StubHub has claimed that 98 per cent of its traders are “consumer sellers” and that half the tickets it sells go for less than face value.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat, the youth station’s flagship news programme, UK country manager Wayne Grierson said almost all StubHub sellers are “people like you and I that can’t go to the event”.
Reaching out to Radio 1’s target market of 15-29 year olds, many of whom are becoming increasingly frustrated by the difficulties of securing tickets for gigs, Grierson said StubHub is more “visible” and “transparent” than many of its rivals in the resale sector.
“We are a marketplace and we enable sellers to sell,” said Grierson. “98 per cent of our sellers are consumer sellers, that means they are people who can’t go to the event.
“A lot of other people in this sector aren’t as visible as us. We want to be transparent, present and part of this sector.
“We’re providing a marketplace for people to resell their ticket if they can’t go to the event.
“What we say may not sit well with everyone, however there seems to be common ground amongst everyone that we should have a standard in our industry – and that we’re transparent.”
Grierson explained that further regulation, specifically price caps, could have a negative effect on sellers and buyers.
He said: “If you put a cap or too many restrictions on any marketplace, then it’s potentially going to go offline. That means we could see more people outside venues, selling tickets in a really insecure, unsafe environment for a buyer to buy.
“If you’re putting a buyer in a place where they’re going to give the money to someone and there’s no protection, there’s no-one helping them through that transaction. “We also don’t pay most of our sellers until after the event – so there’s very little fraud.”
IMAGE: Josh Sorenson
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