Ebay's Stubhub Set To Launch Fan Resale Site In The UK (Ticket Sale Feature)
Friday, 16 September 2011
Written by Dave Ball
The UK's secondary ticket sale market is about to get even more competitive as eBay have confirmed they are planning to launch their own secondary sales site 'StubHub' for the UK. The move is expected to signal the end of eBay tickets which never truly competed in the market.
StubHub already operates successfully in the USA, acting as the main ticket exchange for sporting events as well as for music and will provide stiff competition for the likes of Viagogo, GetMeIn and Seatwave. This will lead to more choice than ever before for UK customers who are looking to buy tickets for sold out events and should further drive down prices and provide better value for money. The launch will include retail outlets to go along with the more typical online sales market.
Secondary sales has been a topic of some debate for a while now and an area Stereoboard has regularly commented on, most recently HERE. The UK Government agreed with our stance that secondary sites provide a secure place to buy tickets which is a far better option than buying from unregulated touts and confirmed that they would not be looking to cap prices on secondary ticket sales for exactly the reasons we stated to provide a
'healthy and safe secondary market'.
Speaking to the Financial Times an eBay spokesperson said they targeted the UK because fans already have a comfort level with online ticket purchasing which isn't as abundant in other European nations. Unsurprisingly, they are aiming for the same high levels of customer satisfaction they already receive from their US operation, saying "From a UK perspective, our ambitions would be to provide the same kind of top-class customer service that has enabled us to be the leading secondary ticketing market in the US."
With their US focus being more geared towards sport than music StubHub will have to think carefully about the alterations they need to make to the US business model, especially as football in this country does have limits on ticket resale which aren't found in the major US sports leagues such as the NFL and NHL. Joe Cohen, who founded Seatwave had this to say
"StubHub built a great U.S. business largely based on the sports industry. The nuance in the UK is that in soccer, which is the largest sports category by a factor of ten, resale is prohibited or at best fixed at face value while the music category is ascendant. So, StubHub will have to reorient their approach to the business in order to be successful. Additionally, we'll now have four exchanges in a market one-sixth the size of the U.S., so it will be interesting to see who plays to win and who plays for share. Stay tuned"
Eric Baker, founder of Viagogo feels that, despite increasing his competition this will be a good move towards further legitimising secondary ticket sales in the UK. Coming out with a rather bizarre, but quite accurate example:
"If you were going to eBay to buy tickets, it's sort of like buying a car without seatbelts. But, we came over here with a safer, more secure option for fans, like selling cars with seatbelts, so bringing in another safe, secure option will be a good thing."
Here at Stereoboard we welcome the arrival of another, safe option for fans to use to buy tickets for sold out gigs and expect this will see lower prices for customers as the companies compete with each other.
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With their US focus being more geared towards sport than music StubHub will have to think carefully about the alterations they need to make to the US business model, especially as football in this country does have limits on ticket resale which aren't found in the major US sports leagues such as the NFL and NHL. Joe Cohen, who founded Seatwave had this to say
