Buy-back Tickets Mechanism

Many industries sell non-refundable tickets and customers purchase well in advance of their usage date.  For instance items such as concert and museum exhibition tickets, train and airline tickets, are usually non-refundable.  On the other hand, letting capacity go to waste is not appealing either.   What if the provider is able to buy back the tickets if the demand only for events when demand is high?

In this project we developed a mechanism for such buy-backs, where the firm forecasts demand accurately and sets a buy-back price for certain high-demand dates for anyone willing to sell their seats back.  The mechanism takes into account behavioural issues such as gaming and blocking.