King Benjamin's Virgin Burner Blog: Ticketing! How & When To Buy Burning Man Tickets!
(My tickets from my last 4 years)
Alright gang, it's time for us to get down to a little business! We are getting close to the ticket purchasing period, so I want to break down how the whole shabang works!
Tickets for Burning Man are sold in periodic increments. The first two increments, the "pre-sale" and the "directed group sales" have passed, so I'm leaving them out of this (next year I'll add a write-up for these sales.)
I'll instead focus on what is called the--
***MAIN SALE***
This period is when the most number of tickets are made available (30,000) for $425/ticket, $80/vehicle pass, $12 shipping (US) and $12 ticketing fee per ticket/vehicle pass.
PRE-REGISTRATION
***SUPER IMPORTANT***
In order to get these tickets, you must pre-register/create a Burner Profile (online profile for Burning Man), between March 22-24th. You can pre-register here.
Create a profile by pressing "sign up" in the upper right hand corner.
Fill in the information. Verify your email. Confirm your account. (Standard new account setup protocol.)
Once you've created the profile, after 12PM during the pre-registration period, you will be able to login in order to pre-register.
Once you are pre-registered, you will receive an email with a ticketing link and registration code for the day of the sales.
DAY OF MAIN SALE!:
WRITE THIS DOWN!!!
>>>The Main Sale starts at 12pm (noon) PST, Wednesday, March 29, 2017.<<<
On that day, my strategy goes like this:
1) At 11:30AM, I log online with a great connection and open as many browsers as I can at the same time (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc) with the ticketing link pre-loaded.
2) At exactly 12PM, I enter the code into all of the links at the same time. I will be entered into the ticketing queue for each browser. A flashing wheel will appear.
3) Ideally, one of my browsers will pop up with the ticketing system (it's first come first serve.) I fill out the information and buy my tickets and vehicle passes.
A couple of notes:
BUYING BUDDY: It helps to have a buddy to buy with. As the total number of tickets one person can buy is two, if you make an agreement with someone else that no matter what happens you'll buy your tickets for each other and pay each other back, you'll be much more likely to get a ticket.
VEHICLE PASSES: Every vehicle that comes in to BM has to have a vehicle pass. There's a limited number of passes given out to keep traffic down, so buy one no matter what. Someone will need it and buy it off you.
IF YOU DON'T GET TICKETS: Don't worry, not only is there another sale, but up until the week of BM, people sell tickets on Craigslist continually. If you want a ticket bad enough, you can get it.
SHIPPING VS. WILL CALL PICKUP: NEVER choose to get your tickets at Will Call. Seriously. It's a huge drag to wait in line to get there, and then wait in line again at Will Call. Have your tickets shipped.
SALES WINDOW: The ticketing queue can take a couple of hours to get through. If you don't have time from 11:30AM-2PM that day, I would ask someone to buy the tickets for you using your information.
WHAT IF I DON'T GET TICKETS?!?!?
If you don't get your tickets during the Main Sale, don't panic! There's also:
LOW INCOME TICKETING PROGRAM: This is a scholarship program that cuts the ticket price to $190 for those who demonstrate need and a true desire to attend the festival. Click here for more info.
OMG SALE: There is one last sale that happens later in the Summer at 12PM, PDT, Wednesday, Aug. 2nd, 2017. This is an option, but not an easy one, because a very small number of tickets are made available. I would suggest buying in the Main Sale. (You must also pre-register for this sale.)
SECURE TICKET EXCHANGE PROGRAM (STEP):
According the Burning Man website: "The Secure Ticket Exchange Program (STEP) is an online system that facilitates the safe resale of face-value tickets that have been purchased directly from Burning Man. It’s designed to provide a hassle-free, secure way of buying and selling tickets while avoiding scammers, counterfeits and scalpers."
So if you don't get tickets in the Main Sale, you have a lot of options to get tickets between the Main Sale and the Burn. Rest assured that a huge number of tickets change hands during that period. In my experience, if you want tickets and you put it out there, they will most likely find you.
If you want to read a more detailed description of the ticketing process, here's the link: http://tickets.burningman.org/
I hope you found this helpful and wish you luck in buying tickets in the Main Sale! Feel free to send me any questions to bencaroncreates@gmail.com and be sure to follow this Blog if you want more information on how to successfully strategize for your first Burn!
Much love,
King Benjamin
