This isn't getting enough press. We had an extensive discussion on radio about this (including an experienced ticket broker who called in), but otherwise it's not being talked about very much.

Stubhub was, for a long time, a mostly reputable company with a good reputation. It was actually owned by eBay for awhile, which then sold it in November 2019 for about $4 billion. The new owner, Viagogo, was smaller than eBay, and some even wondered where they were getting the money for this cash sale.

Now it seems that Viagogo is indeed cash poor, and is screwing customers cruise line style (but even worse).

Here's an e-mail I received today, which tells most of the story (bolding is mine):

Dear Todd,

The last few weeks have transformed all of our lives in ways we could never have imagined. I wanted to take a moment to share some of the actions we’ve taken as a company in support of our customers, our partners and employees. We’ve spent 20 years bringing the joy of live to buyers and sellers worldwide; we are now doing our best to navigate an unprecedented situation for all. Our commitment is to continue to communicate with you regularly on the actions we are taking during this very difficult period, until the live event industry can resume as normal. Thank you for the patience and trust you have shown so far.


Our Updated Buyer and Seller Policies

In the US alone, more than 23,000 events have been canceled, postponed or rescheduled in the past three weeks and we expect to see many more. Effectively overnight, the live event industry has come to a standstill – for fans, sellers, teams, leagues, artists, venues, and other supporting businesses.

We’ve worked hard to create a platform that serves both buyers and sellers as a trusted marketplace. As a convenience to buyers, acting as an intermediary, we’ve historically made the decision to refund them before collecting money from the seller. We’ve also historically offered sellers more convenience by paying them for ticket sales on our platform before events actually happen. Under normal circumstances, these processes are manageable.

Given the impact of the coronavirus, it is not possible to sustain this practice in the near-term. We are facing significant timing delays in recouping funds from the thousands of sellers on our platform, and expect these challenges to continue in the coming months. At the same time, buyers expect immediate refunds. As a result, we’ve enacted new policies in the US and Canada that we believe are clear and fan-first.


Buyer Policies

We understand fans are disappointed and concerned by these large-scale event cancellations. We were the first in our industry to begin offering customers 120% credit for the canceled purchases as a thank you for remaining patient in a very challenging period. In the first two weeks of offering this option, approximately 70% of customers opted to receive this additional future value. Recently, we announced this as our standard policy for canceled events, with refunds available in jurisdictions where they are required. Coupons can be applied to one or multiple StubHub orders in the same currency. If your order is less than your coupon value, you can use the remainder on another event.


Seller Policies

Meanwhile, sellers on our platform also face challenges. Music and sports fans, season ticket holders, and business sellers are unclear if teams and primary ticketing companies are providing credits or refunds for the tickets they had previously bought and subsequently sold on StubHub. We are working with the thousands of sellers across our platform to understand options and timing for repayment to us for tickets of canceled events. We’ve also updated our seller policies going forward to manage future risk. You can read more about our updated policies here.

Beyond our customer community, we are doing our best to keep our employees safe and manage business operations. Our first priority has been to make sure our employees are in a safe environment, with work-from-home enacted early and quickly across our multiple locations. We have also moved quickly to manage our business operations and spend in response to COVID-19. Despite these changes, our teams are continuing to serve our buyers and sellers, uninterrupted, and I’m extremely proud of their dedication and resilience.

As a leader in our industry for over 20 years, StubHub is committed to helping those in our industry most affected by the Coronavirus. We are happy to be able to use our previously allocated StubHub Foundation funds to provide assistance of up to $125,000 to non-profit partners, including Sweet Relief, MusiCares, and Broadway Cares, which are helping impacted workers in our industries.

We are so grateful to our community and hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. We will continue to serve you as our customers and partners – today and in the future – and look forward to all being able to come together again and experience the joy of live entertainment when the time is right.


Best,

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
President, StubHub


So basically, unless you're in one of the 14 states with tougher ticket-related consumer laws which require refunds for cancelled events (California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, and Virginia), you will get no refund!

Instead, you will be forced to take a 120% credit, good only for 12 months.

There's a few problems with this.

First, even if you're in one of those 14 listed states, it's a negative checkoff scam. You need to contact them for the refund -- otherwise it quickly defaults to the 120% credit.

Second, and more importantly, many people buy tickets on Stubhub for a one-off event, and are unlikely to use Stubhub in the next 12 months (especially THESE next 12 months, given the risks). For example, if you bought a ticket to see your favorite band in April, they may not be coming back to your city for more than a year. This leaves people with a ticket credit they won't want or need.

Third, Stubhub prices are market-driven. They constantly fluctuate due to demand, and are set by the individual sellers. With all of these credits in people's accounts, where they will have only 12 months to use them (probably less than 12, since nothing will be going for at least a few months), this will artificially push the prices up. There will be far more demand to buy things on Stubhub since people will literally be forced to spend money on there during that time, so this "120%" credit may actually have far less value in reality.

Why is this happening?

Stubhub has already paid the sellers for a lot of these transactions, and in the case of smaller sellers or individuals, they may have a hard time clawing back that money. Of course, there were other events that have been cancelled over time where this was also an issue. However, often there was only a short time between the sale and the cancellation (thus the seller hasn't been paid), plus Stubhub's hefty fees (usually around 23%) allow them to eat the occasional screw job and they make out just fine overall.

Here everything has been cancelled, and they may not be able to claw back a lot of that money they paid out.

On March 6, Stubhub announced that full refunds were an option for everyone, but they changed their minds three weeks later, claiming on March 27 that they would only be available in those 14 states where it's required, and only by request.

Stubhub has long-marketed itself as a company which "guarantees" the sale of all tickets, where they will always "make it right" for you if you get screwed somehow. Looks like that doesn't apply anymore.

Brutal.