Best Time to Buy Concert Tickets: Presale, Face Value, or Wait?

Check today’s get-in prices and daily price history for the events TicketScanner tracks at https://www.ticketscanner.live.

The short answer depends on demand, not the calendar

There is no single best time to buy concert tickets. The right move depends on how many tickets are left and how many people want them, and that changes show by show, even within the same tour.

Three situations cover most concerts. A high-demand tour sells out at on-sale and resale prices rarely come down. A mid-demand show sells well but leaves inventory, and resale tends to soften in the last one to two weeks. A low-demand show, or a big venue that never filled, sees its cheapest prices in the final week and on the day itself.

Situation 1: High-demand tour, buy at presale or on-sale

If the artist sold out the last tour, if the venue is small for the fan base, or if the show is a one-off (a farewell, a reunion, a hometown date), buy as early as you can: the presale if you can get a code, the first minutes of general sale if you cannot.

How presales work

Ticketmaster describes presales as windows that let specific groups buy before the general sale: artist and fan club presales, sponsor and credit card presales, and Ticketmaster’s own presale for account holders who have favorited the artist. General sale may begin after the final presale, often within a day. A code gets you into the queue but does not guarantee a ticket; Ticketmaster’s help page says outright that the tickets could already be gone.

The presale allocation is not the entire venue inventory. StubHub’s newsroom states that as few as 10% to 45% of tickets may reach the general public at first, with the rest going to presales, VIP packages and sponsors. That is why a “sold out” general sale does not mean every seat is spoken for, and why extra tickets can appear later.

Why prices rarely fall for the biggest tours

Once a hot show sells out, the only tickets left are resale, and resale sellers price to demand. Rolling Stone’s July 2026 analysis of aggregator data found that for the most in-demand events, the day-of median price was as much as 99% of the peak, and called day-of fire sales “mostly a myth” for that tier. StubHub says the same from the seller side: for extremely popular events, prices may rise if supply stays limited. Face value is often the lowest price available for these shows.

Situation 2: Mid-demand show, resale often dips one to two weeks out

Most arena and amphitheater dates land here: not a sellout, not empty, with a resale market sitting on top of the primary inventory.

The pattern in the resale data is that prices peak in the middle window and soften late. SeatData’s analysis of 307,727 sales across 2,292 concerts (February 2021 to December 2023) put the median at $139 for purchases 90 or more days out, $162 at 14 to 29 days out (the peak), $156 at seven to 13 days, $146 at three to six days and $134 at one to two days. A separate 2022 FinanceBuzz study of SeatData transactions for 14 artists found week-of-show purchases ran about 21% below average.

For this tier, the practical rule is: do not buy in the two-to-four-week window unless a specific seat matters to you. If you are flexible on section, watch the listing count and the get-in price from about 10 days out. TickPick’s guide puts it simply: prices continue to drop as long as inventory levels remain steady.

Situation 3: Low-demand show or a large venue, the last week and day-of

Some shows never sell well. In 2026 the phrase “blue dot fever” caught on, after the blue dots on Ticketmaster seat maps that mark unsold seats. Semafor, which used the term in May, reported that Meghan Trainor, Zayn, Post Malone and the Pussycat Dolls all dropped or delayed dates over weak sales. Pollstar’s 2025 year-end report showed the average ticket price for the top 100 tours fell 2.4% to $132.62 and ticket sales dipped 3.7%, a correction after years of runaway demand.

When a show is visibly soft, two things happen in the final week. Resale sellers who bought at on-sale cut prices to get out. And the venue may release production holds, seats held for the artist or production until the stage is set up; Ticketmaster’s help center says these releases happen as the event date approaches.

The data backs this up. SeatData found the day-of median was $99, the lowest of any window and 29% below the peak. FinanceBuzz’s sample showed day-of buyers paid 33% less than average, and day-before buyers 27% less. StubHub says one in three buyers now purchases within 48 hours of the event. The catch is that the cheapest seat at that point is whatever nobody wanted. If you are fine in the upper level or on the lawn, wait.

What the data says about the week of the show

Two large public datasets do not agree on everything. SeatData puts the price peak at 14 to 29 days out. SeatPick data cited by Rolling Stone shows the median price index dipping to about 0.82 around 20 days out and then climbing back toward showtime, at least for the shows that sell. Both are averages across many artists, and averages hide the split between sellouts and soft shows.

They agree on the two ends. Buying very early (90 or more days out, often at face value) is cheaper than the mid window, and the final days are cheaper still for shows with inventory. One caveat: FinanceBuzz’s smaller 2022 sample points the other way on very early buying, with three or more months out as its most expensive window. For a sellout, neither dataset shows relief at the end.

Buying window (before show)	Median resale price	Note
90+ days	$139	Cheapest early window, best seat choice
60 to 89 days	$154
30 to 59 days	$160
14 to 29 days	$162	Peak, avoid for flexible buyers
7 to 13 days	$156
3 to 6 days	$146
1 to 2 days	$134
Day of show	$99	Lowest, limited selection

Source: SeatData, 307,727 secondary-market sales across 2,292 concerts, February 2021 to December 2023. Not TicketScanner data.

Day of week matters less. SeatData found Saturday purchases about 9% cheaper than Thursday; Rolling Stone’s SeatPick data found Wednesday about 6% cheaper than Friday and Monday. Those are small edges next to the 29% to 33% gap between the peak window and the day of the show.

Dynamic pricing and Platinum tickets

Two things on the primary market complicate the “buy at face value” advice. The first is dynamic pricing during the on-sale itself. The Conversation’s write-up of the 2024 Oasis reunion on-sale described “In Demand” tickets that rose by hundreds of pounds while fans were in the queue, with the price revealed only at the front of the line. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’ March 2026 minority staff report found that VIP, Platinum and Pricemaster-adjusted tickets in North America grew from 2.8 million in 2019 to 22.8 million in 2022, that Pricemaster was enabled on 113 of Ticketmaster’s top 200 tours by September 2022, and cited a fan who selected four Journey tickets priced at $313 with fees and ended up being charged $790.

The second is Official Platinum. Ticketmaster’s help page says Platinum tickets are sold at a price set by the event organizer, are not part of a package (no perks), and can be resold subject to event terms. Ticketmaster also states it does not use algorithmic surge pricing. Whatever the label, Platinum prices reflect what the organizer thinks the seat is worth that day, and a presale-tracking site that follows Platinum listings reports they often peak in the first hours of a sale and can drop within a day or two if demand cools.

For timing: on a sellout tour, a standard face-value ticket in the presale is still the cheapest thing you will see, because everything after it is Platinum or resale. On a mid-demand show, an expensive Platinum listing on day one is not a reason to overpay; check the same section a few days later against resale.

The risk of waiting

Waiting is a bet, and the downside is not only price.

Sellouts. For the top tier, waiting does not save money and can cost you the show.

Worse seats. The cheapest listing in the final week is the get-in price for a reason. The best seats may already be gone, leaving fewer desirable options. What is left is the back of the section.

The mid-window trap. If you wait past the on-sale but buy around three weeks out, you land in the most expensive window in the SeatData sample. Half-waiting is the worst strategy.

Demand that tightens. Live Nation reported more than 143 million tickets sold through mid-July 2026, over 14 million ahead of last year’s pace. Demand is broad even in a softer year, and a show that looked soft in August can tighten once a single or a TV moment lands.

How to use a price tracker to time a purchase

The way out of guessing is to watch the get-in price, the cheapest listed ticket across marketplaces, as a daily series rather than a single snapshot.

TicketScanner records the get-in price for each event it covers every day across the major resale marketplaces. Its coverage today is U.S. sports (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, MLS) and live events; it does not yet have a concert dataset, so the concert numbers in this article come from the outside sources listed at the end.

The sports pattern shows how a price series behaves when inventory is plentiful. In MLB, according to TicketScanner’s daily price tracking of 456 completed games from May 22 to Aug. 25, 2026, the median get-in price fell about 17% from the 31-to-60-day window ($29) to the final two weeks ($24) and then stayed flat through game day. That is the shape of a well-supplied market: a decline into the last two weeks, then a floor. See /blog/best-time-to-buy-mlb-tickets for that curve and /blog/best-time-to-buy-nhl-tickets for a season that has not started yet.

To apply it to a concert:

Decide which situation the show is in. If the primary site still has standard-price seats and resale listings are plentiful, it is situation 2 or 3.
Set a target price, not a target date. Note the current get-in price and where it sits against the past week.
Watch the direction, not the level. If listings grow and the get-in price falls three days in a row, you can wait. If listings shrink and the price holds, buy.
Set a deadline: about 10 days out for a mid-demand show, 48 hours out for a soft one. Past that, seat choice disappears faster than price.
Compare marketplaces at checkout. The same section is often listed on several sites at different totals once fees are added.

FAQ

When do concert tickets get cheaper?

For shows with unsold inventory, resale prices tend to peak two to four weeks before the show and then fall through the final week, with the lowest median on the day of the show ($99 versus a $162 peak in SeatData’s sample). For sellout tours, they generally do not get cheaper at all.

When is the cheapest time to buy concert tickets?

On average across many shows, either very early (90 or more days out, often at face value during presale or on-sale) or the day of the show. The middle window is the most expensive. Which end is cheaper for a specific concert depends on whether it sells out.

Do concert tickets get cheaper closer to the event?

Usually yes for mid- and low-demand shows, because resale sellers cut prices to avoid holding unsold tickets and venues release production holds late. Usually no for high-demand shows, where Rolling Stone’s data shows day-of prices at as much as 99% of the peak.

How far in advance should I buy concert tickets?

If the show is likely to sell out, buy during the presale or on the first day of general sale, which is typically a day after the last presale ends. If it is not, you can wait until about 10 days out for a mid-demand show and until the final 48 hours for a soft one, as long as you are flexible on seat location.

Are Platinum tickets worth waiting on?

Platinum tickets are primary-market tickets priced by the event organizer to current demand, with no added perks. They can fall after the initial on-sale period if demand cools. For a mid-demand show, compare a Platinum listing against resale for the same section a few days later before paying the day-one price.