We are approaching that time of year when the mail box will be full of announcements from the sons and daughters of friends, relatives and acquaintances announcing the upcoming graduation of a young adult from high school or college.

Obviously a little green is always a welcome gift, as no fledgling adult is ever fully prepared for how expensive life really is. But there is a downside to giving money – because money doesn’t build any memories. That check you give today may help buy some towels for the new place, but that gesture is going to be forgotten. No one remembers a check – unless it has an unforgettable number of zeros on it.

 But there are ways to give lasting memories that don’t cost a fortune. One way is to give a ticket to a special event such as a concert as a graduation gift. Many people in their 40s and 50s struggle to name just a few of the teachers they had in high-school. But these same people can narrate almost every detail of the road trips to concerts they attended in their youth. Today’s graduates won’t be any different. But in these tough economic times, can you afford quality tickets for first-rate events, whether they are concerts, theater performances, or sports games. 

You can, but you have to understand how the secondary ticket market works to get the best deals. The secondary market in tickets for events is a pretty simple concept. Someone gets ticket for an event, but then decides not to go it for whatever reason. To sell the tickets, the owner places the tickets up for sale with one of a few national ticket brokers. Sometimes the owner marks the ticket up trying to make some money. On really hot events, those mark ups can start out pretty steep. But as the event date draws closer, the owner is likely to discount the tickets – sometimes to way less than their original face value. The day after an event – the tickets are worthless. That is a big incentive to sell, and prices can drop rapidly.

Since there are several major ticket brokers, it is very important to use a website that will show you all of the tickets from all the major resellers at once. This gives you the opportunity to comparison shop between the resellers and buy the best tickets at the lowest prices around. SeeMySeat.com is one of the best new sites around in terms of ease of use and ticket selection. The site shows the inventory for each event from TicketsNow, StubHub and TicketView all at once - putting you in control with all the information at your fingertips. Those three major resellers blanket almost the entire secondary market. Often you may not see promising tickets the first time you check an event. If so, just check back as new tickets are coming on the market all the time. Tickets are also leaving the market all the time as people snatch up deals. If you take the time to hunt around a bunch of sites individually, then you can easily miss the best deals. If you see a deal on the event your graduate would just love to attend, then grab it immediately before it goes away. That is the advantage of one-stop shopping on SeeMySeat.com – see the deals and get the best ones as they come available!

So how much will tickets to an event cost? Depends on the event, but one young man we know just got Kenny Chesney tickets to the show in Jacksonville on August 7th. His parents picked up the lucky grad excellent seats on the floor, directly in front of the stage for $155.00. This will be a night he will never forget, as he will be right in the heart of the concert. Too expensive? Good seats at this concert start at $50.00, with great seats available for about $100.00. Is your grad into an artist that is not as well known? Then you are in luck, because awesome seats at concerts for a lot of Indie artists can be had for prices in the 20’s.

Does you grad like sports? Baseball tickets behind home plate can often be had for under $50.00, even at major parks like Turner Field – the home of the Atlanta Braves. Theater? Excellent tickets to Broadway shows like Wicked can run less than $100.00 in many venues.

Most grads are going to have something they are passionate about. If you give them the chance to experience that passion live – they will never forget it. Money is always in style, but visit SeeMySeat.com to find a graduation gift that brings memories that last a lifetime!

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 [Great Gifts for the High School or College Graduate]

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