Thanks for posting, Chris. I didn't get good info when I went in the first time around a few days ago, but I'll check it out again soon. I can't even express how important it is for some kind of agent from the company to come make comments like this when their site gets referenced. I would likely have never visited the site again were it not for that.

Iron

thanks, you've been helpful, chris

atomicrabbit

@atomicrabbit: Yep, we're investigating a handful of errors right now - we'll be updating over the course of the week to get those patched up. We do support a handful of Canadian theaters and pro sports arenas right now (GM Place, for example) and we'll be working to expand those right alongside our US database.

Chris

chris-seatquest

also, does SeatQuest support Canadian venues or just American now?

atomicrabbit

I tried several searches and all came up with a "Server Error". I guess they have a lot of bugs to work out.

atomicrabbit

@surftrip: Chris from SeatQuest here - thanks for your comments. As you've seen, we're literally just coming out of stealth mode and we're experiencing a handful of growing pains as we start to ramp up on traffic - please bear with us as we get our ducks in a row ;-)

As for RazorGator, StubHub, and the others, we've had these guys in our crosshairs from day one and our technology beats them on several fronts. First of all, we offer seat-level granularity -- something no one else does. These guys offer section-level granularity at best, and with sections being as large as they are, there's a huge difference between sitting in the front left and the back right of a section, for example.

Secondly, our venue and event coverage exceeds every other player out there, and we're growing our coverage much, much faster than everyone else. Your likelihood of finding an interactive map for a small venue or for a newly announced event will always be greater in our system than it will be elsewhere.

Finally, as therevan mentioned, we're an aggregator. That alone gives us, and our users, a huge advantage. We're not listing tickets from a single source -- we're listing tickets from wherever we can. Our technology allows us to hook up to new sources relatively easily, and you'll see our partnerships (and therefore, our ticket selection) expand over time.

Again, thanks for checking us out, and we hope you stick with us as we get bigger, better, and ready for a full-scale launch. We're trying to fundamentally change the way people research and shop for tickets, and we think we're on the right track.

Cheers,
Chris

chris-seatquest

@surftrip: Good points on those secondary market sites, but I think SeatQuest's goal is to become an aggregator for both direct purchase and the secondary market (eBay and sites like the ones you mention). Perhaps a how-to ticket-buying feature is called for?

Therevan

Sorry, but you are waaaay behind on this one. First of all, the site you mention, is rocking ASPX errors, but even if it was working, it's missed the boat.

The major, secondary market ticketing web sites have already developed flash-based, LIVE venue maps that not only allow you to pick your seat with an interactive map, but also allow for price and quantity sorting and filtering.

Check out:

RazorGator.com
StubHub.com
TicketsNow.com

surftrip

Almost everyday I look into something awesome like this only to get shut down trying to use Safari.

dorylomorphs

Chris,

I was wondering if you are aware of the issue of it not pulling anything up. Perhaps it's just me, but I tried to search for numerous things - from "Trans Siberian Orchestra" to "New York," looking for any general listing that may return a result.

Instead, I am simply provided with search tips. Any comments or help you can provide on the issue?

Michael
Using the latest Firefox on a MacBook Pro (OS X Leopard).

MichaelSchade

@chris-seatquest: Nice try trying to avoid the very first point brought up on this discussion thread about Safari.

I assume the answer would be to go and use Firefox than get Safari support working.

crazylady

@chris-seatquest: Awesome, thanks so much for the rapid response. And yes, it is well worth it to know that you log it for later improvement.

A definite bookmark and later visit for me!

MichaelSchade

@MichaelSchade: If we don't currently have an interactive map available for a particular venue (or for a specific venue layout that's customized for a performer), we instead take you to a list of available tickets with a static map alongside. It's our stopgap measure to allow folks to continue shopping for events that we haven't had a chance to digitize just yet. For what it's worth, we log whenever this happens so we have the capability to prioritize our interactive map "hit list" in order of user demand.

Once again, thanks to everyone for the comments!

Chris

chris-seatquest

Alright, now not to be an annoying commenter or anything and spam the LH post, but at [beta.seatquest.com] it does not display an interactive map. Any reasons or am I just doing something wrong?

MichaelSchade

Nevermind, now it works. Neat service!

MichaelSchade

@crazylady: Yeah, unfortunately, there are specific technical reasons we're not supporting Safari out of the gate. We made the call largely because Mac users have viable alternatives in Firefox, Camino, and Opera, all of which we support. We're looking to add Safari compatibility down the road, though.

Chris

chris-seatquest

For a Carolina home game? What a waste of technology. If you want a good ticket for the Hurricanes, just show up t the box office at game time. That moron owner can't even sell out home games to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

imajoebob

Hey Chris,

First off, the concept is amazing. Two quick points, Location and Date. For example, I live in NY, and I don't know the name of every venue in the tri-state area. There seem to be fifty different places named the Pepsi Area. I would ask you to put the city on the search result page. Also, off hand I don't know which days are weekends, and if there was either a calendar on the side or just the day of the week, that would be a wonderful addition.

Keep up the good fight...

shmully

@shmully: Thanks, we were actually just chatting up both of these features internally yesterday, and they're pretty high on our list. Stay tuned!

Chris

chris-seatquest