Selling concert tickets on ebay / Stub-Hub - advice please?

nightsong · 2 June 2013 at 12:53PM

This is the situation. I have some concert tickets that I now can't use. They are for a small independent performance, but weren't cheap. They are for the end of June.

I bought the tickets in January, when I first read about it. I rang them up and was told that there were very few left and in order to secure a pair of good seats I'd have to become a "member", i.e. pay more money. So I agreed, paid up and got the tickets.

Last month it became clear we couldn't attend, so I rang up and asked about them taking the tickets back. This time, five months later, there was apparently plenty of availability!! She said she couldn't take my tickets back until all hers were sold, and why didn't I try to sell them privately. As you can imagine I wasn't impressed.

Since then there has been some publicity in the national press and it does appear they are now sold out, apart perhaps from a few tckets with restricted view. In fact even those may now have gone as they don't appear to update their website very often.

Sooo - since I consider they have behaved porrly over this, I do not want to approach them again and I am considering selling the tickets on ebay.

Here are my questions -

a) There is now Stub-Hub, which I don't understand. It seems that ebay ticket sales are now about half on ebay and half on Stub-Hub. Please can anyone enlighten me as to which I should use and why?

b) If they sell, what's the best way to post them safely? They are worth several hundred pounds.

c) Since it's a supply-and-demand situation I'm considering listing them for more than face value - perhaps as a Buy-It-Now, with a Best Offer set at the face value. Is this unethical in some way or is it just good business?

I suppose I have a back-up plan in case they don't sell on ebay in that I could always approach the company again and this time they'll probably take them back, but I'd rather not, for the reasons above.

Thanks in advance!

onetwothree123 · 2 June 2013 at 1:15PM

Hello, I understand how you feel frustrated at being stuck with tickets, all venues in the Uk who sell event tickets state on T&C that they are non refundable , you can't change mind and return them to the box office on a whim, the exception to this rule is the original event gets changed to a new date (postponed) or cancelled then you are entitled to ask for your money back if you cannot attend. Some firms let you buy ticket insurance for events outwith your control at the e-checkout, am not sure how that goes , but I also have had to throw tickets away in the bin before due to change in my situation, and it was my loss cos it cost me £50 for the pair.

It often pays to with hold buying tickets until very near to an event as no one can tell if they can attend events up to 1 year after purchase.

answers

a) Stub Hub is an ebay company and I you must register to sell any tickets there now you dont get to meet the buyer its all done through the web system, you give the tickets to UPS and you only get the money in your Paypal account AFTER the event has taken place. They help themselves to the fees before you get a sum.

b) UPS is the method you are signed into with Stub Hub, and the courier picks them up for their destination

c) I doubt you can sell them on ebay now at all ,on auction or buy it now, cos selling tickets on ebay ceased to be, in May according to the banner adverts all over ebay! And selling them over the face value is entirely YOUR business as long as you display the price you paid ,hey you can even charge a million quid(jk) and no one can do anything if a mug is daft enough to part with their cash no law is broken if you do have the tickets for the event and aren't a scammer !

nightsong · 2 June 2013 at 1:31PM

Many thansk for your helpful reply 123

Yes, I agree they are not obliged to take the tickets back - and you are right to say it's a bit risky buying them so far in advance. It's only because they assured me they were nearly sold out in January that I was so foolish!

If I can sell them on ebay it sounds as if UPS would be a good way to get them delivered, thanks for that.

StubHub sounds a pain, though I can see it's designed to protect buyers. There ARE still tickets for sale on ebay though. I wonder if this is some kind of cross-over period where they are phasing out one and bringing in the other.

onetwothree123 · 2 June 2013 at 1:48PM

Yes it must be a cross over period...

I am an avid gig goer at times and have enjoyed finding last min bargain seats ,there are still about 2 local people who listed on longer auctions. I signed up for stub hub months ago but didnt like the sound of it and the fee structure, it is basically just the same as getmein you are the 3rd party seller and can make the price whatever you want and its the buyer gets conned out of the sites admin fees on top which ebay/stub hub extract at 10% ish from your sale, and then they charge buyer for the post ,and you get the lump sum in your paypal about 7 days after the event.

I have no experience of it myself as a buyer or a seller, and I havent bought from a small ticket seller /club/ company before only larger sites for theatre ie ATG, or directly from box offices, once I used ticketfast at ticketmaster, they are direct agents.

I am not comfy using a 3rd party site as its just a Joe Bloggs selling tickets but the site claims to have covered buyers from the risk of being scammed ie for them not posting in time and protection is given, I just preferred how it used to be at ebay, see couple of tickets and bid and win and maybe exchange questions about meeting up locally with seller, now all that is gone its just a computer programme that sells them now, a smokescreen to hide where the seller is and who they are.

nightsong · 2 June 2013 at 2:37PM

Thanks again 123

Actually you were completely right, my apologies. I just tried to list my tickets on ebay and it directed me to Stub Hub. I think the remaining tickets on ebay are old listings and once they are completed it will all be transferred to Stub Hub.

Hmm. Time to rethink!

Edit - so I've regstered with StubHub, and then found out that a) they take 15% commission, and b) I can't sell tickets for this event anyway since it's not one they recognise.

I think I'll be going back to the original seller cap-in-hand after all!

onetwothree123 · 2 June 2013 at 4:46PM

Oh no, what about the local free online sale sites?

You could try Gumtree or preloved ,loot, adtrader? Sell face to face to someone in the vicinity to reap back what you paid, cos time is of the essence and your event is soon.

The stubhub fees are extortionate you have to price the seats for high enough to include the fees they steal at the end!

I think ebay have a major boo boo making ticket sellers use stub hub!

rockin_plumber · 2 June 2013 at 7:13PM

onetwothree123 wrote: »

I think ebay have a major boo boo making ticket sellers use stub hub!

I think the ticket sellers that bought tickets for the sole purpose of selling on ebay have ruined it for sellers with genuine reasons for selling tickets.

Maybe genuine fans will be able to get tickets as the the ebay touts won't want to pay the stubhub fees

onetwothree123 · 2 June 2013 at 8:19PM

That's true, am glad to see the back of all the touts that is one good thing. I am personally delighted that all those greedy ticket sellers will now be stumped!

I signed up for email alerts for when tickets come up for sale at a few venues near my home, and they email me a link a day in advance of general public offering pre sale seats, I have managed to get tickets without buying off a thief at ebay this way .

Kite2010 · 2 June 2013 at 9:10PM

Have you tried selling via the other secondary ticket websites (GetMeIn, Seatwave, Viagogo)?

Might be worth a try. Also contact the band's website to see if they have any sort of ticket exchange for face-value tickets.

laughingcow81 · 3 June 2013 at 8:32AM

How about Scarlet Mist?

Otherwise perhaps a local facebook group, or gumtree etc? That way you can ask for cash in hand when they collect the tickets.

reborndoll · 4 June 2013 at 8:41AM

I managed to list spare event tickets on 4th June, without being told to join stub hub ,used the category defined as Events Tickets > Other Tickets so far so good, not been removed by the ebay ticket paragons of virtue software! There are a few hundred tickets for sale in this section, from local gigs to cinema, comedy etc. So maybe all is NOT lost and you can list there without any need to sign up to the sister site. HTH

Selling concert tickets on ebay / Stub-Hub - advice please?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free