There are a few key differences between StubHub and Ticketmaster that explain why tickets are resold on StubHub but not on Ticketmaster. The main reason comes down to the business models and target markets of each company.
StubHub’s Business Model Focuses on Ticket Resales
StubHub was founded in 2000 as a marketplace specifically for ticket resales. The core of StubHub’s business is providing a platform for people to resell event tickets they can no longer use. StubHub makes money by charging fees to both the buyers and sellers who use its platform.
So StubHub is set up first and foremost as a secondary ticket market. It wants to attract as many ticket listings as possible from individual sellers. The company’s whole purpose is to facilitate ticket resales.
Ticketmaster Focuses on Primary Ticket Sales
Ticketmaster, on the other hand, primarily sells tickets directly on behalf of event organizers and venues. As an entertainment industry giant, its core business is being the official box office through which people can buy tickets to concerts, sports games, theater shows, and other events.
Ticketmaster does not aim to be a resale marketplace. It makes revenue through service fees charged to venues and organizers for ticketing services. It also gets a percentage of convenience fees added to ticket prices.
StubHub Attracts Resale Listings in Ways Ticketmaster Does Not
Because reselling tickets is so central to StubHub’s model, the company employs various tactics to bring in ticket listings, including:
- Offering incentives for sellers like coupons and rewards programs
- Making the selling process very easy with mobile apps and instant listing
- Providing customer support specialized for ticket resellers
- Giving sellers tools to maximize their ticket resale profits
Ticketmaster does not put effort into attracting individual ticket resellers. It leaves the secondary market to third-party platforms. Ticketmaster focuses on selling the primary tickets, not facilitating resales later on.
StubHub Allows Reselling Tickets from Any Source
Another key factor is that StubHub places no restrictions on what tickets can be resold on its marketplace. Sellers can list tickets purchased from Ticketmaster, other primary sellers, venue box offices, season ticket holders, or anywhere else.
StubHub does not have exclusive partnerships with certain teams or venues. This open policy results in a huge range of ticket inventory from many different sources.
Ticketmaster Limits Resales of Its Own Tickets
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster heavily restricts reselling of the tickets it originally sold. Event organizers that use Ticketmaster have policies that prohibit season ticket holders from reselling their seats on third-party exchanges.
Ticketmaster also uses technology like paperless ticketing that makes the tickets it sells unexchangeable. If someone can’t attend an event, the ticket can be refunded but not resold to someone else.
These restrictions are meant to drive primary ticket sales through Ticketmaster and prevent diversion of inventory to secondary sites. But it severely limits Ticketmaster’s own secondary market.
StubHub Has No Ties to Venues or Teams
Another major difference is that StubHub has no direct partnerships or business relationships with specific venues, teams, or other ticket outlets. It operates independently as a neutral exchange platform.
This means StubHub faces no pressure to limit resales or steer inventory to preferred primary ticket outlets. The company can focus purely on providing a resale service.
Ticketmaster Has Exclusive Ticketing Deals
Ticketmaster, on the other hand, has direct partnerships and ticketing deals with many major event organizations. For example, it is the exclusive ticket provider for:
- NFL – including Super Bowl tickets
- Over 200 major arenas and concert venues
- Major League Baseball
- Premier League soccer
- Hundreds of top artists and music festivals
These exclusive arrangements mean Ticketmaster cannot act as a neutral exchange platform. It has incentives to direct inventory through official channels and limit resales through third parties.
StubHub Faces No Conflicts of Interest Around Resales
Essentially, StubHub faces no conflicts of interest when it comes to ticket resales. The company gains nothing by steering sellers toward certain primary markets. It can objectively focus on operating the open secondary market.
Ticketmaster, however, has inherent conflicts as both a primary and secondary ticket provider. This weighs against Ticketmaster when consumers consider where to resell tickets.
StubHub Has More Expertise in the Resale Market
Given that operating a ticket resale exchange is StubHub’s entire business, it offers specialized tools and services for secondary sales that Ticketmaster lacks.
For example, StubHub provides sellers with:
- Price guidance tools using historical sales data
- Recommendations of optimal timing to list tickets
- Instant valuation of ticket inventory
- Sales reports and data
- Dedicated support for high-volume resellers
These kinds of secondary market services are not Ticketmaster’s focus or specialty. StubHub simply has far more expertise when it comes to ticket resales.
StubHub Focuses on Customer Experience
StubHub also puts more emphasis on customer experience, especially for ticket buyers. Key features that improve customer satisfaction include:
- Sorting and filtering tools to easily find desired tickets
- Interactive venue seating maps
- All-in pricing with fees shown upfront
- Mobile ticket delivery and entry
- Customer service focused on ticket buyers
Again, Ticketmaster is less specialized when it comes to serving buyers in the secondary market. Its operations are better optimized for primary ticket sales.
StubHub Offers a More Modern Resale Platform
In general, StubHub feels like a more modern digital platform tailored for ticket resales. Ticketmaster’s website and apps are prone to complaints around:
- Difficult and confusing navigation
- Problems with transfers and delivery
- Lack of transparency around fees
- Billing errors
- Outdated or limited features
Ticketmaster just has not optimized the ticket buying experience for secondary market customers in the way StubHub has.
Conclusion
In summary, StubHub is tailored for ticket resales, while Ticketmaster focuses on primary sales. StubHub attracts listings by making reselling easy for individuals. It puts no limits on what tickets can be resold.
Ticketmaster, on the other hand, heavily restricts resale of its own tickets. It has incentives to direct inventory through official channels due to its partnerships. And Ticketmaster lacks some of StubHub’s secondary market capabilities when it comes to pricing tools, seller support, and buyer experience.
Essentially, StubHub is structured as a pure secondary exchange, while Ticketmaster serves more as a primary seller. This core difference in business models is why you see such a strong resale market on StubHub versus Ticketmaster.
Other Major StubHub Advantages
Here are some additional tables summarizing StubHub’s key advantages over Ticketmaster when it comes to ticket resales:
StubHub’s Business Model Focus
StubHub | Ticketmaster |
---|---|
Secondary ticket market | Primary ticket sales |
Reselling tickets is core business | Reselling is not a focus |
Open vs. Restrictive Resale Policies
StubHub | Ticketmaster |
---|---|
No limits on what tickets can be resold | Restricts resale of its own tickets |
Tickets from any source accepted | Limits reselling of tickets from partners |
No exclusive venue/team deals | Has exclusive ticketing deals |
Focus on Secondary Market Capabilities
StubHub | Ticketmaster |
---|---|
Pricing guidance tools for sellers | Lacks resale-specific features |
Specialized services for resellers | More primary ticket focused |
Buyer tools for finding tickets | Less innovation on buyer experience |
In summary, StubHub was purpose-built as a secondary ticket marketplace in ways that Ticketmaster was not. It offers a better resale experience for both buyers and sellers of tickets. Ticketmaster remains optimized as a primary ticketing service based on direct partnerships with teams, venues, and artists.
Why Don’t More Tickets End Up on Ticketmaster’s Resale Platform?
Ticketmaster does operate its own secondary ticket exchange at tickets.ticketmaster.com. However, it has nowhere near the resale volume of StubHub. There are a few reasons why Ticketmaster struggles to attract resale listings:
- It faces conflicts of interest in the secondary market due to its primary ticket focus.
- The transfer and delivery of already sold tickets is cumbersome.
- It lacks pricing guidance and other specialized reseller tools.
- Sellers have no incentive to choose it over dedicated resale sites.
- Its resale exchange is not widely known or promoted apart from primary site.
Essentially, Ticketmaster’s secondary exchange inherited limitations from the primary ticketing site while also failing to build focused resale capabilities. So it remains a very niche player compared to the dominant StubHub.
What Could Ticketmaster Do to Compete with StubHub?
If Ticketmaster wanted to seriously compete with StubHub in the ticket resale market, some steps it could take include:
- Creating a separate resale brand without Ticketmaster baggage
- Removing restrictions on reselling tickets from partners
- Improving transfers with electronic ticket delivery
- Developing pricing analytics and data services for sellers
- Offering incentives for season ticket holders to resell on its platform
- Improving search and interactive seat maps for ticket buyers
- Investing more in dedicated customer service for resale users
However, this would represent a major strategic shift for Ticketmaster. It may be reluctant to actively steer inventory away from primary sales channels and into more unrestricted secondary markets.
How Might the Resale Market Change in the Future?
Looking ahead, here are some possible ways the ticket resale market could evolve:
- More hybrid primary + secondary platforms emerge as technology improves.
- Virtual reality and metaverse events reduce need for ticket resales.
- Artists and venues form their own proprietary resale exchanges.
- More paperless ticket systems restrict free exchange on open markets.
- Regulations increase around pricing caps, transparency, etc.
Platforms like StubHub may have to adjust their business models if primary sellers regain more control or restrictions increase on the secondary market. But for now, StubHub remains the dominant player in a largely open ticket resale industry.
The Bottom Line
StubHub is structured around unrestricted ticket resales, while Ticketmaster focuses on direct primary sales. This core difference in business models and incentives is why StubHub attracts so much more secondary inventory despite Ticketmaster’s strong primary market position. Significant changes would be required for Ticketmaster to shift focus and try to compete head-on with StubHub in the resale space.