2012 Spring Tour. All tickets for most shows will go on sale this Friday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 3rd. In order to accommodate as many concertgoers as possible and provide an equal opportunity for purchasing tickets, there will be no pre-sale ticketing period. Please find details on this and other new ticketing policies below or at johnmayer.com.
Kacey Musgrave's will support all shows unless otherwise noted. Ticket onsale times and more information for each show are posted on the John Mayer tour page.
Important
Many of the venues on the tour will utilize Paperless Ticketing for all seats. Instead of receiving tickets before the event, the credit card used to make the purchase will serve as your ticket. Paperless tickets can be bought and sold via Ticketmaster TicketExchange (resale prices for tickets can be no more than 20% above face value). It is very important to review all of the policies of Paperless Ticketing before completing your purchase- details and helpful FAQ can be found here.
VIP Seats Restrictive Ticketing Comments
VIP Seats is against the use of Restricted Tickets! Ticketing giant TicketMaster, Paciolan and Vertix use Paperless Ticketing to control the lucrative secondary market. TicketMaster has been known for outrageous service charges, convenience fees and shipping charges and now they want to restrict where you can buy and resell your tickets. For more information you can visit www.fanfreedom.org/about.
Doubt us? Just google "Ticketmaster lawsuits". There appears to be a conflict of interest when a company operates in both the primary and secondary markets and furthers claims about the negative implications on Ticketmaster's monoloply on ordinary consumers. See this story in Rolling Stone Magazine regarding Ticketmaster's alleged deceptive practices.
January 2012 - Is a Super Bowl in Indianapolis Sexy?
The common misconception of this year's Super Bowl is that Football Fans are not as likely to travel to Indy as opposed to a trendier and more tourist-friendly destination like Miami. How will this affect Super Bowl Supply & Demand?
How can one predict what Super Bowl prices will do this year?
Host City Information
There's no denying that Indianapolis as a Super Bowl host city will have its drawbacks. First, the weather in the mid-west in February is less than an ideal destination when travelers are thinking about investing serious dollars in a mini-vacation. Secondly, the city is not a major metropolitan area with an abundance of high-end hotel properties. This poses a serious problem in providing adequate hotel rooms for such a huge corporate event like the Super Bowl. "Finding four and five-star properties has been a huge headache for us this year," says VIPSuperBowlTickets.com's Nick Giammusso. It compares to the Super Bowl in Jacksonville a few years back when the NFL arranged for cruise ships to satisfy the need for rooms. Indy does not have that luxury and hotel prices are through the roof!"
In terms of geographical location, Indianapolis sits in the middle of the country with relatively short air travel times for football fans from both the East and West coasts.
Supply and Demand
For those fans lucky enough to win the Super Bowl Lottery they will have to fork over either $1,000 for Club Seats or $800 for any other seat location. That's the face-value price!
The secondary market for Super Bowl tickets is much like the stock market. The question is will Super Bowl prices rise or fall in the days leading up to the big game?
Ticket Brokers are offering Super Bowl tickets in the range of $2,500- $10,000 per ticket. Super Bowl ticket prices and packages are trending up approximately 20-40% in comparison to last year's game when two small market teams Pittsburgh and Green Bay played in Super Bowl XLV and Dallas offered an abundance of accommodations.
"VIPSuperbowlTickets.com has had to increase their ticket and hotel package prices by about 20 percent in comparison to last year's game, said Nick Giammusso President & CEO of VIPseats.com.
Super Bowl ticket prices and packages will be hotter than normal this year. It's Economics 101.
Let's talk demand. The four remaining teams are from wealthier areas of the country including New York City, Boston, Baltimore/Washington DC, and San Francisco Bay areas. The New York Giants, New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens represent a rich heritage of football fans in big markets with deep pockets certainly spiking demand of Super Bowl tickets and hotel rooms.
Let's talk Supply. The Super Bowl game will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium which will have a seating capacity that will be about 70,000 for this mega event. In comparison, last year's Super Bowl, which was held at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, had seating for 105,000. Using simple math, one can see that supply of Super Bowl tickets will be approximately 35,000 (or 33% percent) less than last year's availability.
Unlike the Federal Reserve, the NFL cannot keep printing Super Bowl tickets to meet demand. Unfortunately or fortunately, supply is fixed at 70,000 seats!
One such variable that cannot be ignored is the state of the US economy. As weakness in the housing market and weakness in the Dollar pushes the US economy further into recession will Super Bowl ticket buyers balk at ticket prices that are now starting at $2,500 per ticket and complete travel packages that run $3,995 per person and up?
For this answer we can look at last year's Super Bowl business...
“Last year, there was a huge demand for Super Bowl tickets and packages,” says VIPSuperBowlTickets.com President Nick Giammusso. “Cowboys Stadium was aiming for a near-record capacity of over 105,000, but the NFL and Jerry Jones got greedy as many temporary seats were not ready in time for the big game. The league was left with a black eye as certain folks didn’t get in.” Indianapolis may be smaller than Dallas and Lucas Oil Stadium seats 33% fewer fans than Cowboys Stadium (approx. 70,000), but this year’s Super Bowl is already receiving tremendous interest."
December 2011 - NBA Trying to Lure Fans Back After Lockout
The NBA wasn’t the only professional sports league to experience labor issues this year, but being forced to cancel some regular season games left “The Association” with a black eye. The NBA and Players Association were left to backpedal and do whatever it takes to get people back through the turnstiles when the season opened up this past weekend.
A few teams have resorted to putting some cash in their customers’ pockets to keep them happy. The Philadelphia 76ers have decided to reduce online ticket fees in order to boost sales. Sales through the team’s website will be handled with smaller service fees. It is easier for the Sixers to pull this off because unlike other NBA teams, all tickets are handled exclusively in house at the Wells Fargo Center. Most teams use Ticketmaster to handle the online sale and distribution of seats, but keeping everything under one roof allows the 76ers to cut some corners without hurting the bottom line too much.
Another popular idea that multiple NBA organizations are trying out is the reduction of concession stand prices. It can be expensive to take a family of four to an NBA game. After the ticket costs, one must pay for parking, maybe some souvenirs and of course… the snacks! Teams are trying to lessen the blow of a night out with cheaper food prices. They hope in addition to the tried and true methods of promotional giveaways and ticket specials, that more fans will welcome the NBA back with open arms.
Time will tell if these small gestures will be successful. The early returns are favorable as league-wide, the season ticket renewal rate is over 80%. Some big names have helped attendance figures across the NBA, as fans flock to see loaded lineups like Miami, New York and now the LA Clippers. It’s a shame the NBA Lockout happened when it did as the league was heading towards a boom period. There are tons of great teams and superstar players that fans want to see. If the NBA can recover from its current PR issues, we may see another “Golden Age” in the near future.
November 2011 - VIP Seats Partners with the Buffalo News!
Nov. 21, 2011- The secondary ticket market grows exponentially each year. Currently, the industry is valued at over $12 Billion worldwide. Locally, business is booming with the excitement around the Bills and Sabres. The Buffalo Bills have partnered with TicketsNow and their parent company TicketMaster to sell seats on the secondary market, while the Sabres are represented by StubHub and Tickets.com. VIP Seats is proud to announce a partnership with the Buffalo News!
VIP Seats has been locally run since 1993. VIP Seats has the advantage of selling premium seats to any event worldwide. VIP Seats is a “one stop” place to shop and purchase the absolute best seats to any concert or big game. The partnership with the Buffalo News will help their online readers find great seats to those “hard to get” events like a sold-out Bills game or front row to a big concert at First Niagara Center. The “Tickets” link can be found in the red bar on the very top of the Buffalo News’s homepage.
“What’s great about us and the Buffalo News, is that we are both locally run businesses coming together,” says VIP Seats CEO Nick Giammusso, “It’s a natural partnership.” VIP Seats is already increasing its local presence with its Mobile Box Office in front of every Bills and Sabres games. “We are growing our brand offline, so it makes sense to grow it online as well” says Giammusso. Unlike most ticket websites, VIP Seats owns some of its inventory. “With owning so many tickets, especially locally, we can save money on service charges and shipping that they would pay elsewhere.”
November 2011 - Vip Seats BACK in the Buffalo News!!!
Tickets! Who's Got Tickets?
By: Stephen T. Watson
Published: 11/14/2011
In the days when Memorial Auditorium was a functioning hockey arena, and not just a giant hole in the ground, fans who wanted to attend a sporting event had limited options.
You could buy a ticket from the team, a co-worker, a scalper, a ticket broker or someone who took out a classified ad in the paper.
Now, the Internet adds a dizzying array of outlets, from StubHub, eBay and Craigslist — the big-name players —to scores of smaller ticket-selling sites.
The online sites bring more clarity to the transaction, offering more options to both sides and providing a better sense of what the ducat is worth. They also make it easier for the season-ticket holders to resell some of their tickets. “No one can go to all 41 games, so we’re a conduit” between Sabres season-ticket holders and would-be ticket buyers, said Nick Giammusso, operator of VIP Seats, a ticket broker based in Williamsville. “We’re the local version of StubHub.”
Sports teams have a love-hate relationship with the resale sites.
They want every ticket used because they want the good game experience that comes with a large crowd, but they don’t want to lose the profit that goes to someone else when a ticket is resold.
Some teams have embraced the resale sites.
The Sabres, for example, have an arrangement with StubHub, through Tickets.com, that allows season-ticket holders to sell their seats on the site.
The team gets a cut of the service fee, as well as a better sense of what price they should set for their tickets.
“It gives us a gauge to say, maybe we underpriced something if the secondary market out there is doubling what we charged for it,” said John Sinclair, the Sabres’ vice president of tickets and services.
Testing the options
With so many options available to today’s sports fan, it can be hard to figure out where—and when—to buy a ticket.
Money Smart took on this challenge by focusing on one Sabres home game and trying to sort through the different ticket-buying options.
We picked the Oct. 25 contest between the Sabres and the Tampa Bay Lightning and tracked the various prices quoted for the tickets, from the team box office to the scalper standing outside the First Niagara Center on game night.
Tampa Bay has some young stars, such as sniper Steve Stamkos, and they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last spring, but they’re not a natural rival of the Sabres and not a big draw here.
The Sabres sold 15,200 season-ticket packages for the 2011-12 season. The team has capped the total at roughly that amount since 2006 because they want fans to have the chance to buy individual game tickets or mini-packs, Sinclair said.
“We want to keep as many fans engaged as possible,” he said.
With the team off to a fast start this season, the Oct. 25 home game was considered sold out by mid-September, Sinclair said. But despite being a sell out, there were a lot of seats available on the resale market.
On Oct. 18, one week before the game, the Sabres website had single seats available, ranging from $34 for a seat in section 305 to $108 for a seat in section 221.
StubHub, perhaps the biggest and best-known site, had 805 tickets available for the Sabres-Lightning game on the afternoon of Oct. 20, five days before the contest, while eBay had 70 tickets for sale at that time.
The StubHub tickets ranged in price from $38 to $250 each, with one seller asking for the unrealistic sum of $9,999.46. The day before the game, 697 tickets were left on Stub- Hub, with a starting price of $20 each.
“I think what’s happened is the market’s much more efficient now,” said Larry Sanders, a professor in the University at Buffalo School of Management. He added, “Nowadays I go to StubHub to look before I go to Ticketmaster.”
Vinnie, a Niagara Falls resident who spoke on condition his last name not be used, has used StubHub and eBay to sell some of the games from his season-ticket package for years.
He has two sets of Sabres season tickets, which he shares with a friend, and he looks to sell his seats whenever he can’t make it to the game.
“So I have a lot of games to get rid of,” Vinnie said.
He said he switched to selling his tickets on Craigslist, which is free for the buyer and seller, because he doesn’t like the fees charged by Stub- Hub and eBay.
Bartering and fees
StubHub, for example, charges the ticket seller a fee of 15 percent of the sale price, while the ticket buyer must pay a fee of 10 percent of the cost of the ticket.
Even on Oct. 24, the day before the contest, Craigslist had a lot of postings for the Sabres-Lightning game, though it was impossible to get a complete count.
Many of the postings contained links to ticket-resale sites with names such as EveryTicketOnline.com and HookUpTickets.com.
Vinnie has found that people using StubHub and eBay seem to have more of an ability to pay his asking price than Craigslist users. “The success rate on Craigslist is a lot less,” Vinnie said.
Craigslist buyers often try to barter something for the tickets instead of paying cash, and Vinnie said he once traded two tickets in section 216 for two gently used iPod Touches.
Vinnie’s tickets for the Oct. 25 game had a face value of $152 for the pair.
He was asking for $150 for the pair on Craigslist, but no one offered more than $100 for the two of them.
“I won’t take the loss. I’ll go to the game or give them to a family member,” Vinnie said.
Ticket buyers who use Craigslist would be wise to meet the seller in person in a public place to conduct the transaction.
There’s a lot of other ticket exchange sites out there, and it’s hard to know which ones a buyer can trust.
If you end up with a fake ticket, or you pay someone but you don’t get your tickets, that’s not going to help you when you try to get into the arena on game night.
StubHub and eBay are known commodities, and buyers on eBay can see the positive feedback score of the sellers to know whether they seem trustworthy.
The Sabres know that tickets purchased through the Sabres partnership on StubHub are legitimate because it’s done through the team’s system, Sinclair said.
Buyers can even pick up the tickets at the Sabres box office, he said, or they can print them out at home.
“It’s a little more secure,” Sinclair said. He would not say how much the team makes on the resale of a ticket on StubHub.
Brokers and scalpers
Ticket brokers are still around, but they’ve also established a presence online.
VIP Seats holds a couple of hundred seats to each Sabres game through the company’s own season tickets, plus they snap up 100 or more seats from other ticket holders.
VIP Seats also lets people sell tickets through their website, taking a 15 percent fee.
The company had 200 or 300 tickets for the Buffalo-Tampa Bay game, and Giammusso said he ended up selling them all.
Giammusso was parked in the company’s van near the corner of Washington and Perry streets prior to the Oct. 25 game, waiting to hand out tickets to the company’s clients.
“That’s really what it is, it’s supply and demand,” Giammusso said.
As it gets closer to game time, the online sites are less of a viable option. That’s where the old-reliable scalper comes into play.
Half an hour before the start of the game, scalpers were aggressively pursuing anyone who showed any interest in buying a ticket.
Some scalpers respond to the question, “How much?,” with, “How much do you want to pay?”
Would-be ticket buyers have to be willing to walk away from a scalper if they don’t like the price.
And the longer you wait until the start of the first period, the better the price you’ll get because scalpers don’t want to be left holding worthless inventory.
One scalper, Tom Harris, said it’s tough to sell tickets to a hockey game on a gray, rainy Tuesday night in October.
“There’s no demand for them tonight. The big demand is only on the weekends,” said Harris. He had two tickets to sell for the game.
Harris paid $20 for the pair, which had a face value of $24 each. He was asking for $35 each for the tickets, and hoped to get $30 each, but he still had them 10 minutes before the opening faceoff.
Another scalper, Jason Williams, had 11 tickets to the game at the start of the night, and managed to sell them all despite the modest demand.
“Hockey usually picks up after Thanksgiving,” Williams said.
November 2011 - VIP Seats joins the Google+ Phenomenon
When Google first launched their own social networking platform "Google+," local companies were kept off the site. Businesses such as VIP Seats were not allowed to reach out to customers nationwide to spread information about products and services. In mid-November, Google allowed companies to join little by little to increase online visibility. About 13% of Americans have a Google+ page and it is estimated by the end of 2012, 22% of Americans will be apart of it.
On November 9th, VIP Seats joined the Google+ craze! The VIP Seats Google+ page is now online! In addition to our social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, there is another way to interact with VIP Seats. Last minute deals are sometimes offered through these outlets so fans can save big! VIP Seats is also planning a YouTube channel to keep customers up to date on ticket and event news. The YouTube channel is set to launch in the Winter.
September 2011 - VIP SEATS in the Buffalo News!
Ticket broker Nick Giammusso attended his first rock concert at age 14. When he was 16, he began studying entertainment contracts. By age 18 he was picking the brains of touring performers.
The son of Italian immigrants, Giammusso, 43, today operates VIP Seats, a ticket company in Williamsville that he started in 1993 with his sister Della Giammusso. Nick Giammusso sells tickets for sporting events, concerts and theater to customers across the country. When he tells people what he does for a living, he expects a lot of questions.
He gets them.
People Talk: What was your first concert?
Nick Giammusso: Journey at the Aud. I met Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson when I was 8 or 9 years old. My godparents were Irwin and Monique Pate, concert promoters from the '70s and '80s. They never had kids, so I was kind of their kid. They would take me to shows and give me odd jobs to do, like hand out those old concert posters.
PT: And you were good at it.
NG: I'm a people person. I enjoy getting to know people. I was fortunate to be around the concert business as a kid. I would sit with Garth Brooks or Neil Diamond and ask them how they got to where they were. I think everybody has a story.
PT: What ticket would you be willing to wait in line for?
NG: U2. I'm a big Sabres fan, too. I'm a Buffalo guy who grew up with the Sabres at the Aud. We used to run the box office at the Aud, and when it closed people still were calling me for tickets. That's how we got started.
PT: What was it like when you opened your own company?
NG: The Wild Wild West. It was frowned upon to be a ticket broker. Only recently when they saw there was so much money in the business did big companies come around. The Sabres resell their own tickets now, Ticketmaster, too. We were here 10 years before StubHub.
PT: Has eBay been a friend to you?
NG: It's so difficult selling on eBay. We've tried. We don't need eBay anymore. We have so many other channels. We consider eBay like a Craigslist.
PT: You must attend many events.
NG: No. I just don't have time. I'm running a business. I have tickets for everything, and it's just hard for me to get away. If I do go -- and I don't go a lot -- I'll get good seats.
PT: How do you get your tickets?
NG: We have season tickets all over the place. Just for hockey, we own season tickets for Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers. I could go on and on.
PT: Did you ever sell tickets on the street?
NG: We never worked the street. My friends call me a scalper with an office. A third of our business is actually purchasing tickets, so we spend a lot of money on tickets that should be valuable. We belong to fan clubs for concerts. We buy seats from clients. It's like buying real estate. We're predicting what will be in demand in the future.
PT: And if you're wrong?
NG: We have drawers full of tickets that we got stuck with. We're dealing with tickets that have an expiration date -- like food. After the show, they're worthless.
PT: Why don't you throw them out?
NG: Tax purposes. And when kids come in the office, I'll give them sports tickets.
PT: What has been your costliest mistake?
NG: Janet Jackson tickets. We purchased 100 right before her concert, around Easter. I think we got stuck with 96 seats. I ended up driving down to Perry Street and handing them out to all the kids.
PT: How often do you donate tickets like that?
NG: A lot. We do Boys & Girls Club, inner-city football teams.
PT: What's a hot ticket these days?
NG: Out of the millions of things we do, the Buffalo Sabres. Garth Brooks' country shows are phenomenal. We do bus packages to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Syracuse -- 10 to 15 buses for each show. Country shows have great energy.
PT: How often do you see your customers?
NG: It depends. I've got clients who come in the door once a month. Others I see once a year. Some people like the U.S. Open. Most of our business is done online, but it's all about relationships.
PT: You are easygoing.
NG: It drives my wife crazy that I'm so mellow. It drives my employees crazy. Nothing really rattles me.
PT: Bad drivers?
NG: I'm not a honker.
September 2011 - VIP Seats on WIVB!
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) - After losing to the New England Patriots 15 straight times, the Buffalo Bills are celebrating Sunday's huge come from behind victory. Are fans now scooping up merchandise?
"Fandemonium" has returned to Bills' country and the team's meteoric success on the field is turning into a bonanza off the field.
That last second field goal beating the Patriots has Bills' fans daring to dream about this season instead of who to draft next year. As we saw at the Bills' Store, they're now wearing team jerseys proudly rather than under their jackets.
Louise Wolanske said, "I think they are awesome. Kelly era all over again, except better!"
Wolanske is a die-hard Bills fan who came up from Ashville to pick up a few last minute items before heading to an exclusive Buffalo Bills-only watering hole in Florida.
"Well, my husband's birthday is Friday. So I wanted to make sure I got my stuff before we left. I wanted to make sure that I had the hats and jerseys so we can celebrate well," said Wolanske.
But at sporting goods stores across western New York, like LAUX at the Walden Galleria, Bills' merchandise is flying off the shelves - except for jerseys that are on back order.
LAUX store manager Mike Miller said, "Jerseys, hats. Basically more jerseys than anything. Right now, Fitzpatrick, Johnson [are the most popular]."
At Kettle's, down the street from Wilson Stadium, the Bills are boosting business on game day in a good way.
Kattle's day manager Joan Vecchio joked, "It is good for business, but I think they are drinking less because they don't have to drink away their sorrows as much."
The Bills 3-0 start is also boosting ticket sales, which ticket re-seller Nick Giammusso said is a huge reversal.
"People are even calling for the away game," said Giammusso.
The Bengals only had 43,000 fans Sunday, their smallest crowd for a home opener in 20 years. As you might expect, with the Bills' boost in ticket sales, Giammusso said prices on the secondary market are creeping up.
September 2011 - Sabres Fans Won’t be Shut Out at the Box Office
When the Buffalo Sabres announced they sold out of mini-packs for the upcoming season, many fans probably felt the pressure of fighting the crowds in person, or online, to grab seats or pay top dollar to see their favorite team play at First Niagara Center this year. For those not lucky enough to grab tickets from the box office, there are alternatives.
For 18 years, VIP Seats has helped Sabres fans get to the games they want to see, even if they are already sold out. Started by a brother-sister team out of their parent’s basement in 1993, Nick and Della Giammusso built VIP Seats into the “go to” destination for the hottest tickets in town.
“With the Sabres putting a cap on the number of season tickets and mini packs they’ve sold,” says CEO Nick Giammusso, “there are only about 2,000 tickets made available to the public for each home game. With Buffalo in a hockey frame of mind, those are sure to go quick”, adds Giammusso, “We provide an alternative to waiting in line to get a chance to buy whatever is left over.”
VIP Seats uses its large season ticket inventory and a network of partners to provide seats that would otherwise not be available for purchase. “Being a season ticket holder provides advantages for us as a company on the secondary market. Not only can we offer tickets that the box office does not have, often times our prices are below that of what the box office charges” says Giammusso. “People often have this negative image of a ticket broker as someone who gobbles up the available seats and then resells them at outrageous prices, but that’s simply not true.”
VIP Seats customers can save even more by purchasing directly from the company’s inventory. Local buyers can avoid both service fees and shipping charges by picking up the seats from their Williamsville office. “When you crunch the numbers, VIP Seats is usually the cheapest place around” states Giammusso.
VIP Seats sells seats to any event worldwide and is located at 5762 Main St in the Village of Williamsville (corner of Main and Evans). They can be reached over the phone, at (716) 632-9982 or online, http://www.vipseats.com.
For questions contact:
Nick Giammusso, President/CEO nick@vipseats.com 716-632-9982 x102
Alexander Szczesny, Marketing alex@vipseats.com 716-632-9982 x105
August 2011 - The VIP Seats Mobile Box Office Hits the Road!
The VIP Seats Mobile Box Office is NOW on the streets of Western New York! The Mobile Box Office will make pick-up and delivery of seats for all Buffalo-area events a breeze! 
Thanks to RLP Motors for the vehicle and VSP Marketing for the vehicle wrap.
July 2011 - VIP Seats adds Season Tickets in South Florida!
VIP Seats is proud to add another team to our stable and increase our presence as a leader in the NHL ticket marketplace. VIP Seats is proud to now own Season Ticket Inventory to the Florida Panthers for the 2011-12 NHL Season.
In order to reach the Salary Cap Floor (minimum amount required to spend on player salary) the Panthers were forced to add some big names in the off-season. This influx of talent, plus a budding core of young players should hopefully spell success for the Panthers in the coming years.
“South Florida is a destination for visiting fans to see a game” adds VIP Seats President Nick Giammusso, “It was critical to secure great seats by the visitor’s tunnel and close to the ice.” With this latest investment, VIP Seats now owns inventory to 10 of the NHL’s 30 teams.
July 2011 - Coming Soon: The VIP Seats Mobile Box Office!
Want to avoid the large crowds at the box office and long lines at the will call window? VIP Seats has an answer to that problem with the launch of our Mobile Box Office! Keep an eye out at various Western New York events for VIP Seats!
Our Mobile Ticket Office will be cruising the streets of Buffalo looking to make your life easier. Save time at events by NOT waiting in line! Feel free to take the time to grab dinner downtown, or get in a few more minute of tailgating, knowing that the VIP Seats Mobile Mobile Office is nearby!
The VIP Seats Mobile Box Office should be on the road by the end of July 2011!
June 2011 - VIP Seats Boosts Social Media Presence
There's nothing like a beautiful summer day at the ballpark. Imagine you're having a great time with your family, soaking up the sun and sitting in some great seats. It doesn't get any better than that... does it? It could if your seats were FREE!
So far this summer, VIP Seats has helped some Buffalo families check out the hometown Bisons (AAA affiliate of the New York Mets) FOR FREE! How can you get your hand on these free seats? Simple: be our friend!
Free baseball seats are just one of the perks of following VIP Seats on social media networks, Facebook and Twitter. Friends and followers of VIP Seats also have access to exclusive sales on concerts and theater performances and are often notified of on-sale dates for the hottest upcoming events.
“Social media is a great way to try and grow the retail side of our business” says Marketing Director Alex Szczesny. “We speak to lots of people who are surprised that we exist and that we are local. In an effort to increase our visibility in Wester New York, we are reaching out to people with perks like free seats and discounts.” Another benefit to VIP Seats is the interaction with potential customers. “People are able to ask us questions about events, prices or seats and it’s a nice touch to be able to hit them back with a quick answer.”
In the last six months, the VIP Seats Facebook page has grown by over 1,400 users and the VIP Seats Twitter account (@vipseats) has seen a 50% increase in followers.
June 2011 - Congratulations to the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins!
VIP Seats would like to Congratulate the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions, the Boston Bruins! As a Boston Bruins season ticket holder for several years, VIP Seats is very proud of the hard work the players, coaches and front office put in all season long. "Boston is an amazing sports town and people were reminded these past few seasons about their love of Bruins hockey" says VIP Seats President and Co-Founder Nick Giammusso. "Bruins tickets flew out the door this year. With the season Tim Thomas had, it's well deserved for him and the organization as a whole. It really brought Boston fans back to the Garden" With zero titles in the first 17 years of business, VIP Seats was privileged to carry season ticket inventory for back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions! "It's obviously hard to win the Cup and almost harder for us to predict which teams to invest in. Between Chicago and Boston, let's hope some of this luck rubs off on the Buffalo Sabres!" added Giammusso.
June 2011 - VIP Seats Announces New Season Ticket Investments for 2011-12
VIP Seats is excited to announce our decision to invest in several new teams for the upcoming 2011-12 seasons. In the NHL, VIP Seats is proud to have acquired season tickets with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Minnesota Wild of the NHL and the Los Angeles Clippers on the NBA.
"VIP Seats continues to find opportunities to invest in National Hockey League (NHL) tickets," says Company President & CEO Nick Giammusso. "I have said this before and I will say it again, the NHL has the most affluent and loyal fan base of any sports league. In our business, momentum weighs heavily in our decision on where to make our next investment. Tampa's run in the playoffs and the emergence of stars like Steven Stamkos made our decision easy."
Speaking of star power, there is perhaps no bigger rising star in sports today than the Clippers' Blake Griffin. Griffin ran away with the voting for NBA's Rookie of the Year, won the Dunk Contest and is on an improving LA squad. "People flock to those big name players like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Our hope is that Blake Griffin will be a household name. He's really exciting to watch and his growth should boost sales in the coming years" says Giammusso.
VIP Seats has been quite successful buying and selling NHL an NBA tickets in the secondary market. In addition to Tampa Bay and Minnesota, VIP Seats currently owns significant NHL season tickets in Buffalo, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, New Jersey and the New York Rangers. In addition to Los Angeles, VIP Seats has season ticket investments with the Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks
March 2011 - VIP SEATS Gears up for a Busy Playoff Season!
VIP SEATS is preparing for a VERY busy playoff season. VIP SEATS owns season ticket inventory to a total of 10 different teams in the NHL and NBA. Of these teams, 8 or 9 of them may make the playoffs in April. As a result, VIP SEATS is getting ready for a busy spring.
VIP SEATS recently made a new addition by hiring David Jones. We are excited to have David to help out with our busy workload. With the recent success of the Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings and the surge of the New Jersey Devils, we can't wait for playoff time!
For the first time in 17 years of business, VIP SEATS had the fortunate luck of having inventory to BOTH teams in a league championship! Last year, the Stanley Cup Finals featured the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers and the phones at VIP SEATS rang off the hook!
January 2011 - VIP Seats Invests in New York Knicks Season Tickets!
VIP Seats is excited to announce our decision to invest in fourteen (14) NY Knicks season tickets for the 2010-11 season and beyond.
The Knicks are an up and coming team in the NBA. Knicks season ticket sales have sold-out and there is now a waiting list for tickets for the first time in over a decade. Excitement for NBA Basketball's NY Knicks has finally returned to Madison Square Garden.
"VIP Seats continues to find opportunities to invest in National Basketball (NBA) tickets, says Company President & CEO Nick Giammusso. In our business, momentum weighs heavily in our decision on where to make our next investment. The Knicks recent roster moves and success on the court has created a spike in demand for tickets that we project will carry over into the next several seasons. The Knicks success at the box office this season inconjunction with the renovation project at Madison Square Garden makes this decision a no-brainer!"
VIP Seats has been quite successful buying and selling NBA Basketball tickets in the secondary market. VIP Seats currently owns a significant number of NBA season tickets in Atlanta, Cleveland and New York.
June 2010 - VIP Seats Makes Significant Investment in Philadelphia Flyers Season Tickets
VIP Seats is excited to announce our decision to invest in fifty-nine (59) Philadelphia Flyers season tickets for the 2010-11 season.
The Flyers suddenly and surprisingly found themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals this year. Stanley Cup Fever gripped the City of Philadelphia with each playoff series victory. Although they lost to Chicago in six games there is great momentum going into the 2010-11 campaign.
"VIP Seats continues to find opportunities to invest in National Hockey League (NHL) tickets, says Company President & CEO Nick Giammusso. I have said this before and I will say it again, the NHL has the most affluent and loyal fan base of any sports league. In our business, Momentum weighs heavily in our decision on where to make our next investment. The Flyers' success on the ice has created a spike in demand for tickets that will carry over into next season. Our investment in 2010-11 season tickets gave us the opportunity to purchase Stanley Cup Finals tickets so it was a no-brainer."
VIP Seats has been quite successful buying and selling NHL hockey tickets in the secondary market. VIP Seats currently owns significant NHL season tickets in Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, Ottawa, New Jersey and the New York Rangers.
June 2010 - VIP Seats Makes Significant Investment in Detroit Red Wings Season Tickets
VIP Seats is excited to announce our decision to invest in seventy (70) Detroit Red Wings season tickets for the 2010-11 season.
The economy has left Detroit reeling in recent years! Fortunately or unfortunately, Detroit relies heavily on the Auto Industry and it's not a big secret that the Big 3 Automakers have been suffering of late. These tough economic times have provided VIP Seats with an oportunity to invest in Red Wings season tickets.
"VIP Seats continues to find opportunities to invest in National Hockey League (NHL) tickets, says Company President & CEO Nick Giammusso. I have said this before and I will say it again, the NHL has the most affluent and loyal fan base of any sports league. There is a season ticket waiting list there and the Red Wings consistently play to 99.5% capacity at Joe Louis Arena. Their average season ticket prices are among the lowest in the league and this storied original six franchise consistently puts a winning team on the ice year after year. It's proximity to Canada and their hockey crazed fan base makes this investment a no-brainer."
VIP Seats has been quite successful buying and selling NHL hockey tickets in the secondary market. VIP Seats currently owns significant NHL season tickets in Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, Ottawa, New Jersey and the New York Rangers.
June 2010 - The Hockey News Partners with VIP Seats!
VIP Seats is excited to announce a strategic Partnership with The Hockey News!!!
The Hockey News, commonly abbreviated to THN, is a North American ice hockey magazine published by Transcontinental. The Hockey News was founded in 1947 and has since been perhaps the most recognized hockey
publication in North America. The magazine has a readership of 225,000 people per issue, while the magazine's website counts two million total readers.
VIP Seats will Power The Hockey News' online ticket sales portal and provide sales support and fulfillment from our Williamsville office. "The Hockey News offers us the perfect medium to market our extensive NHL ticket inventory to rabid Hockey Fans all over North America," says VIP Seats President & CEO Nick Giammusso.
The Hockey News will provide VIPSeats.com with content for our NHL Team pages and promote our tickets online at www.thehockeynews.com as well as in their print publication.
June 2010 - Alex Szczesny Hired
VIP Seats is very excited to announce the hiring of Alex Szczesny. Alex is a Lancaster High School and Brockport State graduate. He is an avid sports fan to say the least! Alex is returning to the Buffalo area after working for a Rochester, NY radio station and more recently as a customer service agent with StubHub.
Alex brings a wealth of experience in dealing with event ticketing/ customer service issues. He will oversee our customer service and fulfillment departments.
June 2010 - Chris Marasco Hired
VIP Seats is excited to announce that Chris Marasco has been hired as Director of Inventory & Sales. Chris is a 1988 Clarence High School graduate and is returning to WNY after living in the Charlotte, NC area the last 15 years. In Charlotte, Chris had his own Landscaping Company and more recently was a Sales Executive with LG Electronics.
Chris will be responsible in managing over $1 Million of VIP Seats' ticket inventory.
April 2008 - VIPseats.com Make-A-Wish "Best Actor" Gala Sponsor
Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® has enriched the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. The Foundation's mission reflects the life-changing impact that a Make-A-Wish® experience has on children, families, referral sources, donors, sponsors and entire communities.
VIPseats.com and its founder’s siblings Nick and Della Giammusso have decided to get involved as a sponsor of the Make-A-Wish Gala, a black-tie event which is being held at the Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel on April 8th, 2008. Nick and Della’s seven year old nephew Dominic Tringali has battled Neuroblastoma.. Dominic was diagnosed with this rare form of childhood cancer on his 5th birthday. You can find out more about Dominic’s story at www.supportdominic.org.
“Through Dominic’s sickness we have learned first-hand of how very unfortunate certain kids are in our world, says Company President Nick Giammusso. Visiting Dominic and walking past so many rooms at the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York we have seen first-hand how so many innocent children are afflicted with life threatening diseases. I will never forget the glances of sorrow and worry in so many parents’ faces. It doesn’t seem fair! You would do anything to put a smile on their sick child’s face.”
VIP Seats, Inc. has decided to get involved in the Make-A-Wish Foundation this year as a ‘Best Actor’ Gala Sponsor and make a small donation of $5,000. Our small gift will pay for one Make-A-Wish Gift for a well deserved child. VIP Seats, Inc. will be happy to realize that we will put a smile on the face of at least one child. We challenge other companies and individuals to get involved in any way you can. Please visit the Make-A-Wish Foundation today at http://www.wish.org/.
October 2007 - Gerard Meczka hired
Williamsville-based VIPseats.com has hired Gerard Meczka to handle client services and inventory duties for VIP Seats’ corporate, travel and concierge partners. Mr. Meczka will manage hundreds of thousands of dollars in ticket inventories to maximize sales revenues.
“We are really excited to have Gerard join our team, says Company President Nick Giammusso. Gerard brings to our organization a wealth of experience in business and he is a sports aficionado which is quite evident when he is serving our well-to-do clientele and making important investment and pricing decisions.”
VIP Seats, Inc buys and sells hard-to-find sports, concerts and theatre tickets all over the world. VIP Seats invests in season and group tickets of many sports franchises in the US and Canada. Gerard will be managing this inventory and pricing decisions in accordance to market conditions to help VIP Seats get to the next step and further become a major player in the ticket industry.
Congratulations Gerard Meczka!
June 2007 - Scalping Now Legal In New York: Teams Can't Cancel Season Tickets
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer today signed a bill that removes all caps on what brokers and others can charge to resell tickets to events in the state, but the bill also prohibits New York sports teams from canceling the season tickets of fans who resell them.
Sponsored by state Assemblyman Joseph Morelle of Rochester, the bill was designed to thwart the New York Yankees and other teams from punishing season ticket holders for reselling their tickets. The Yankees want to control the secondary market for its tickets and strictly prohibits any resale. The team is creating a ticket exchange website where season ticket holders are authorized to resell their unused tickets. . .
“The bill also adds new language prohibiting the operators of places of entertainment from placing restrictions on their fans regarding the resale price and method of resale for tickets,” the new law states, which would mean the Yankees and others would have to drop their policy.
Several National Football League teams, including the Buffalo Bills and other professional teams have already created or plan to establish their own dedicated ticket exchanges.
There was little doubt the bill would be put into law as it not only had the support of the governor, but had also received support from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“Our ticket resale laws have needed reform for many years. This is the only market in which the government does not regulate the primary market, the initial price of a product, but then imposes limits on the secondary market, the resale price of the product,” Gov. Spitzer told New York Newsday. “This law makes sense because it eliminates resale price controls and lets the free market determine prices.
September 2006 - Kim Collins hired
Williamsville-based VIPseats.com has hired Kim Collins to handle client services duties for VIP Seats’ corporate, travel and concierge partners. Ms. Collins is coming over from the Buffalo Bills where she worked in their box office for several years.
“We are really excited to have Kim join our team, says Company Vice-President Della Giammusso. Kim brings to our organization a wealth of experience in the ticket industry and a true passion for sports which is quite evident when she is servicing our well-to-do clientele.”
Congratulations Kim Collins!
December 2004 - Siblings Nick & Della Giammusso purchase 5762 Main Street Headquarters
VIP Seats Inc. has found a new home at 5762 Main Street Williamsville, NY. The two-story 2,500 square foot building is located on the prominent corner of Main and Evans Street in the quaint Village of Williamsville.
“The Village has a special place in our hearts, says company President Nick Giammusso. We are thrilled to have been able to move our business headquarters here. We were raised in Williamsville and as young adults have fond memories of attending High School football games at Williamsville South High School and then going over to Friendly’s for an ice cream across Main Street. We remember attending Old Homes Days and walking through Glens Falls Park at night with our high school buddies and drinking beer by the Falls. Those were happy days.”
Today, VIP Seats, Inc. is concentrating on expanding its business exponentially. The new location will finally give it a retail presence on a prominent corner with a traffic count of over 30,000 vehicles per day.
We plan on extensively renovating the building’s interior immediately and begin work to the outside of the property this coming Spring. We plan on demolishing the rear house that came with the property in the near future to expand our parking area and prepare for our future business growth.
May 2004 - Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalist
VIP Seats Inc. was awarded by Ernst & Young as an Upstate New York Finalist in their 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year ceremony which was held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Rochester.
This brother and sister team of VIP Seats decided to bring together their extensive knowledge and experience. Nick has been in the entertainment industry and Della has an extensive business background complete with her key skills of organization and efficiency. Their strategy was to deliver unprecedented customer service in the ticket industry. Nick and Della knew they could develop a niche by combining two industries a box office and a travel agency. Plans for expanding the business model that has made them so successful for the last eleven years is in the works; the future of VIP Seats is one that is promising and bright.
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 – Finalist
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic and growing businesses through regional, national, and global award programs in over 100 cities and countries.
December 2003 - VIPdesk Concierge partners with VIPseats
VIP Seats Inc. was chosen by Alexandria, Va.-based VIPdesk Inc. to provide ticketing services for its National Concierge Network. Founded by siblings Nick and Della Giammusso in 1993, VIP Seats provides hard-to-get tickets for sporting events, concerts and theatrical shows and coordinates entertainment travel packages. The similarly named companies are not affiliated.
The new relationship will help VIPdesk’s remote concierges locate event tickets worldwide for their high profile clientele which includes OnStar, JP Morgan, MasterCard, Visa, Diner’s Club, CitiBank, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Interval International, and many other Fortune 500 companies.
“We’re very excited to extend our services to such a great company like VIPdesk Concierge, says company President Nick Giammusso. The Concierge business much like our industry is growing exponentially. We have been given an opportunity and we plan to run with it. We’re looking at this as a long-term relationship and a win-win situation that will complement both organizations and its’ clients. “
With the new deal, VIP Seats, Inc. will expand its’ operating hours from 9AM until Midnight each day Monday thru Sunday.
Address: 5373 Transit Road, Suite 100, Williamsville, NY 14221.
Phone: 632-9982
Fax: 565-2087
Internet: http://www.vipseats.com
August 2003 - VIPSuperBowlTickets.com website created
Buffalo based VIP Seats, Inc. has created a new Super Bowl specific website at www.VipSuperBowlTickets.com.
“The Super Bowl is by far the biggest sporting event in North America”, says company President Nick Giammusso. We conduct 20% of our business in the two-weeks in January leading up to the big game. The Super Bowl is a huge corporate event that we feel could use its’ own online identity. Our Super Bowl website is the most informative Super Bowl resource online for those football fans who want to attend a Super Bowl and are looking to book Super Bowl tickets and reserve Hotel rooms.”
The new website will offer and market Super Bowl tickets, Super Bowl Hotels, Super Bowl Packages, Super Bowl Concierge Services and Super Bowl Celebrity Parties as well as offer Host City and Super Bowl event information.
September 2001 - VIP Entertainment purchases VIPSeats.com domain name and changes its' company name
VIP Entertainment has agreed to purchase the domain name VIPseats.com. The company’s name will change effectively immediately to VIPseats.com, Inc.
The company has unveiled a new logo, website and marketing strategy to enhance its’ online presence at www.vipseats.com. The buying and selling of event tickets online is showing exponential growth nationally and VIPseats.com is looking to capitalize on this new opportunity.
“The secondary market of event tickets is getting more sophisticated. As a company, we need to adapt to these changes or die,” says company President Nick Giammusso. “Event tickets are perfect commodities to sell online. They do not need to be touched or tried on by our customers. Event tickets are easy to ship. So with VIPseats.com, we’re investing in our future.”
The new website will offer sports, concerts and theatre tickets to virtually thousands of US & Canadian events. It has also positioned VIPseats.com as a major player in the re-selling of event tickets online.
