Scalpers are commonly known as intermediaries who monopolize and sell limited participation rights and goods outside of legal sales channels for profit. The word scalper comes from Shanghai, China, in the last century. It refers to the commotion of ticket sellers who often join together to buy tickets, like a herd of scalpers, so they are called scalpers or scalpers. Because scalping and anonymous profit-making activities seriously affect legitimate sales channels, it is illegal in many places.

Now it extends to all special methods that can be obtained (or typical queuing, or hoarding limited edition goods, or relying on special social status or interest relationships like "judicial scalpers") to achieve large-scale monopoly profits Goods (not necessarily tickets, but also passport waiting numbers, forms, or collectible items such as signed jerseys, limited-edition souvenirs, etc.) or services, and people in society with eager needs may be willing to pay high prices Acceptance will lead to the emergence of scalpers; even if it is not sold for profit, it also reflects the fairness of the channels for commodity circulation and its business model to a certain extent.

In terms of microeconomics, the behavior of scalpers attempts to create a monopoly on the supply of high-demand tickets due to limited restrictions, allowing scalpers to manipulate resale ticket prices to earn huge profits; on the other hand, , it becomes more difficult to buy tickets (for example, Hong Kong Disneyland requires pre-booking tickets) or there is already an imbalance between supply and demand, which also makes over-the-counter scalper tickets more affordable. Therefore, in addition to administrative measures, when changes in external conditions reduce demand or increase supply, scalpers will not be able to maintain costs even if they monopolize more, let alone make profits.

Scalpers may not necessarily sell tickets at a higher price than the original ticket type. For example, free coupons for the opening ceremony of the 2006 World Cup could be sold at ordinary prices to make a profit. And the places where scalpers appear does not necessarily reflect the actual shortage of supply. In the 1980s, the shortage of air tickets in mainland China was caused by the hoarding of ticket sellers. The use of high prices to make profits is a type of scalpers.

History

The Scalper Party was a group of "judicial scalpers" that emerged in Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China (lawyers whose profession had been abolished continued to operate underground by relying on their previous connections with the courts and officialdom). Competing with the lawyers who were legalized by the Nationalist government for business, because judicial justice is seriously distorted by money, and there is a legacy of "if you have money, you will die, if you have money, you will die." Similar organizations are naturally labeled as scalpers. .

From the perspective of social class, most scalpers are unemployed or from the lower classes of society. They squeeze out and differentiate into a viable intermediary space without legal supervision in the formal trading supply and demand relationship, using the tactics of "sea of ??people". Queuing up to grab space for participation rights, and then selling participation rights (i.e. train tickets, movie tickets, etc.) to prospective participants through legal sales channels, has no inherent productivity and is one of the underground economic links. In many cases, scalpers would collude with the local underworld to protect and stabilize their sales channels. However, the scalpers in Shanghai at that time did alleviate the high unemployment rate at that time.