I just found out about StubHub

[Main Man]

There are instances when a Season Ticket holder can't make a game, so bearing in mind they have paid in excess of £1000 for that - is there really anything wrong with them making a relatively small profit on this one ticket?

By using StubHub, the Club have made tickets more accessible to a wider fan base.

Also, a ticket is only worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

I understand your frustration, but I fail to see the argument.

 

[Kendall]

There are instances when a Season Ticket holder can't make a game, so bearing in mind they have paid in excess of £1000 for that - is there really anything wrong with them making a relatively small profit on this one ticket?

By using StubHub, the Club have made tickets more accessible to a wider fan base.

Also, a ticket is only worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

I understand your frustration, but I fail to see the argument.

If you fail to see it, then that's a shame. I see your argument for someone making a small profit BUT, in the past when an ST holder couldn't go to games, they may be inclined to give up a season ticket, say if they moved out of the area. Now someone could theoretically not intend to go to any games but make a profit on every single ticket they sell. How is that fair? It's just glorified touting; also, when a ticket is listed for over £100 it's a bit of a jip. In my opinion you buy a season ticket because you intend to go to every game, if you can't go, you should be making a small loss on that ticket. You made a commitment to keep that ticket for yourself for the season, if you can't fulfill that there shouldn't be a reward for it at the expense of someone else.

This also brings me on to Bronze membership - which you pay a premium for because you get on the ST waiting list. The club creams in this extra premium knowing full well the chances of the ST waiting list going down now are non-existant. Why would anyone ever give up an ST? except perhaps only in death? In essence, it's almost like owning a property now, which will continue to go up in value. You may never intend to go to any games, just sell your ticket for a premium (rent) which covers your costs (mortgage).

I don't agree that it's open to a wider fanbase. The fans who used to be able to purchase tickets at face via the club when a season ticket holder couldn't go are now out in the cold. Instead, you're more likely to end up with empty seats (if the stub hub premium tickets go unsold), or just tourists, who don't mind paying a big fee because they happen to be in London that week.

 

[Spurs 1961]

There are instances when a Season Ticket holder can't make a game, so bearing in mind they have paid in excess of £1000 for that - is there really anything wrong with them making a relatively small profit on this one ticket?

By using StubHub, the Club have made tickets more accessible to a wider fan base.

Also, a ticket is only worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

I understand your frustration, but I fail to see the argument.

The answer is here. The club know that some people will pay anything for a ticket. Sells 1 ticket at £100 or three at £32 and you get similar revenue so who needs numbers. The fact that our stadium is small in comparison pushes up the value of each seat. Now of course the best pricing sells to corporates for £1000 including prawn sandwiches/goody bags and a handshake from a 'legend' and still finds room for a few ordinary people at £30 because there is more to sell than tickets and you want as many people to buy into the brand for as possible. Stubhub looks like a mechanism to try and get the maximum from people whoever they are and as correctly stated give the club feedback on just what those values might be

 

[the_king]

I have a few issues with this.

First of all our own fans are fleecing each other for cash, if you sell your ticket for anything over face value, you're a twat.

I seem to remember a huge 'Out The Tout' campain, the club have basically found a loophole to legalise touting purely to make a profit from us.

No morals.

 

[weststandvoice]

There are instances when a Season Ticket holder can't make a game, so bearing in mind they have paid in excess of £1000 for that - is there really anything wrong with them making a relatively small profit on this one ticket?

By using StubHub, the Club have made tickets more accessible to a wider fan base.

Also, a ticket is only worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

I understand your frustration, but I fail to see the argument.

That depends upon how broken your moral compass is.

 

[micpin]

Couple of points, first, as a season ticket holder I have used Stubhub twice this season to sell my seat when I was away. They were the Newcastle and Man Utd games.
The Newcastle ticket was sold at face value plus my costs. The Man Utd ticket went for less than face value. You could only buy Man Utd tickets on Stubhub if you were a club member. I really don't believe that it is possible, as has been suggested, to heavily subsidise your season ticket purchase by selling a few matches.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I have purchased for friends and family via StubHub on a couple of occasions and have not yet paid more than list price.
Bronze membership is a different issue. In my opinion the scramble to buy one of the 'Monday' tickets was not worth the effort. Significantly better seats were available on the Tuesday when all members can purchase. The only benefit to me for being a Bronze member is that it eventually, after many years, gave me a chance to buy a season ticket.

 

[Kendall]

That depends upon how broken your moral compass is.

It's not even just about the morals of selling one ticket at a premium to a fellow fan - everyone will have their own views on that. It's also about how it breaks the machanism and errodes the reason for getting an ST in the first place. First and foremost it's because you're a fan and you want to secure your seat. If you can make a profit on every game, you might not ever bother going - particularly if say, your wife is wanting you to sell your motorbike to pay for the child you just had. You'd just take the income from the ST. It goes against absolutely everything concerned with what a season ticket at a football club is supposed to be.

 

[Main Man]

If you fail to see it, then that's a shame. I see your argument for someone making a small profit BUT, in the past when an ST holder couldn't go to games, they may be inclined to give up a season ticket, say if they moved out of the area. Now someone could theoretically not intend to go to any games but make a profit on every single ticket they sell. How is that fair? It's just glorified touting; also, when a ticket is listed for over £100 it's a bit of a jip. In my opinion you buy a season ticket because you intend to go to every game, if you can't go, you should be making a small loss on that ticket. You made a commitment to keep that ticket for yourself for the season, if you can't fulfill that there shouldn't be a reward for it at the expense of someone else.

This also brings me on to Bronze membership - which you pay a premium for because you get on the ST waiting list. The club creams in this extra premium knowing full well the chances of the ST waiting list going down now are non-existant. Why would anyone ever give up an ST? except perhaps only in death? In essence, it's almost like owning a property now, which will continue to go up in value. You may never intend to go to any games, just sell your ticket for a premium (rent) which covers your costs (mortgage).

I don't agree that it's open to a wider fanbase. The fans who used to be able to purchase tickets at face via the club when a season ticket holder couldn't go are now out in the cold. Instead, you're more likely to end up with empty seats (if the stub hub premium tickets go unsold), or just tourists, who don't mind paying a big fee because they happen to be in London that week.

I understand your point, but I just think you are misunderstanding the difference between StubHub and touting.

Touts are purely financially motivated, there only interest is to make money. They will have no care for the event etc.

StubHub is a facility for people to sell their tickets when they can't make a game, and Season Ticket holder's can have genuine reasons for not being able to attend a game.

So if one said Spurs fan can't attend the Crystal Palace game because his Son is getting married that day, StubHub provides a great facility for the one said Spurs fan to recuperate some money and provide another Spurs fan with the opportunity to watch the club we all love, live at White Hart Lane.

If a fan chooses to charge an extortionate amount then that is perogative, and I agree that is immoral. But if somebody is prepared to pay it, then you could argue it is fully justified.

But those extortionate prices aren't StubHubs faults (ignoring the cut they take), nor the Club's.

 

[MattyP]

If you fail to see it, then that's a shame. I see your argument for someone making a small profit BUT, in the past when an ST holder couldn't go to games, they may be inclined to give up a season ticket, say if they moved out of the area. Now someone could theoretically not intend to go to any games but make a profit on every single ticket they sell. How is that fair? It's just glorified touting; also, when a ticket is listed for over £100 it's a bit of a jip. In my opinion you buy a season ticket because you intend to go to every game, if you can't go, you should be making a small loss on that ticket. You made a commitment to keep that ticket for yourself for the season, if you can't fulfill that there shouldn't be a reward for it at the expense of someone else.

This also brings me on to Bronze membership - which you pay a premium for because you get on the ST waiting list. The club creams in this extra premium knowing full well the chances of the ST waiting list going down now are non-existant. Why would anyone ever give up an ST? except perhaps only in death? In essence, it's almost like owning a property now, which will continue to go up in value. You may never intend to go to any games, just sell your ticket for a premium (rent) which covers your costs (mortgage).

I don't agree that it's open to a wider fanbase. The fans who used to be able to purchase tickets at face via the club when a season ticket holder couldn't go are now out in the cold. Instead, you're more likely to end up with empty seats (if the stub hub premium tickets go unsold), or just tourists, who don't mind paying a big fee because they happen to be in London that week.

A couple of points in reply to this.

Very few ST holder buy their season tickets fully expecting to go to every game. I've had a season ticket for a number of years, but have never been able to go to a game on Boxing Day for example, as there are no trains to get me back from my parents and I don't drive. Now I can sell this game on Stubhub (for the record, the game against West Brom I listed it below "face value" and it didn't sell, so I got nothing).

In the past, and I'm not saying I or anyone I know ever did this or indeed still do this, if you couldn't make a game I'm aware that people used to ask their mates, or people around them, if they wanted the ticket for a mate etc. And some money would change hands, typically 1/20th of the total season ticket cost. So, no profit.

As this is against club rules, to reiterate I know no-one who did this

People do give up season tickets. From memory, between 1,000 and 2,500 new season ticket holders per season come on board.

As for widening it to a wider fanbase, well in the scenario above, if someone you knew did not want the season ticket for a particular game, your seat went empty. Now at least there is the possibility of a fellow spurs fan attending games you can't make.

 

[sunnydelight786]

I put my North Stand Lower ticket up yesterday, for the Palace game, @ £40, it sold in less than 5 mins. Of that £40 I recieve only £35.20 with the rest going on commission....

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I put my North Stand Lower ticket up yesterday, for the Palace game, @ £40, it sold in less than 5 mins. Of that £40 I recieve only £35.20 with the rest going on commission....

I did the same for the Newcastle game, went straight away.

Mate of mine put his Chelsea one up earlier on in the season on the night before the game for £120, went within 5 minutes.

It might not be morally right, but the system is there to be used if required.

 

[LeSoupeKitchen]

To all you pro stub hubbers - what was wrong with just having a straight ticket exchange where tickets could be sold online for face value?

 

[Kendall]

To all you pro stub hubbers - what was wrong with just having a straight ticket exchange where tickets could be sold online for face value?

They didn't recoup the cost of the ticket.

Personally I think that's right, but there you go.

 

[nstream]

Just purchased a pair of tickets for 43 pound each on stub hub for Saturday in the North Lower, 1 Junior and 1 Adult.
Perfectly happy with a little profit making, but I was never going to pay over 50 quid.

 

[sunnydelight786]

To all you pro stub hubbers - what was wrong with just having a straight ticket exchange where tickets could be sold online for face value?

I used it to get rid of the ticket at short notice, not make a profit. £40 was pretty much FV....

 

[Monkey boy]

Anyone know if away games go on sale on stub hub?

 

[Jaffer99]

I put both my Newcastle and Man Utd tickets up for sale at 55 each, (which is about the normal price), neither sold, so how cheap do people want to pay..

 

[MattyP]

To all you pro stub hubbers - what was wrong with just having a straight ticket exchange where tickets could be sold online for face value?

You only got 75% or 80% of it back and the money came off next seasons season ticket rather than receiving cash straightaway.

I am entirely convinced that there are more benefits to the club than to supporters under the new process and that drove the change.

 

[weststandvoice]

Why should ticket holders be guaranteed even FV back? If it's a genuine case of bad timing and you can't go, why would you expect to be "insured"?

The club should operate a simple process whereby these unwanted tickets become "returns" and IF they sell (at FV minus a couple of quid handling fee) you get the FV back.

 

[we_all_loved_freund]

I'm thinking about buying a ticket for the City game; there are tons on there and some for only slightly more than FV (probably to account for the fees), which I am comfortable with.

However, a quick question for anybody who has used the system, I heard horror stories at the start of the season about people queuing for hours to get their tickets from the ground and missing the match. Has this improved? Any recommendations or tips?