I see the "time ticker" thing suggested as a strategy for successful marketing campaigns in pretty much every online marketing book I read. You see it in the offline world as well. "Buy now, because once these prices are gone, they are gone forever . . . ever . . . ever..."

I think a lot of companies use some sort of limited-time strategy to pressure people to buy. Most aren't quite as blatant, or short lived, as Ticketmaster's though.