The State of Florida recently "okayed" ticket scalping. We haven't.

In our view, scalping exploits you, the artist and the venue - it limits access by setting a price far above what we and the artist agree upon. Ruth Eckerd Hall's mission is to make these artists available to you at the lowest possible ticket price. To do that, we rely on donations to offset our presenting costs so we can breakeven at the end of the year. The mission of the scalper is in direct conflict - scalpers monopolize tickets to inflate prices and turn a personal profit off something they do not own. They call it "the free market at work"; we call it unethical and until recently most states called it illegal.

A ticket is not merchandise. Its a revocable license to enter our concert hall, subject to termination with denial of admission at management discretion. Our policy is that if you resell Ruth Eckerd Hall tickets for an inflated price, we revoke that license without compensation. The tickets become null and void. If you are a Ruth Eckerd Hall member reselling tickets, your membership fees are forfeited, your privileges revoked and your tickets voided - again, without compensation.

When you purchase from an unauthorized source (resale auctions, resale web sites, classified ads, etc.), you assume a risk - that ticket could be voided, reported lost or counterfeit. No matter what "guarantees" the seller claims to offer, do you want to show up for a special evening out and be turned away? Return home to try to trace your unknown supplier in the hope of getting your money back? We don't want that to happen to our patrons.

Nothing frustrates us more than to see a concert goer pay a scalper $1,000 to see an artist on the Ruth Eckerd Hall stage for one night, when a donation to support the arts in our community gives you membership privileges for a full year and guarantees that your ticket will be legitimate when you arrive.

The decision is up to you. We hope you say "No" to those who drive prices up, deny access at a fair price and profit off the hard work of the artists you come to see on our stage.

Afterall, it's your stage too.