Some scalpers will short sell tickets. They sell tickets they don't have on the assumption that they can purchase tickets later at a lower price. This was a large problem at this year's Superbowl. Tickets normally spike a couple weeks before the game and drop in price as the game approaches. This pattern didn't happen this year and prices actually went up drastically as the game approached. Many of these short sellers that were depending on ticket price dropping ended up having to refund the tickets they short sold at 2x or 3x the original purchase price. That ended up being cheaper than taking the loss on price they sold the tickets at minus the price they would have to buy the tickets at to fulfill their order.