StubHub is the largest ticket retailer in the world, enabling thousands of ticket holders to sell their tickets painlessly through its website. Here's a rundown of how the process works.
StubHub – which is owned by eBay – now surpasses even primary ticket sales agents such as Ticketmaster. Ticket holders who want to list their tickets for sale on the site will first need to register and provide a valid credit card. This may seem counterintuitive since the registrant is selling and not buying anything, but it's a requirement for "identification and verification" purposes.
Once registered, you need to choose the event of your ticket, which is likely to be listed in the StubHub database. The website then asks you for the ticket numbers and seat locations as well as any notations on the tickets, such as an obstructed view.
These days, most tickets are sold electronically — downloaded by the buyer as a PDF file, printed and presented as the physical tickets at the event. StubHub allows you to upload your PDF tickets directly to its website so that the buyer will receive the tickets instantly upon payment.
StubHub makes a profit on the sale from both sides — from the seller as well as the buyer. The commission to the seller is usually 10 percent of the price, but the buyer also pays a premium on the seller's ticket price. For example, a ticket listed by the seller at a price of $49 will be sold to the buyer for $58.60. The seller will receive $44.10 for the transaction, which can be deposited into his or her PayPal account or sent as a check via mail.
You may be wondering how this is all legal in cases where the ticket price on StubHub is well above the list price. Most state scalping laws only refer to transactions – which occur at the actual location of the event – and those that prohibit off-site scalping often still allow a certain percentage of profit to be made before the activity is deemed illegal.
