With three days to go before the tumultuous UAAP title series unfolds between Ateneo and La Salle, the anticipation continues to heat up between the schools and their respective alumni. So much so that desperation is now the mood of some alumni who seek friends, sponsors or basically anybody who could help them get a seat in one of the most talked about best-of-three title series in a quite some time.

A few enterprising ones who were blessed with more tickets than they need have gone online, offering their spare tickets on eBay Philippines.

One such vendor is offering his Upper Box A seat for a minimum of P6,000, a seat that has a face value of P250. There is even one vendor selling a package of tickets for Game 1 and 2, even though Game 2 tickets have yet to be released. Selling of tickets on eBay online is legal and an accepted practice in the US where eBay made its name.

As for eBay Philippines, they specified this: "eBay permits resale of tickets to entertainment events (including sporting events, concerts, and plays) to the fullest extent permitted by law."

But that’s only a handful of tickets so far online, and so far only 1 bidder for an Upper Box B ticket selling at a minimum P1,500. The real action happens with the real life scalpers. And the bulk of the scalpering activity does not happen right outside the venue on game day as most people think.

The movements of scalpers have apparently become more tech savvy and "buyer friendly".

According to a few "regular buyers" ABS-CBN News spoke to, their SOP is to reserve their tickets via SMS around a week before the game. The "exchange" is done in a neutral public venue at least a day or two before the game, and at the latest, hours before the game but quite a distance from the venue.

Hedging ticket supply

In the last Ateneo-La Salle game in the 2nd round of the eliminations, some regulars buyers already began to notice a peculiar change in the system with their "suki" scalpers.

When normally they are able to get their tickets 4 or 5 days before the game, several scalpers claimed that they can only "release" the tickets on Friday.

When buyers compared their frustration to others who have other "suki" scalpers , they were told the same thing. This prompted some conspiracy theorists to suspect these scalpers they are dealing with apperently are not just the small time guy who pleads for extra tickets, buys them cheap and sells them higher than face value at the venue. Some even concluded that the scalpers had worked together to hold back the release and let the law of supply and demand take its course, making the ticket prices shoot up a day or two before the game.

In this case for the Finals, the same alumni are saying the same thing: the tickets are held back until Friday, with the going rate they hear now for a Patron seat is P5,000. They won’t be surprised if this price shoots up to P7,000 on Friday or Saturday with more and more people getting desperate.

The legal way

Ticketnet says after they take and sell their small share of 10 percent of the tickets (which mostly are general admission and upper box B), the bulk is given to the tournament host, UP. From there, UP takes its small share and give the other schools their small share too, before giving an equal half to the two finalists. From there, it is the respective schools who have their method of selling and giving their complimentary seats away.

In Ateneo, students still had to line up to get their share of tickets. Only two per student was allowed. For the alumni and school administrators, Ateneo released tickets Thursday at 2 p.m. But that was not without confusion and commotion. Die-hards lined up and camped out as early as late Wednesday night outside the gates of the Loyola compound, only to get frustrated by a sudden change in standard operating procedure by asking them fill up a list to prove who really came in line first.

For DLSU, the students don’t have to fight in line anymore when tickets are released, they just have to be quick on the trigger on the mouse and keyboard.

A current student needs to log on to the school Web site and reserve his ticket online, print out his reservation and pay for at the accounting office then claiming the actual ticket there, too.

Gone are the days of long lines in campus when students used to even start queuing at 5 a.m. According to Bro. Bernie Oca, the high tech way has saved the students headaches and sleep.

The first batch released at 8 a.m. last Monday was all snapped up online in an hour even though if they were only General Admission and Upper Box A. The rest of the tickets are reserved for alumni, benefactors, and loyal supporters of DLSU. They have a black and white priority system that determines who gets what first and it apparently saves them some "ticket headache".