Ticket tips

■ Check out companies with the Better Business Bureau. Contact the BBB of Central & Eastern Kentucky at (859) 259-1008 or 1-800-866-6668 or on the Web at www.bluegrass.bbb.org. If the company is outside Kentucky, BBB staff will look up the BBB's report online for callers. Those with Internet access may go to www.bbb.org to check out-of-state companies.

■ Use secure Web sites for online transactions. When buying tickets or making hotel and travel reservations online, look for a padlock on the page, and the letter "s" in the URL (the Web address box) after the "http." Example: https://www.xyz.com. Unsecure sites will only show http:// ... If neither is present, the site is not secure and your credit card or bank account information might not be safe.

■ If buying online, beware of sellers leading you away from secure, reliable transaction methods such as PayPal or those who discourage using credit cards. If you use a credit card and something goes wrong, you can try to dispute the charge with the credit card provider. Beware of sellers that want you to wire- transfer money (Money Gram) via Western Union — there is no way to trace the cash if something goes wrong.

■ Buy at your own risk. You are better off buying from reliable sources. If you buy tickets from unfamiliar sources or scalpers, there is no guarantee they will be the genuine article. (Scalping laws vary from state to state.) If a deal sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

SOURCE: BBB of Central & Eastern Kentucky