Ticket Information

Buying Tickets at VCT

The Vancouver Civic Theatres does not operate a box office - the presenter or promoter of each show chooses their own ticket provider.

Should you have any questions or issues with your tickets, you will need to reach out to the show's official ticket seller, as VCT does not have access to this information.

Please use the VCT website to find the official ticket seller for the show you are attending at one of our four venues - the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Orpheum, Vancouver Playhouse, and ANNEX.

All public events taking place at our venues can be explored on our Upcoming Events listing page. This is where you find the official ticket sellers. 

Tickets are often available for purchase at the venue box office on the day of the event 1.5-2 hours before the start of the show. The staff in the booth will be staff from the official ticket seller or local arts group. We always recommend contacting the ticket seller or local arts group directly to confirm their box office hours and ticketing policies.

We do not operate separate websites for our venues. VCT and our venues have one official website: vancouvercivictheatres.com.

Check the URL at the top of the page and look for misspelling or extra words to ensure you have navigated to the correct website. Please only buy tickets through the Buy Tickets link in our event pages as these will be the only official ticket seller for your event.

VCT's presenter clients are required to select their third-party ticket seller from our list of mandatory pre-qualified Authorized Ticketing Providers: 

However, many local arts groups are authorized to use their own ticketing systems.

Some of these organizations include Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Ballet BC, Vancouver Opera, and Vancouver Recital Society. There are other occasional exceptions, but please always check our links through the Upcoming Events page if you are not sure.

If you find tickets to a touring show in our venues on a website that is not using one of our Authorized Ticketing Providers, you are likely on a ticket reseller website.

Ticket reseller websites are not illegal but they often do not operate in ways that benefit the ticket buyer. Tickets available on ticket reseller websites are typically priced much higher than the official ticketing provider. Many resellers will also ask for payment in non-Canadian currencies (none of our authorized ticket sellers or local arts organizations will ask for payment in non-Canadian currencies).

Many ticket reseller websites are designed to appear as though they are the official venue website - please be aware that these websites can be very convincing. The Vancouver Civic Theatres does not operate any separate websites for the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Orpheum, Vancouver Playhouse, or ANNEX. VCT's only website is vancouvercivictheatres.com.

Please note that shows typically only have one official primary ticket seller. If tickets to your show can be purchased through one of the Authorized Ticketing Providers above, all other sources will almost certainly be third-party resellers. 

There is no foolproof way to check if tickets purchased from resellers are legitimate. Most of the time, ticket resellers are selling valid tickets - however the official ticket seller will not usually be able to verify this. VCT also will not have access to this information.

Ticket resellers are legally required to indicate on their websites that they do not represent an official venue or show and that they are not a primary ticket seller.

Take a moment to read the header, footer, and homepage of the website you are on before purchasing your tickets to see if there is such a disclaimer. Many ticket resellers fulfill this legal requirement by calling themselves an "Independent Theatre Guide" or a "Resale Marketplace."

Please note that there are many venues across Canada and North America with the same names.

For example, there is a Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto and an Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Always take a moment to check the address of the show venue before purchasing your tickets to ensure you have selected the correct city.

 

Ticket Buyer Safety Guide

Fraud has become more widespread and difficult to spot on the internet and in social media, and the availability of AI tools has made fraudulent activity more sophisticated and believable. Scammers are using company logos, creating fake social media accounts, and copying websites to deceive individuals into believing they are purchasing tickets from legitimate sources.

Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when purchasing tickets online.

Beware of ads and sponsored websites in Google search results. Ticket resellers pay to have their websites appear at the very top of Google search results, oftentimes above the official ticket seller website, to encourage patrons to click on their site first.

Patrons often mistake the top results in Google search for the official and most relevant options when purchasing their tickets. However, the results at the top of the page are often ads. Paid Google search website listings are indicated with the word Sponsored.

Anyone can pay to have their ad appear in Google search results. Through Google's ad platform, companies bid to have their ad appear when popular keywords are included in the user's search query. This “auction” is performed millions of times per day, and the position of the ad and frequency that the ad is shown depends on the company's budget and the relevance of their ad to the search query. In other words, Google auctions off the top search results to the highest bidder.

VCT recommends that patrons avoid purchasing tickets from unknown individuals on social media sites, such as Facebook.

VCT has noticed a substantial increase in comments on our Facebook events and posts from individuals that claim they are selling their tickets because they can no longer attend the show. However, they are often ticket reselling groups posing as individuals or scammers that do not actually have tickets to sell. Though there may be some individuals legitimately attempting to sell their tickets this way, we are not able to verify who is legitimate and who isn't.

If you choose to purchase resale tickets from an individual on social media, we strongly recommend only doing so if the individual is a member of your personal network and their identity can be verified by a mutual acquaintance.

Attending an event at a non-VCT venue? There are several ways to find official ticket sellers for other venues.

  • Through the touring show or band’s official website or social media channels.
  • Through the venue's official website. Be cautious and ensure that you are on the official website by looking for third-party ticket reseller disclaimers on the homepage and by checking the venue address (there are many venues in North America with the same names). If using Google Search results, consider navigating to the website through the link on the venue's Google Business listing (on desktop, the listing will appear as a bar on the right side of your browser screen and will also contain links to Google Reviews, the location on Google Maps, and more).
  • Check the website you are purchasing your tickets from for security features. Legitimate websites employ security features such as SSL certificates, which can be identified by a padlock icon or info link in a drop-down menu on the left of the URL in the browser's address bar. Ensure the website you are using has these security measures in place.
  • Check to see if tickets to your show are available for purchase through any of Canada's major ticket sellers, such as VCT's Authorized Ticketing Providers listed above. If the tickets are available on Ticketmaster, they are not going to be officially available from another site as well. Any other sites that are selling the tickets are likely to be resellers.

 

Vancouver Civic Theatres and our venues are in no way affiliated with the following ticket resellers:

  • queenelizabeththeatre.org and broadwaytheatrevancouver.com (US-based ticket reseller that exclusively resells tickets to shows taking place at VCT's Queen Elizabeth Theatre venue)
  • vancouver-theatre.com
  • eventticketscenter.com
  • tickets-center.com
  • ticketsonsale.com
  • stubhub.com
  • axs.com
  • vividseats.com
  • seatgeek.ca
  • cheaptickets.com
  • ticketcity.com

Please note that this is not a comprehensive list. Many change their names and new websites are continuing to appear. Feel free to send suggestions for this list to vctinfo@vancouver.ca