Microsoft must have thought it was a good idea at the time. In order to bring in lots of people to the opening of its newest Microsoft Store location in Seattle on Thursday, the company decided to give out free concert tickets for the first 1,000 people who stood outside waiting in line for the store to open. The tickets were for two big rock band shows, the Black Keys (held on Friday night) and One Republic (to be held in Seattle today).
The plan was successful, in that Microsoft certainly got a lot of folks to stand in line in front of the new Seattle store. But we suspect that most of those people in line waited to get their free concert tickets and then split immediately. Why? According to Geekwire, a bunch of those tickets started showing up on web sites like Craigslist with people asking for $40 or more for them.
While there's nothing wrong at all with Microsoft offering some kind of incentive to bring lots of people to the opening of a new Microsoft store, you do have to wonder if free concert tickets that can later be sold for a tidy profit is the right idea. We might show up for the chance to get a new PC or laptop or an Xbox 360 console. Granted, those kinds of giveaways could also be sold on eBay later but at least we might get some use out of them beforehand.
Microsoft says it plans to open another 75 locations for its Microsoft Stores over the next two to three years. So get ready; the chance for you to scalp some concert tickets might be coming your way soon.
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