Tell me I can't have something, and it will only make me want it more.
So, yeah. After 75 minutes of sitting at my computer, desperately hitting refresh while texting one friend and tweeting another, I was finally through. $99 to MCM and $4 to Active later.
Speaking of that $4... that brings me to a very good question:
Why on earth does anyone use active.com?
Yes, that's rhetorical. Active Network is terrible. Runners use it because we have no choice if we want to participate in races that are using active. Race directors use it because it's easier to use active's system (and pass the costs on to runners) than to create and manage their own, especially now that online registrations are the norm (did you hear that, Dipsea? Online registrations are the norm).
And yet Active is terrible. There, I said it. And I stand behind it. Their fees are outrageous; their website is not user friendly; their technical malfunctions are foreseeable and preventable. MCM sold out in 2.5 hours last year, and anyone who was paying attention knew that would suggest increased demand this year. Active had a test run with the Chicago Marathon last month and they absolutely, positively blew it. They swore they had things worked out for today and they didn't.
30,000 people registered for MCM in a period of 2.5 hours. That means that active.com made $120,000 for two hours of internet mayhem. (And that doesn't include the opportunity cost of 30,000 people spending 1-2 hours on average at their computer, unproductively, in the middle of the day.)
Active is now officially the Ticketmaster of road running. And when I say officially, I mean it: after receiving funding from Ticketmaster early on, Active has since recruited Ticketmaster's CEO for their board of directors.
As a company, they're slipping. I'd highly encourage you to read this article for one perspective on their company and its valuation as of last fall, which includes some suggestion that the company's financial statements are "misleading at best, fabricated at worst." In short, instead of selling race registrations to the public, Active seems to have begun buying race registrations from race directors. This change is good for the race directors, in that is gives them an influx of cash with which to plan their events - and it allows Active to record the purchase of the registrations as 'net registration revenue' instead of 'gross revenue,' inflating revenue growth in their metrics. Race directors are happy with their monies and Active (on paper) appears to be doing well... except that, unfortunately, they can only barely afford to maintain this system. They're essentially doing the home budget equivalent of not only living paycheck-to-paycheck but also considering taking out payday loans. (A few days after the article was written, Active stock dropped significantly.)
The long and short of it for us runners seems to be that if you don't like it, you shouldn't race. Remember: when you register for a race through Active, you are not the customer. They do not care about your business. Why should they, when there are tens of thousands more just like you willing to pay their $4... or more?
So, yeah. After 75 minutes of sitting at my computer, desperately hitting refresh while texting one friend and tweeting another, I was finally through. $99 to MCM and $4 to Active later.
Speaking of that $4... that brings me to a very good question:
Why on earth does anyone use active.com?
Yes, that's rhetorical. Active Network is terrible. Runners use it because we have no choice if we want to participate in races that are using active. Race directors use it because it's easier to use active's system (and pass the costs on to runners) than to create and manage their own, especially now that online registrations are the norm (did you hear that, Dipsea? Online registrations are the norm).
And yet Active is terrible. There, I said it. And I stand behind it. Their fees are outrageous; their website is not user friendly; their technical malfunctions are foreseeable and preventable. MCM sold out in 2.5 hours last year, and anyone who was paying attention knew that would suggest increased demand this year. Active had a test run with the Chicago Marathon last month and they absolutely, positively blew it. They swore they had things worked out for today and they didn't.
30,000 people registered for MCM in a period of 2.5 hours. That means that active.com made $120,000 for two hours of internet mayhem. (And that doesn't include the opportunity cost of 30,000 people spending 1-2 hours on average at their computer, unproductively, in the middle of the day.)
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| This girl isn't worried about registering. She's just happy to be running, and sorry that she screencapped this photo. |
As a company, they're slipping. I'd highly encourage you to read this article for one perspective on their company and its valuation as of last fall, which includes some suggestion that the company's financial statements are "misleading at best, fabricated at worst." In short, instead of selling race registrations to the public, Active seems to have begun buying race registrations from race directors. This change is good for the race directors, in that is gives them an influx of cash with which to plan their events - and it allows Active to record the purchase of the registrations as 'net registration revenue' instead of 'gross revenue,' inflating revenue growth in their metrics. Race directors are happy with their monies and Active (on paper) appears to be doing well... except that, unfortunately, they can only barely afford to maintain this system. They're essentially doing the home budget equivalent of not only living paycheck-to-paycheck but also considering taking out payday loans. (A few days after the article was written, Active stock dropped significantly.)
The long and short of it for us runners seems to be that if you don't like it, you shouldn't race. Remember: when you register for a race through Active, you are not the customer. They do not care about your business. Why should they, when there are tens of thousands more just like you willing to pay their $4... or more?
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| The debacle was so bad that MCM apologized. And then my sister's friend Jeff made some bad jokes on their fb page. |
I was glad to see that MCM is going to look into this, but I agree - it's just a terrible system. I was so pissed yesterday to have wasted two hours trying to get in when other people got in easily or multiple times! (Thankfully for me they could get in multiple times so I could get registered, but still.)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, +1 on hating active.com. I guess we are the problem, if we weren't so fucking eager, they'd be forced to step up their game.
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet had to do the whole clusterfuck F5-ing for 2 hours race registration thing since all the races I've done have been local and don't sell out right away, which kinda makes me feel like I'm not even a real runner.
No way, man. That makes you ever MORE real, like '70s runner real. Seriously. Next thing I expect is a review of cotton knee socks and short-shorts on your blog.
Delete(In all seriousness, I would love to follow in your footsteps if I didn't live in a place like NYC where *every* race is like this. I've been toying with the idea of a fall trail race - oh right except there are no trails for miles since I live in a major city.)
Anything that is the equivalent to Ticketmaster has to be evil and a scourge to all consumers.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Marie. I don't race too much and haven't had issues registering, but do hate that extra fee. Also, MCM was only $99?! That seems cheap for a huge marathon.
You guys and your old school running habits are impressive. I have an addiction to racing, I think. Ugh.
DeleteBut re: fees - I know! And I think the $99 is up from past years. (I'll admit - it made a small psychological difference to me that I was paying more than $100 for a race that cost less than $100.) I think if I understand correctly one of the main reasons for the low cost is that they don't pay any appearance fees and they have no purse - thus the "people's marathon" designation.
I hope you enjoy MCM more than I did last year....BUT PHILLY 2013!!!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. In fact, the last few races we've run were smaller local events, and I actually mailed in our race registration just to avoid the ridiculous fees! Another race we did had their registration set up through running4free.com, which is a great site that saw the need for an affordable race registration services (I think it's just for New England events, but it's still a great idea).
ReplyDeleteRunning4free! I love that. It's weird to me to think that I mailed in my very first marathon registration a couple of weeks before the race for a race that now sells out a bajillion people well in advance.
DeleteI think this is similar to the OpenTable situation that has caused a stir in the restaurant industry from time to time (only it's more about the hold they have over restaurants, not diners, in that case). Restaurants can't all afford to build their own systems, and diners already have accounts with OpenTable, and OpenTable helps them get visibility, so ... they're stuck using this system they hate, that takes their money, and that takes a lot of management out of their hands. In the restaurant space there are starting to be some good alternatives (slowly), and I wonder if something awesome (EventBrite-ish? maybe?) will spring up in the running/active space.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about OpenTable, but it TOTALLY makes sense. There's another website that was built to fill a real need, but doesn't do it well - hurting their customers (restaurants and patrons). Here in NYC we have NYCRuns, but they're local and they also seem to be taking over many races - they offer timing services as well. (I have to be careful what I say about them, because their race director came by my blog to leave some oddly mean comments the last times I said something that he perceived as critical.)
DeleteReason 348,021 that I will never run a marathon. LOL No, really, Active.com is terrible, I agree with you. The fees, the whole Chicago debacle, it's just crazy. Glad you got in to MCM, though! I know a few people who are doing it. In theory, I'd love to, since I grew up with Marines, but 26.2? Just can't do it.
ReplyDeleteI envy those of you who haven't been bitten by the marathon bug...
Delete