Bid for a ticket you used to be able to buy

I got an email today from Ticketmaster asking me if I'd like to bid for premium tickets to see the Police next January, apparently it's a way to sell tickets to fans at a 'Fair market price". What ever happened to fans getting the tickets by being first off the rank, and paying the price they could afford, instead of anyone who has a wad of cash? Given the amount of tickets appearing online these days for a profit, I understand the promoters frustration, but surely a better way to ensure "fans" get tickets would be some form of ID system. There's nothimng fair about this system.