1/3 of all tickets on StubHub UK come from only three sellers
An investigation by the anti-touting campaign group FanFair Alliance found that 72% of tickets listed on the UK website were from Ticket Evolution, Your Ticket Delivery, and PCE.
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An investigation by FanFair Alliance has found that almost three-quarters of tickets for arena events in June listed on the secondary ticketing website StubHub UK came from three bulk sellers: Ticket Evolution, Your Ticket Delivery, and PCE. The research analyzed 50,272 tickets listed on StubHub UK for events at arena venues across the UK, including the O2 in London, OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Birmingham’s Utilita Arena and Manchester’s Co-op Live. Of those listings, 40.9% could be attributed to Ticket Evolution, 19.5% to Your Ticket Delivery, and 10.6% to PCE.
StubHub International, the operators of StubHub UK (distinct from StubHub US), announced a partnership with Ticket Evolution in 2022. FFA campaign manager Adam Webb told IQ that it had contacted StubHub UK about more than 20,000 tickets listed by Ticket Evolution, but all the listings were removed immediately. “Incredibly, even after removing thousands of Ticket Evolution listings, we are still finding masses of dubious-looking tickets from dubious-looking touts. Such unlawful and anti-consumer practices are not isolated to StubHub International. They are endemic across multiple ticket resale websites.”
StubHub International said it has “systems in place to prevent speculative ticket sales” on its UK platform, adding: “We maintain a comprehensive framework of controls to ensure listings are valid and sellers adhere to applicable rules…We remove any ticket listing found not to be compliant, and sellers who repeatedly breach our policies may be suspended or banned.” The company has not commented on whether its partnership with Ticket Evolution is still in place.
The FFA’s findings come amid increased pressure on the UK government to crack down on secondary ticketing. At the end of last year, British artists including Dua Lipa, Radiohead, Sam Fender, Coldplay, PJ Harvey and New Order signed an open letter urging the government to put an end to “exploitative” ticket resale practices, saying that they were “preventing genuine fans from accessing the music, theater, and sports they love.” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy confirmed plans to enforce a ban on selling tickets for more than their original cost and to limit what resale platforms could charge. These changes have yet to be implemented, however.
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