-—then the original promoter of the event was too stupid to know the value of the merchandise—
Actually, the promoter is often a party to some of the scalping. Having worked in the concert biz for almost 25 years, I’ve seen almost every trick, even played some of them myself.
The way performance contracts work, the Artist, not only gets a set fee, but often gets a certain % on the back side of the final door, net net profit. A promoter can get more out of the backside if they sell a block, at retail, to an outside “entity(ies),” then that entity can in turn wait until tickets dry up and bam. The promoter can either be a direct shareholder in the “entity,” or they can just get a commission/kickback on the deal. The beauty is that they can pocket a large % without having to cut in the artist.
I used to occasionally game the system at some shows that I provided production at. If I saw that the show was likely to sell out, some of us would pool our money and buy up twenty or so tickets and hire one of the loaders to scalp them in the parking lot for two to four times our cost, depending on the demand. Many promoters do exactly the same thing—I’ve personally witnessed very well and nationally known promoters doing it.
The true value is in the "promotion", which is killed when the customer feels the product is too elitist for them.
Or the promoter has to share the money from the ticket sales with others, and pay taxes on that money. Funds which flow back from the scalpers doesn't have to be shared, and may not be declared on taxes.
Thus there could be a financial incentive for low initial ticket prices with the bulk of the tickets being funneled to the scalpers.