Ticket etiquette??

For what it’s worth, if I were you, I’d have asked if anyone wanted to go with me (for free) and if I were one of your friends who did really want to go I’d have insisted on paying.

You offered, no one accepted, fair enough

Nothing really to see here.

All depends on the attraction of the event, is it sold out, or is it niche? Can you sell it privately or would you prefer not to go alone? both would infer different approaches

If I wanted to go to an event that cost £60, I would have paid full price for it. If I didn’t, then it’s not worth £50 to me either. I won’t have laughed to your face but I would have rolled my eyes as I don’t know why I would want to spend 50, my time, maybe some transport fare at a short notice as a friend’s last resort. It’s not even a personal sort of invite and I could also catch Covid, no thanks

Yeah, that’s what I’d be thinking. Although I’d also expect a bigger discount on a last minute event too. Have you checked resale prices online, OP? If it isn’t sold out, there are probably big discounts now.

Unless the tickets are sold out high demand tickets that your friends were trying to get themselves anyway (think recent Oasis debacle for example) then you would just give it to them for free for the advantage of having company.

My friend bought arena concert tickets for her and her bf which were £60 each but they broke up by the time it came around. I have no interest in said band and definitely wouldn’t pay £60 to see them off my own back but she didn’t want to go alone so she gave me the ticket and we went.

If it was something I'd pay £50 to go to then I'd already have my own ticket

It's just not likely that someone wants to lash out that amount of money to to go something of your choosing to keep you company and you thinking they would is honestly a bit laughable.

For free or half price or less it's much more likely. £50 is in the significant outlay box for me and I'd think most people not an amount I'd casually drop to help a friend.

I’d have offered it for free tbh. At short notice they’re doing you a favour and £10 off a £60 ticket is hardly incentive.

You have already spent the money on the ticket so it won't matter if your husband or a friend uses the ticket. I would have offered and let them have it for free if they wanted to go with you.

You can't make someone pay the price you want to go with you, so your options are:

• don't sell the other ticket and go alone
• don't sell the other ticket so don't go because you don't want to go alone
• sell the other ticket at less and go with someone

You have an item you offered to sell it, you do not ever have to offer it free.

There is no etiquette, you can try and sell anything you want thats yours... some people sell used knickers and bath water lol.

For what its worth when I was younger it was common that someone would drop out and someone else would be offered as next in line and yes we ALWAYS paid... why on earth wouldn't you.

The option is to pay for it or to turn it down... there no option to demand it for free.

Me too. Chances are no one is available at short notice anyway.

I have a friend who has done this a few times and offered the tickets at the price paid when there are loads massively discounted on Twickets.

Well, your husband didn't need to take a Covid test.
He could have gone with you.
You could have gone on your own.
So, if I were that desperate for company, I'd have offered the ticket for free (given that the money was already spent), and maybe asked my companion to buy me a 🍷at the event.

Tbh unless it's a ticket for Taylor Swift etc I'd offer it half price or free to a friend. £10 off it's not worth it.

Of course you give it away. Otherwise it would just sit there empty.

You can try and sell to a stranger, but if inviting a friend to keep you company, then it's ridiculous to ask them to pay. A tenner off is just embarrassing tbh.

You offer the ticket free to a friend!

I agree though £10 off 60 is still a bit steep unless it's a super sought after event that sold out. Half price would give you more of a chance for someone taking you up on oyur offer.

Id have totally paid to go to see something I wanted instead of expecting someone to take me out.

£10 off ? I would have just treated a friend to it. Odd behaviour.

The problem is your two wants are not necessarily aligned you don’t want to go on your own but you also don’t want to lose money.

so going on your own will definitely lose money (the ticket) someone won’t get to use it and you won’t enjoy it so much - all negatives

not going means you lose all the money and 2 tickets go spare

offering it out as a free ticket means you don’t lose any other money (either way he can’t go) you enjoy it and the ticket gets used

I don't think there's an agreed etiquette and you've done nothing wrong by asking for money. But I think it would work better to offer the ticket to your friends without mentioning payment, and see if they offer. If not, ask yourself how you feel about just letting it go and enjoying their company. They might buy you a drink instead of paying.

i would have offered to a friend for free if attending with me but if I was selling on a public site such as fb i would have offered both with a discount.

Yep exactly this. The person taking the ticket is doing you a favour really, so I wouldn’t expect them to pay. They might buy a drink or something to say thank you.

In my circle of friends, the etiquette in a situation like this is for the ticket to be offered for free, the taker to offer to pay for it, the giver to say no, and then the taker to buy the drinks/pay the parking or whatever other incidental expenses there might be.

I have been in your situation and offered the ticket for free. My friend offered to pay for it as it was actually somewhere she wanted to go. If she had taken it just because it was free she would probably have bought me a couple of drinks on the coach (it had a bar on board).

I don't think you were rude to make the offer you did, everything has a price and that was yours, the problem is that you might not find someone who is willing to pay £50 at such short notice. The friend was rude in making the comment.