StubHub Ditches ‘All-In’ Ticket Pricing

It seems that attendees of music and sports events dislike the sticker shock of “all-in” ticket pricing even more than they dislike additional fees being tacked on during the checkout process.

After less than two years of “all-in” pricing, ticket resale company StubHub is reverting to its previous system of adding 15 percent to 17 percent to ticket prices at checkout, according to the Wall Street Journal.

However, StubHub President Scott Cutler says the shift away from all-in pricing isn’t a retreat.

“I view it as a continuous evolution,” says Cutler, adding that the price-display change is one of several changes in the works, including better event recommendations and a further expansion into international markets. The all-in ticket pricing display will still be an option on StubHub, though not the default setting.

“The hope was that the industry would follow and that would yield greater transparency,” Cutler says. However, few competitors joined in with all-in pricing display, making them look like a better deal than StubHub in preliminary ticket price search results.

Regardless of display options, StubHub remains one of the biggest players in the $6 billion live event ticket reselling market.