Keeping Profits from Selling Concert Tickets: AITA?

AITA for keeping profit from selling concert tickets? Friends bailed last minute, now calling me a bad friend for not sharing the extra money from reselling.

Damjan

Published in Interesting
23 Dec 2025

Keeping Profits from Selling Concert Tickets: AITA?

In a world where the concert scene is booming, and ticket sales often spark heated discussions, one Reddit user found themselves in a sticky situation involving friends and profit-sharing. The original poster, who secured highly sought-after concert tickets through a presale, initially planned for a fun outing with three friends.

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However, as the concert date approached, two of those friends had a change of heart and opted out just 10 days before the show. This left the poster in a position where they had already paid for the tickets and were now faced with the dilemma of what to do with them.

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After successfully selling the tickets at a profit, the poster returned the original purchase amounts to the friends who had contributed. However, tensions escalated when those friends demanded a share of the profits, leading to accusations of theft and a dramatic fallout.

As the discussion unfolds, users in the comments section weigh in on the complexities of friendship, responsibility, and the ethics of ticket reselling. Are the friends justified in their expectations, or did the poster act within their rights?

This thread raises essential questions about accountability, communication, and the often murky waters of financial transactions between friends. What do you think?

Join the conversation and share your thoughts!

Original Post

My friends (3) and I decided to go to a concert together that had presale for the following year. Y’all know Ticketmaster- I got a presale code, waited in queue, raced for my life, put my credit card down, and got us tickets.

At this time, 2 of them sent me the money for their portion. A month before the concert, I asked them if they’d still like to go, or if I should sell the tickets.

At this time, this artist was getting a lot of traction for their first album, selling out venues, so it wouldn’t be a problem to sell them. They say they’re all super excited to go and they can’t wait.

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I get pumped up to go. Flash forward 10 days before the concert, they say that they changed their mind and don’t want to go, say that if I still want to, I can still go with someone else with one of the tickets (from the friend that hadn’t given me money?) and ask me to sell their tickets (2 of them that had given me money).

I’m able to sell the tickets pretty easily, for more than what I originally paid for them on Ticketmaster (an extra $150 per ticket). I ask some of my other friends for advice- should I send them all the money or should I keep the profit?

I got a resounding “yes, it’s your money, you did all the work” answer from everyone I spoke to, so I felt good about keeping the profit. So, after the concert, I sent back the amount of money they paid me for their tickets.

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They then text me asking for “the rest of the money”, insinuating that the profit was theirs. I explained, I bought the tickets, put down my card, and they flaked on me (potentially screwing me from seeing the concert), so I thought I would keep the profit.

Suddenly, they’re calling me a bad friend, telling people I stole from them, and saying they never want to speak to me again. Am I the a*****e?

EDIT- to save friendship, I split the profit 3 ways with them and apologized for the miscommunication, but they are still telling people this story and that I’m a bad friend.