Tools & automation · Ticket resale glossary
Ticket Bot
Also known as: Ticket scalping bot, Bots, BOTS Act
A ticket bot is software that automates buying tickets — joining queues, filling carts and checking out faster than a person can — often to get around a site's purchase limit and security measures.
Using bots to circumvent ticketing security or purchase limits is illegal in several markets: in the US under the 2016 BOTS Act (Better Online Ticket Sales Act), in the UK under the Digital Economy Act 2017, and under similar laws elsewhere. Ticketing sites also ban it in their terms and cancel orders they detect.
A bot is not the same as a ticket monitor. A monitor only watches and alerts; the purchase is made by a person through the normal checkout and virtual queue.
What ticket bots do
A ticket bot replaces a person at every step where speed or volume decides who gets tickets:
- Account creation: generating many accounts so one operator can buy far more than the purchase limit.
- Queue entry: joining the virtual queue with hundreds of sessions to improve the chance of an early place.
- Checkout: selecting seats, filling in details and paying in a fraction of a second.
- Security bypass: getting round CAPTCHAs and other checks designed to identify automated traffic.
- Basket holding: reserving tickets to take them out of circulation while the operator decides what to buy.
Ticket bot laws: the BOTS Act and the Digital Economy Act
In the US, the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016 makes it unlawful to circumvent security measures, access controls or purchase limits on ticketing sites, and to sell tickets obtained that way. The Federal Trade Commission enforces it, and several states have their own anti-bot laws on top.
In the UK, the Digital Economy Act 2017 made it a criminal offence to use software to buy more tickets than an event's purchase limit allows. Other countries have similar rules, and ticketing sites' terms ban bots everywhere.
How ticketing sites fight bots
Primary sellers use several defences at once. Queues randomise arrival order and screen traffic before anyone reaches the seat map. Verified Fan and similar registration schemes decide in advance who can buy. Purchase limits apply per account, card and address.
After the sale, orders identified as bot purchases are cancelled and the seats released, which is one reason tickets restock after big on-sales. Mobile tickets with rotating barcodes and named tickets make bot-bought tickets harder to resell.
Ticket bot vs ticket monitor
The two are often confused, but they do different things. A bot buys tickets automatically. A ticket monitor only watches ticketing sites and sends an alert — for example to Discord through a Discord webhook — and a person then buys through the normal queue and checkout, within the normal limits.
That is the legal line in most markets: reading public availability and being told about it is fine; automating the purchase to get around the site's protections is not.
Example: how bots distort an on-sale
Imagine a 10,000-seat on-sale with a limit of four tickets per customer. If a bot operator runs 300 accounts and half of them get through, the operator can buy up to 600 tickets — 6% of the house — before most fans reach the front of the queue. Those tickets then appear on the secondary ticket market at a mark-up.
Even when the site later cancels many of those orders, the damage to the on-sale has been done: fans saw the event sell out and turned to resale.
Catch it with Eventory
Eventory is an alerting and analytics tool, not a buying bot: it tells you when and where tickets are available, and you buy them yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Are ticket bots illegal?
Using bots to get around ticketing security or purchase limits is illegal in the US under the BOTS Act of 2016 and in the UK under the Digital Economy Act 2017, and several other countries have similar laws. Every major ticketing site bans them in its terms.
What is the BOTS Act?
The Better Online Ticket Sales Act is a 2016 US federal law that bans circumventing ticketing sites' security measures, access controls and purchase limits, and selling tickets obtained that way. It is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
Is a ticket monitor the same as a ticket bot?
No. A ticket monitor only checks availability and sends alerts; you buy the tickets yourself through the normal checkout. Eventory is an alerting and analytics tool, not a buying bot.
How do ticketing sites detect bots?
They analyse traffic patterns, device fingerprints and behaviour in the queue and checkout, use CAPTCHAs and registration schemes, and cross-check orders by name, card and address. Orders flagged after the sale are often cancelled and the tickets returned to sale.