Surprise! "Professional" sellers behind 50% of tickets on resale sites

As reported by "Financial Times", the increible figure of half the tickets on concert, theatre and sport resale websites are from bulk listings sold by event promoters to “professional” sellers, according to an industry leader.

In a recent interview, Scott Cutler - chief executive of StubHub - said that there was a 50:50 split on the US company’s platform of consumers selling their tickets and “professional” traders. He called on the live music industry, parts of which have been sharply critical of ticket reselling websites such as StubHub, to be more open about the ways in which tickets are sold: 

The business as a whole needs to be a lot more transparent around where the tickets are distributed . . . Very little is actually being sold at the ‘on-sale’ to the public. Why is it that only 20 per cent of a typical venue is actually sold to the public? Where is the rest of that inventory being sold? Being sold to fan clubs? Being sold to premium members? Being sold to managers? Being sold to friends?.

StubHub said the proportion of professional sellers varied between countries but did not provide figures. It cannot reveal details of the identities of bulk buyers because of contractual obligations, it said.

Asked if it was hypocritical for the music industry both to criticise and work with resale websites, Mr Cutler said:

I wouldn’t call it hypocrisy, I’d just say it’s the reality of doing business.