Ok, so you werent fast enough this time? First things first, dont panic.

There are several curiosities about the online ticket touting business that you probably dont know about:

1. Extra Dates

When the tickets sell out it doesnt always mean that they are actually all gone. A lot of the agencies now dont sell all their tickets all at once or the artists add extra dates within a day or two - all just to try and stop the touts. Dont feel like you have to rush in to buying from eBay straight away.

Can you imagine how annoying it is for a tout when he thinks a gig is sold out only to find out another date has been added and the number of those priceless, in demand tickets he was going to make a killing on have doubled?

Some tips:

- Try checking back in the afternoon after the tickets went on sale. If not, try again the next day.

- Look at the band's website and especially the forum to see if there is any talk of extra dates.

- This is more likely to happy with large middle sized, london venues like Brixton Academy or Alexandra Palace.

- Look at the tour dates - is there a gap that might be filled by another date at the same venue? If the band is playing at another venue the previous night and the following night, it is pretty unlikely they will be able to fit in another date.

2. More Tickets

Also you will be surprised but a number of extra tickets will suddenly be made available by the agencies much closer to the event.

If you can wait that long (and were planning on giving little Suzie the tickets for her birthday), sign up to the agencies mailing lists and wait for news. (Be aware that even if you are buying tickets for little Suzie from eBay or an agency, neither is likely to send you the tickets until much nearer to the event anyway.)

You can also try searching the agencies websites on a daily basis just to see if anything has come up. You will be amazed at how often extra tickets just magically appear without any form of email notice being sent out and you might just get lucky.

I will also be posting on this site with up to date news on releases whenever I can so check the [ENTER LINK TO LATEST NEWS] and the forums to see if anyone else has tips, on a regular basis. Who knows in the future I may be able to work out how to do some automatic email notification thing for you?

3. Arrrghhh No! I cant stand the wait!

Okay, so you have tried all of the above tips and you still havent got anywhere. Now you know that you are entering the reseller market you have two choices… eBay or one of the other internet reseller agencies.

Our Where to Buy page has some other ticket exchanges you can try if eBay doesnt suit you.

But read out safe buying guides first...