Stones Fans Turn to Bidding on EBay for Early Tickets

Can’t get Rolling Stones tickets this week via the online getAccess program set up to give fans a shot at seats before they go on sale to the public? Try the auction Web site EBay, which, by Friday, contained nearly 150 offers of Stones tickets for various venues around the country.

Initially, the only tickets that turned up on EBay for one of the coveted small-venue shows were for the Nov. 4 concert at the 2,200-seat Wiltern Theatre--the face value of which are $50 apiece. More than two dozen bids on the Wiltern tickets were made in less than 24 hours, and bidding had topped $2,000 for the pair by Friday morning.

The first tickets went up for auction Wednesday morning, before they officially became available through the getAccess program established by tour promoter Clear Channel Entertainment and Sam Goody music stores. Fans who paid a $60 annual fee to join the early-ticket program were told they could buy a pair of tickets to one date on the Stones’ 32-city U.S. tour.

Though the flood of orders on Wednesday caused the site to crash, a Clear Channel official said Friday that the system was up and running again.