When you’re buying tickets to an event, the last thing you want is to get bogged down in problems. Sites that are not easy to use, hidden fees, technical glitches, and countless other problems can take a great experience and make it a difficult, annoying dilemma. This is why we’ve taken two of the biggest ticket sites out there—StubHub and SeatGeek—and have compared them here for you—side by side. This way, the next time you go to buy tickets, you will know which of these is most likely to help you without causing just another headache.
Both of these sites are great for buying and selling tickets. Which one is best for you depends on the type of ticket that you’re looking for. We hope this Stubhub vs SeatGeek review can bring some sense to the search. Even so, one site might be better than another at one time in one situation, and the next day they could flipflop. We encourage you to check out both so you can get the best deal possible.
A Small Look at StubHub
StubHub is a really popular site, and they get a lot of traffic as a result of this. When it comes to ease of use, the site is pretty straightforward. If you don’t see the show that you’re looking for, just do a quick search for it. You can search by artist or team, location, or venue, which makes it a lot easier to find just what you want, and discover new stuff, too. Once you are at the event and location that you want, a map of the venue will pop up. You can search by where the seats are located or by ticket price. They also have the best available seat feature, which is pretty nice if you want to get a great location.
You need to have an account to see the final prices for your tickets. Once you’ve done this, you can see what you’ll pay for the tickets plus any applicable fees. StubHub’s fees can be kind of high at times, but it really depends on the specific event that you are going to and how your tickets are being delivered. Electronic delivery is pretty cheap, but having tickets delivered by mail isn’t. Shopping at the site at different times of day for several days will help you to find the cheapest tickets for an event. This is actually true of all ticket sites, but if you’re going to pick StubHub and use it exclusively, this is important to keep in mind. Little tricks like this can help you to save a lot of money.
StubHub’s affiliation with eBay has helped it to grow at a very quick rate. They are one of the bigger ticket sites in the world, and even recently opened up a German site, allowing those living in Germany to buy and sell tickets to events. In all, StubHub has over 100 different companies and organizations that they work with, including many sports teams, like the New York Yankees, the San Francisco Giants, and the Philadelphia 76ers. This gives them a huge reach and large client base. When it comes to popularity, they are one of the best. Popularity has helped them to keep providing a strong and reliable product, but this has also led to an increase in prices at time. Shopping around can help alleviate this.
A Brief Look at SeatGeek
SeatGeek has a pretty easy to use software platform. They will locate you by your computer’s location and recommend a few popular shows near you, but you can search for what you want by the artist or team, the city, or the venue. Once you select the event, then you can see a map of the stadium and click on the area you want to sit in or search through individual ticket deals. They have a number of different vendors for tickets, which lets you shop for a better price. Remember that SeatGeek is not a ticket exchange per se, but more of a ticket aggregator, which searches several different exchanges to help you find multiple tickets to whichever event you are interested in.
When you find what you want, just click on the checkout button and you’ll be taken to the purchasing page. Put down your info, complete with a credit card number, and the tickets will be sent out. They have mail and electronic delivery for tickets. There are fees for tickets, but they build these right into the price of the tickets so you aren’t overwhelmed by a lot of numbers. The downside of this is that you can’t always see exactly where your money is going. The final price is still easily visible, though. This is good and helps you to know exactly what you’re going to spend before you spend it. Not all sites post fees in an easy to read style, and oftentimes you won’t know your final price until right before you submit your payment.
Also, SeatGeek has a very strong mobile platform. If you want to buy or sell tickets, it’s really easy to do so from your smartphone. They have apps for both iPhone and Android devices. Plus, they are fully integrated with Apple Pay, so if you do have an iPhone, payments (both to and from SeatGeek) are quick and automatically processed. It has helped make them more convenient than ever. Little things like this are what separates good companies from great companies. We really like the fact that they are willing to go the extra mile to make life a tiny bit easier for customers. Payments with an Android phone are still easy, but this seamless feature has not been fully developed as of yet.
Breakdown
When it comes to user-friendliness, StubHub does have a slightly more attractive homepage, which can retain a bit more clientele, but SeatGeek is a lot easier to use. They were even ranked by PC Magazine as one of the top 100 websites in the world. We also like that you can log in with your Facebook on SeatGeek if you want. It makes the process a tiny bit easier when it comes to getting access to the tickets you crave. This SeatGeek vs Stubhub overlook will bring a lot of ticket searchers to the right place. It’s easy to find tickets, it’s the price that will count in the end.
For fees, we have found that SeatGeek is better overall, but we like StubHub’s transparency. For example, SeatGeek builds the fees into the price of the ticket, while StubHub will show the add-ons. SeatGeek is typically not as expensive, but this can vary depending on the show, so this isn’t always the case. And if you want to know exactly what it is you’re paying for StubHub is the better choice. Which is best for you will depend on what you are looking for, really.
The checkout process on each site is pretty similar. The platforms are different, but the process is pretty much the same. They run very similarly as far as checkout times go if you are already logged into your StubHub account. If you aren’t SeatGeek is a tiny bit faster.
Overall, SeatGeek has a tiny edge for us over StubHub. StubHub does have big merits, though, and depending on the show, they are sometimes the better choice. Checking both out before you commit is still a good idea, so if you have a few extra minutes, this is what we recommend.
We will continue to update this Seatgeek vs Stubhub page as we get more information. For now, enjoy the show.
