Stubhub Fees - The Truth About Buyer and Seller Fees

StubHub’s fees are more confusing than ever. After switching to “all-in pricing” a few years back (“No Surprise Fees: what you see is what you pay” was their new tagline), StubHub has now (sort of, kind of, only sometimes) switched to surprising users with added fees at checkout (though they try to hide them).

What are StubHub’s fees for buyers? What are StubHub’s seller fees? Do some sellers pay different commissions? Are there ways to reduce the cost of these service charges?

We have the answers to all your questions about StubHub’s fees, and as an added bonus, we’ll show you how to minimize the excessive service fees that StubHub charges. We’ll show you how to sell your tickets on StubHub. If you’re looking to buy tickets on StubHub, we’ll show you how to do it in the most cost-effective way possible and find affordable tickets that may not be listed on StubHub.

Let’s dig in.

StubHub Fees – How Much Does StubHub Charge?

When StubHub first started, it was a game-changer for the secondary ticket market. While StubHub’s fees may have been high, at least they were consistent. Buyer fees were always 10%, and seller fees were almost always 15%, with some exceptions for sellers who had been with them since the company’s inception.

At the start of 2014, however, StubHub began charging higher fees. When StubHub transitioned to showing all-inclusive pricing, it used the opportunity to experiment with charging buyers anywhere from 2% to 20% (in addition to the 15% already charged to sellers). StubHub’s buyer fees change based on the event location, timing, performer, or team, and other factors.

The only time someone would know what buyer fees StubHub was charging was when they listed a ticket for an event and then checked the price at which StubHub was listing it. There was absolutely zero transparency.

StubHub Buyer Fees – What Does the Buyer See?

With a more extensive site redesign, StubHub is now experimenting with showing buyers the amount they’re charging, but only if they look for it.

For example, here’s the current StubHub checkout page:

Did you see where StubHub disclaims the fees they charge you?

Neither did I. You have to click the tiny icon next to “Pricing details” to see a breakdown of how much StubHub is charging you to buy tickets from them:

As you can see, for these Taylor Swift tickets at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, StubHub would charge the buyer $332 for a set of tickets costing $1,900. That’s 17.47%!

The lesson here: StubHub is constantly changing its buyer fees. Pay attention to what’s being charged, and look for ways to save money on sports, concert, and theater tickets (see below).

How to save money when using StubHub

If you’re looking to save money when buying tickets, you have a couple of options:

1. Use StubHub Fan Codes & Coupon Codes. You can get up to 3% off using a StubHub Coupon Code. See the link above to learn more.

2. Use a ticket marketplace that doesn’t charge such ridiculous fees. One alternative would be us – TickPick. We’re a ticket marketplace with no buyer fees, so our tickets are typically 10-25% cheaper than what you’ll find on StubHub.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best ticket sites that don’t charge huge fees, which can be found here.

StubHub Seller Fees – What is StubHub’s Commission?

Sellers can list their tickets without any fees, and unlike StubHub’s buyer fees, sellers are pretty consistently charged a 15% fee if their tickets sell. If you’re a seller looking to reduce the fees you pay on StubHub, your only real option is to sell a large number of tickets. As a seller, no discounts or coupon codes are available to decrease the commission StubHub takes on your sales.

StubHub assumes that they’re the only resource available if you want to sell your tickets online, and they take advantage of that. If you’re a large seller, your fees can be reduced to as low as 10%, based on how much you sell, but to make a serious dent, you’ll need to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tickets every year. If you’re just looking to unload some extra tickets, that’s probably not for you.

See how to sell your tickets in the StubHub section of the blog for tips on how to use StubHub to sell your concert, sports, or theater tickets.

What StubHub Says About Its Fees

It’s too bad that StubHub’s User Agreement doesn’t talk more about its fees. Here is all it says on the subject:

“StubHub reserves the right in its sole discretion to change Fees at any time as it deems appropriate, including after you list your tickets.”

This shows the complete lack of transparency StubHub has regarding its pricing.

It’s a little crazy that the MLB, which has partnered with StubHub to cash in on the baseball tickets being sold on StubHub’s site, has the most straightforward answer on StubHub’s fees:

“It is free to list tickets for sale, and to search for tickets to buy on StubHub. On each completed transaction, the buyer pays a 10% fee, and sellers are charged a 15% fee. For example, on the sale of a $100 ticket, the buyer would pay $110. The seller would net $85.”

Unfortunately, as you can see from the above sections, this fee structure is no longer in effect.

From what I understand, there are approximately 50 brokers that charge only 5% to 7.5%. These brokers receive preferential treatment because they were among the early users of Ticket Technology, a Point of Sale (POS) system that helped brokers manage their massive number of ticket listings and sell tickets. When StubHub acquired Ticket Technology, the original 48 brokers using that POS received a discounted commission fee as part of the agreement.

How to Sell Tickets on StubHub

Selling your tickets on StubHub is actually pretty simple.

First, go to StubHub’s sell page and search for the event you’re looking for:

Next, select the event. If you have tickets for the same sections and rows at multiple events (e.g., season tickets), you can select multiple events simultaneously.

From here, we’re not allowed to show screenshots due to StubHub’s user agreement, but it’s straightforward. Simply enter the barcodes of your tickets or select the section, row, etc., set the price, and you’re all set.