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How TixTreasure Works

The technology behind real-time ticket price comparison

The Problem We Solve

Finding the best ticket price is exhausting. You have to:

  • Visit 10+ different ticket sites manually
  • Navigate hidden fees that only show up at checkout
  • Compare different fee structures (per-ticket vs per-order)
  • Wonder if you're getting the best deal or missing something

TixTreasure automates all of this. We check 7+ sources every 10 minutes, normalize all fees, and show you the true all-in price so you can make an informed decision in seconds.

Our 4-Step Process

1

We Aggregate Ticket Listings

Our scrapers continuously monitor 7+ major ticket marketplaces for upcoming events:

TickPick

Summary API + event listings • Updated every 10 minutes

Seatics Network

2 sources (TicketClub, GoodSeatTickets) • JSONP API for seat-level data

StubHub

Event discovery + SVG seatmaps • Updated every 6 hours

ATG Tickets

Box office prices via BoltAPI • Face value reference

OvationTix

Community theater • REST API • 11 Greater Boston venues

Showare

Municipal & performing arts venues • Event page parsing

All scrapers run on Cloudflare Workers (serverless edge computing) with scheduled cron jobs. Events are deduplicated by matching name + venue + date, even when venue names differ across sources.

2

We Normalize Pricing

Each ticket marketplace structures fees differently. This makes direct price comparisons misleading:

TicketClub: $50 ticket + $0 fee = $50 total
GoodSeatTickets: $45 ticket + $9.95 fee = $54.95 total
StubHub: $52 all-in price = $52 total

Winner: TicketClub — but you wouldn't know that from looking at ticket prices alone.

Our normalization algorithm:

  1. 1. Identify fee structure: Some platforms charge per-ticket, others per-order
  2. 2. Calculate worst-case price: Assume buying 1 ticket (highest per-ticket cost)
  3. 3. Adjust for quantity: When you select 2, 4, or 6 tickets, per-order fees are distributed
  4. 4. Store normalized price: total_price + delivery_fee in database

This ensures you're always comparing apples to apples, regardless of how the source structures their fees.

3

We Track Price History

Ticket prices fluctuate constantly. We track every price change so you can:

  • See price trends: Is this a good deal or should you wait?
  • Get price drop alerts: Set an alert and we'll email/notify you when prices fall
  • Identify price spikes: Avoid buying when demand temporarily inflates prices

Two-Tier Storage Architecture

Hot: price_observations table — raw seat-level listings kept for 3 days in Cloudflare D1
Warm: price_history table — hourly summaries (min/avg/max) kept forever for sparkline charts
Cold: Cloudflare R2 — archived gzipped JSONL backups for long-term analysis
4

You Compare & Buy

Once we've done the heavy lifting, you get:

Event Listings

Browse upcoming events filtered by city, category, date, and price

Interactive Seatmaps

See seat-level pricing overlaid on venue maps (Seatics + StubHub maps)

Price Comparison

"Find cheapest" feature checks all sources and ranks by total price

Price Alerts

Natural language alerts: "Celtics tickets under $80 in balcony"

When you find a ticket you like, click through to the seller's site to purchase. We never handle the transaction — you buy directly from the marketplace (TickPick, StubHub, etc.) with their buyer protection.

Our Technology Stack

TixTreasure is built on modern, scalable infrastructure for reliability and performance:

Backend

  • Cloudflare Workers — serverless edge computing (23 modules)
  • Cloudflare D1 — SQLite database (~16K events, 35+ migrations)
  • Cloudflare R2 — object storage for price archives
  • Cron Jobs — 8 scheduled scraper triggers

Frontend

  • Astro — SSR framework (always-fresh pricing)
  • Tailwind CSS — utility-first styling
  • Cloudflare Pages — global CDN deployment
  • Native JavaScript — no heavy frameworks

Data Enrichment

  • MusicBrainz — performer metadata (genres, images)
  • Deezer API — audio previews
  • Photon/Nominatim — venue geocoding (88% coverage)

User Features

  • ThumbmarkJS — anonymous user fingerprinting
  • rrweb — interaction recording for UX insights
  • Web Push API — browser notifications

Transparency & Limitations

We don't sell tickets. All purchases are completed on third-party marketplaces. We're not responsible for fulfillment, customer service, or refunds.

Prices may be slightly outdated. We update every 10 minutes, but prices can change in real-time on seller sites. Always verify the final price before purchasing.

Not all events are covered. We focus on major metro areas (currently Boston & NYC). Some smaller venues or niche events may not appear in our listings.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links are affiliate links. We earn a small commission when you purchase through these links, but it doesn't increase your price. This helps us keep TixTreasure free.

TickPick reliability. TickPick's API sometimes fails to load. We've implemented fallbacks, but if TickPick prices aren't showing, you can hide TickPick from your filter and still see 6+ other sources.

Ready to Find the Best Ticket Prices?

Start comparing prices across 7+ sources in seconds — no sign-up required.

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