StubHub Review
By Corbin HartwickUpdated on August 20, 2024
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In other guides, we introduced you to StubHub and told you how to stay safe on it. So let’s get to the big question: why would I want to use StubHub to buy or sell tickets online in the first place? We’ll lay out the cases for and against it, and then you can decide for yourself.
Pros
- A grand selection — StubHub is one of the most popular online ticket trading portals, and includes tickets for sporting events, music concerts, comedy shows, theater performances, and more. You’re bound to find an event that you’ll enjoy!
- Buying is easy — Just sign up for an account, find the event that you want to attend, pick your seats, and pay. Your tickets will often be available within 24 hours, and you can sometimes even save them to your computer and print them out almost immediately after you buy them!
- Streamlined selling process — Selling tickets on StubHub is easy, too! StubHub will walk you through including all the information that potential buyers will need to know in your listing, including how to pick a fair price. You can also choose how you want to get paid for your tickets… even donate the money to charity, if you feel like it!
- Safe and rewarding — By buying tickets on StubHub, you can earn Fan Codes that will give you discounts on future purchases. And all tickets purchased on StubHub are guaranteed to be on time, valid for your chosen event, and the same as (or better than) how they were listed on StubHub. If they aren’t (including if an event is cancelled), StubHub will give you a monetary refund, Fan Codes, or replacement tickets that comparable to or better than the ones you bought!
Cons
- Take care not to get gouged — StubHub allows sellers to list tickets for whatever price they want, and gives buyers no options for negotiating. Before you buy your tickets, look on other ticket marketplaces (such as Ticketmaster.com or TicketLiquidator.com) and compare the prices that you see there, in order to know whether you’re getting a fair deal or not.
- Reliability can be iffy — While many tickets listed on StubHub can be saved to your computer and printed shortly after buying them, some may have to be delivered by email or even courier service. This can make getting your tickets in hand iffy, especially if (in some cases) the seller doesn’t have the tickets yet (e.g. they haven’t officially gone on sale yet). Some StubHub alternatives avoid this problem by insisting that sellers have tickets in hand before listing them for sale.
The bottom line: 8/10
StubHub’s ease of use is both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. On the positive side of things, it’s a quick way for buyers to get tickets — even ones that may be sold out or otherwise hard to find — that are fairly reliable and backed by guarantees. And for sellers, StubHub offers a thorough yet comfortable interface for listing all of the important information about their tickets. It also offers flexible payment options, including the ability to donate your proceeds to charity.
However, because StubHub is so easy to use, it may attract sellers who might not have a lot of business being sellers. People can list tickets for pretty much any price they want, and you can’t negotiate with them; you either take the tickets at their face value, or you shop around for a better deal. Also, some tickets may need to be delivered by email or courier service, in some cases because the seller doesn’t even have the tickets in hand yet. This can make getting your tickets reliably hit-and-miss, though you are covered by certain guarantees in this regard. To avoid this problem, always try to get your tickets through instant download if you can.
Overall, StubHub’s strong points are its popularity, scale, and ease of use for both buyers and sellers. This can be important if time is of the essence in buying sold-out or otherwise hard-to-find tickets, or selling tickets quickly before an event is put on. If you’re looking for cheaper prices or more reliable ticket delivery, though, you may want to try some StubHub competitors.
Well, that wraps up our review of StubHub!