track availability of tickets for events from ticketmaster.co.uk

How it works

1. open new tab for ticketmaster.co.uk in running Mozilla Firefox instance
2. retrieve ticketmaster.co.uk cookies from running instance
3. call Ticketmaster API
4. write response to /logs/tracking_history.csv, /logs/tracking_history.jsonl and /logs/data.db
5. if ticket is available, response with ticket details will be written to /logs/picks.json
6. if ticket under price limit from config.json is available, alert sound rings and new tab to event pops up
7. when cookies expire after about 15 Minutes, start from beginning

Requirements

• Running Mozilla Firefox Instance
• Python 3
• Tab Wrangler Addon (optional)

Get Started

1. install requirements pip install -r requirements.txt
2. setup config.json (sample can be found here sample.config.json)
3. setup init.json (sample can be found here sample.init.sql)

Ticketmaster API

API to retrieve list of available tickets of an event

Endpoint

/api/quickpicks/<EVENT_ID>/list

URL Parameters

Name	Value	Description
EVENT_ID	23006130DAB40C0B	ID of Event

How to get Event ID

1. search for Event on ticketmaster.co.uk (e.g. https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/coldplay-tickets/artist/806431)
2. go to Ticket Site (e.g. https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/coldplay-music-of-the-spheres-world-london-22-08-2025/event/23006130DAB40C0B)
3. get Event ID (e.g. 23006130DAB40C0B) from URL

GET Parameters

Name	Value	Description
resale	true	if true, only resale tickets will be returned
qty	1	number of tickets you're looking for
offset	0	position from where to start returning results
limit	100	number of maxium returned results
sort	price	attribute to sort results
primary	true	n/a
defaultToOne	true	n/a
tids	000000000004	n/a

Request Headers

see sample.config.json

Cookies

Required

Name	Domain
BID	.ticketmaster.co.uk
eps_sid	.ticketmaster.co.uk
language	.ticketmaster.co.uk
reese84	.ticketmaster.co.uk

Others

Name	Domain
Queue-it	queue.ticketmaster.co.uk
cf_clearance	.help.ticketmaster.co.uk
ma.did	.identity.ticketmaster.co.uk

Response

HTTP Status Codes

Status	Descripton	How Tracker handles it
200	Request successful	write response to logs\<EVENT_ID>.csv
401	Cookie expired	write status to logs\<EVENT_ID>.csv, retrieve new cookie
403	Headers invalid	write error to logs\<EVENT_ID>.html, cancel execution
404	Event not found	write error to logs\<EVENT_ID>.html, cancel execution
503	Event temporarily not available	replace failing event id with new event id
504	Timeout	replace failing event id with new event id

Body when no Ticket is available

{
"quantity": 0,
"total": 0,
"picks": [],
"descriptions": []
}

Body when 1 Ticket is available

{
"quantity": 1,
"eventId": "23006113B5E30BFD",
"total": 1,
"picks": [
{
"id": "lg899kjn6",
"type": "general-seating",
"section": "PITCH",
"originalPrice": 396.93,
"description": "",
"areaName": "",
"placeDescriptionId": "IE5DCNJMHE",
"hasSpecialDescription": false,
"offerIds": [
"HF6GYZZYHE4WW2TOGY"
],
"snapshotImageUrl": "image?systemId=HOST_UK&segmentIds=s_168",
"quality": 0.97235,
"sellerBusinessType": "private",
"resaleListingId": "lg899kjn6",
"sellerAffiliationType": "unaffiliated",
"attributes": []
}
],
"descriptions": [
{
"id": "IE5DCNJMHE",
"descriptions": [
"No U14s. Under 18s with adult 18+",
"Incl. 2.75 Facility Fee"
]
}
]
}

Subdomains

• www.ticketmaster.co.uk
• queue.ticketmaster.co.uk
• identity.ticketmaster.co.uk
• help.ticketmaster.co.uk

Schema tracking_history.csv

uses CSV Format

each line represents the availability at the given time

Sample:

quantity	total	picks	descriptions	status	eventId	time	date
0	0	[]	[]	200	23006130DAB40C0B	23:59:59	01.01.2024

Schema tracking_history.jsonl

uses JSON Lines Format

each line represents the availability at the given time

Sample:

{"quantity": 0, "total": 0, "picks": [], "descriptions": [], "status": 200, "eventId": "23006130DAB40C0B", "isoDate": "2024-01-01T23:59:59.999999"}

Schema picks.json

uses JSON Format

each object represents unique available pick for a single event at the given time

Sample:

{
"picks": [
{
"id": "lwchvgnt4",
"type": "general-seating",
"section": "PITCH",
"originalPrice": 395.42,
"description": "",
"areaName": "",
"placeDescriptionId": "IE5DCNJMHE",
"hasSpecialDescription": false,
"offerIds": [
"HF6GY53DNB3GO3TUGQ"
],
"snapshotImageUrl": "image?systemId=HOST_UK&segmentIds=s_168",
"quality": 0.97235,
"sellerBusinessType": "private",
"resaleListingId": "lwchvgnt4",
"sellerAffiliationType": "unaffiliated",
"attributes": [],
"eventId": "23006130DAB40C0B",
"isoDate": "2024-01-01T23:59:59.999999"
},
{
"id": "lwhdbh7jv",
"type": "seat",
"section": "120",
"row": "24",
"seatFrom": "243",
"seatTo": "244",
"originalPrice": 540.18,
"description": "Level 1",
"areaName": "L1",
"placeDescriptionId": "IE5DCNRMHE",
"hasSpecialDescription": false,
"offerIds": [
"HF6GY53IMRRGQN3KOY"
],
"snapshotImageUrl": "image?systemId=HOST_UK&sectionNames=120&placeId=GEZDAORSGQ5DENBU",
"quality": 0.88172,
"sellerBusinessType": "private",
"resaleListingId": "lwhdbh7jv",
"sellerAffiliationType": "unaffiliated",
"attributes": [],
"eventId": "23006130DAB40C0B",
"isoDate": "2024-01-01T23:59:59.999999"
}
]
}

SQLite Database

events, logs, picks and cookies are all written in SQLite database logs\data.db

Initialization

init.sql creates data.db database and all required tables (events, cookies, logs, picks). Also it inserts all relevant information about events (ID, Artist, City, Vanue, Date)

ER Diagram

generated with dbeaver

Configuration

create config.json with following attributes:

Name	Description	Available Values
firefox_executable	absolute path to Mozialla Firefox executable	n/a
selenium	NOT IMPLEMENTED YET!	chrome, firefox
cookies	Cookie String or cookies.txt File, if empty Cookie from running Firefox instance will be used	String: "eps_sid=XXX; BID=XXX; reese84=XXX; SID=XXX; sticky=XXX", File: sample.cookies.txt
headers	Array of required Request Headers	see sample.config.json
domain	Ticketmaster domain	.ticketmaster.co.uk
api_path	API path	/api/quickpicks/
primary_events	Array of Event IDs which will be tracked	see sample.config.json
secondary_events	Array of Event IDs which will be used if primary Event fails	see sample.config.json
method	API method incl. query parameters	list?resale=true&qty=1&offset=0&limit=100&sort=price
request_delay	delay between requests (in seconds)	30
refresh_delay	delay until new loaded cookies will be used (in seconds)	15
price_limit	price limit for ticket alert	e.g. 500.00
response_sample	load API response sample for testing	see list_ticket.json

for further sample values see sample.config.json

Console Output

Line 1: Execution Time (hh:mm:ss) HTTP Status
Line 2: Current Event ID
Line 3: Number for Events which returned HTTP 503 or 504
Line 4 - 12: Table of used Cookies including Name, Expiration (hh:mm:ss dd.MM.YYYY) and Domain
Last Line: Countdown until the Execution continues

Testing

Scripts

curl.bat - basic cURL command of sample request from Chrome Dev Tools

request_session.py - simple Python request sample with hardcoded headers and cookies

Load Response Sample

Load Cookie String

Load cookies.txt

To-Dos

• bypass queue / add to basket
• implement headless browser
  • selenium
  • playwright
• add entries to cookies_per_log table
• Exception Hanlding / Error Logging
• add UI to view results

Ticketmaster Troubleshooting

Error	Reason	Solution
Let's Get Your Identity Verified	malicious browsing behavior	resolve captcha
Your Session Has Been Suspended	too many requests	automatically unsupended by ticketmaster after about 30 days
Pardon the Interruption	malicious browsing behavior	n/a