Scalpers or Legit?

June 8, 2010 11:51 AM

Experience good or bad using third party ticket sellers like Stub Hub or Ticket Triangle?

It is my mother and step-father's 20th wedding anniversary this August and my sister and I would like to get them tickets to see the Royals play the Yankees on the 13th. I want to get them tickets from the official Royals MLB page even though the seats might not be as good as we like. She would rather go through a 3rd party seller and get them better seats.

My argument is that it is very easy to get completely ripped off by one of those sites and it is better to get less-than-desirable tickets through official channels. Her argument is that we will have no problems using Stub Hub or Ticket Triangle and she doesn't want to buy them a crappy anniversary present.

Please hope us settle this disagreement!

posted by ephemerista to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total)

When I've sold tickets on StubHub, it seemed pretty much foolproof from a buyer's point of view. We had to put in the seat numbers and it located them on a map of the Brickyard (these were Indy tickets), and it seemed pretty locked down. I'm sure we could have figured out a way to scam them but it wouldn't have been easy.

But! There are no particular price controls, so you need to do your research first; it's all about what you're willing to pay for a particular seat.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:53 AM on June 8, 2010

Best answer: Actually, my understanding is that StubHub is the official re-seller of all MLB tickets aside from the Red Sox. I've also used them for years for various MLB-related tickets without a hitch, including everything from nosebleed tickets back when they had the third deck to close enough to the field to see sweat stains.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:56 AM on June 8, 2010

Yup, Stub Hub is absolutely legitimate. The ticket prices are what the market will bear, fairly comparable to what you might find from a scalper, as I've discovered near Fenway Park in Boston (the ticket prices are FINALLY coming down, hooray!). As chesty_a_arthur says, you know exactly where the tickets are, and what you're paying. You'll probably find that all the tickets for sale are in the same price range for comparable seats. Good luck.
posted by Melismata at 12:00 PM on June 8, 2010

I bought a pair of last-minute tickets to a sold-out X concert through StubHub last year. The seller had them at just below face value. With the shipping, I paid slightly more than I would have had I got them from the box office, and they arrived in plenty of time. So, that's my one StubHub experience, and it was positive.
posted by Devoidoid at 12:01 PM on June 8, 2010

I've never bought sports tickets through StubHub, but they've been just great in regards to the U2 tickets I bought for a show that has been postponed. They keep emailing me to update the status of the show, and the last email said they would refund what I paid for the ticket if I wanted. As long as I was comfortable with the price (which is something you'll have to figure out for yourself), I would definitely use StubHub again.
posted by arco at 12:01 PM on June 8, 2010

Used Stub Hub for White Sox tickets, worked great.
posted by escabeche at 12:08 PM on June 8, 2010

Response by poster: Well I guess I stand corrected (and quickly at that). I'm sure my sister will be infinitely pleased that she is right and I am wrong.
posted by ephemerista at 12:09 PM on June 8, 2010

Best answer: Just chiming in with another positive review of StubHub. If you want better seats than what is available, or want seats in specific sections, it's a great alternative to buying buying them directly from the team. It's officially sanctioned by MLB and if you buy ones that use the instant download (which is available for most of them) I believe there is no possible way that you'll end up not being able to use them. For the non-instant ones I think they can just refund your purchase if something goes wrong, like if the seller doesn't actually upload the ticket info, but you generally don't need to worry about that unless you're buying tickets from season ticket holders before the season starts and they physically get the tickets. I've bought and sold tickets on there for years and I've never had any issues personally.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:34 PM on June 8, 2010

I've had no problems using Stubhub to buy tickets on several occasions. However, the game is in KC. Even with the Yankees in town, it's still the Royals. It's been a while (unfortunately) since the Royals were a hot ticket. I'd wait and hit Craigslist the week before the game to pick up a pair of season tickets at 50% off, or better. I did that with the Nationals last month and got season tickets 4 rows off the field (in LF) at exactly half price.
posted by COD at 12:42 PM on June 8, 2010

I'd wait and hit Craigslist the week before the game to pick up a pair of season tickets at 50% off, or better. I did that with the Nationals last month and got season tickets 4 rows off the field (in LF) at exactly half price.

The prices on StubHub also tend to come down as the date of the game approaches, and there is actually an automated method for sellers to have the price reduced to their lowest acceptable price up until the date. I'm not sure if that is an option anyway in this case though because it's a gift and presumably they would need to get the tickets further in advance.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:01 PM on June 8, 2010

We used StubHub once and were initially pretty leery of the process, as we were paying hundreds of dollars for some front-row seats at a Steely Dan concert. But they did absolutely every single thing they said and it worked like a charm. I would use them again for sure.
posted by raisingsand at 1:28 PM on June 8, 2010

Response by poster: Yes. We are afraid that my step-father will buy the tickets ahead of time, so we want to present the gift (har har) to him on father's day.
posted by ephemerista at 1:38 PM on June 8, 2010