Have you ever bought a ticket on a secondary platform like StubHub, Vivid Seats, or SeatGeek? We’ve always done this for college games, and it’s worked like a champ. Sometimes you score cheaper prices and better seats too. But buyer beware, because some “ghost tickets” may show up on these platforms also.
What’s a ghost ticket?
A ghost ticket is when you buy a ticket for sale on this platform, but the seller doesn’t actually have the ticket. These tickets are speculative in nature because the seller may be banking on getting the tickets. But when they don’t deliver them, your order may be cancelled or just go unfulfilled.
This ticket-buying scenario usually results in a refund. That’s the good news! The bad news is that ticket you thought you had in hand is not there. So, you could miss out on an event you’ve been really looking forward to when this happens.
Business Insider: The ‘ghost tickets’ flooding StubHub and SeatGeek
Secondary Ticket Platforms Usually Work, But…
We’ve been buying tickets on StubHub for decades and have never had a problem. Until this summer—when I could not locate my tickets on concert day. The seller never sent them to me. I raised the issue with customer service, who launched an investigation and told me they’d give us alternate tickets pending their findings. Unfortunately, the concert started before I ever heard back from customer service.
Thankfully, my friend and I were able to score an upgrade floor seats. These new concert tickets were an unbelievable price – FREE! It was a real blessing that another concertgoer (VIP) was kind enough to gift them to us, especially given the circumstances. Not to mention we flew out-of-state for the show and racked up travel expenses (airfare, hotel) to be there. In the end, StubHub gave me an apology and a full 100% refund for the tickets.
Although that was a terrible buying experience, we decided to give it another try a month later. I purchased two tickets for a college football game on StubHub. And I’m happy to say the seller delivered our tickets within 24 hours.
So, while most of the time it works. I just want you to know about ghost tickets out there.
New Ticket Industry Changes for More Transparency
Not long ago, consumers seemed to reach a boiling point with ticket prices. Many of them wanted more disclosure of the fees. This resulted in new “junk fees” changes that make it easier for consumers to understand all the fees upfront. A CNBC article highlights these changes:
The Federal Trade Commission’s new rule requires ticket sellers to disclose total prices upfront, including fees, prohibiting them from concealing add-on charges until the last minute.
I definitely appreciate more transparency in pricing on Ticketmaster and other secondary ticket-selling platforms these days. Now there is hope that more improvements will be made in the ticket industry to eliminate any ghost ticket sales next.
