Are resale tickets safe? A buyer's checklist

• Sellers outside a marketplace. A post in a fan group, a reply under a tweet, a DM, a classified ad: there is no guarantee, nobody to complain to, and the payment methods these sellers ask for (bank transfer, gift cards, peer-to-peer apps sent to “friends”) are hard or impossible to reverse.
• Fake ticket sites. The FTC warns that fake ticket sites appear in paid search results and on social media, some selling the same seat to several people, and that a seller offering screenshots or paper for an event that uses app tickets is probably a fraud.
• Speculative listings. Some resellers list seats they don’t have yet and try to buy them later. The FTC’s staff report on ticketing describes buyers learning weeks later that such an order was cancelled, with a refund that didn’t cover travel already booked. Maryland and Minnesota ban speculative sales, Washington, D.C. will from January 1, 2027, and there was no federal ban in force in the records we checked. A listing that says the tickets will be “acquired”, or that the seller does not hold them yet, is the tell. (A late delivery date alone is not: many events release mobile tickets only days before the show.)
• Tickets that can’t be transferred. Some events only allow resale through the official exchange, name the buyer on the ticket, or check ID at the door.
• The wrong event. Similar names, the same artist in a nearby city, a different night of a multi-night run. Check the date, venue and city against the official event page.

In their own words, paraphrased, as of the date at the end of this page. Terms can vary by event and change without notice.

• StubHub

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  FanProtect: tickets delivered in time and honored at entry, or comparable replacements or a full refund. Travel costs aren’t covered. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  Refund to your payment method or StubHub credit (its own posts describe the credit differently).

• Vivid Seats

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  100% Buyer Guarantee: secure payment, delivery before the event, valid tickets and the order you paid for, or your money back. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  A refund or a credit, Vivid Seats’ choice; you may have to return the tickets within two weeks of its notice.

• Ticketmaster resale

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  Resale bought on Ticketmaster is reissued with a new barcode; if the event changes you get refund options. The organizer sets the rules per event. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  Refund to your payment method once the organizer’s funds arrive; some organizers offer credit instead.

• TickPick

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  BuyerTrust Guarantee: authentic tickets in time for the event, cancellation protection and emergency replacement. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  A refund or credit for the full price, TickPick’s choice; postponed events stay valid.

• Gametime

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  Valid tickets on time; outside its listed protections, all sales are final. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  Full refund to your payment method if not rescheduled, usually in 5–7 business days.

• SeatGeek

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  We could not open its terms on our check date. Read them on its site.

  If the event is canceled

  Not checked

• HelloTicketspays us a commission

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  HelloTickets’ terms provide a refund if the event is canceled for good and, if the seller cannot deliver, similar or better tickets for the same event or a full refund. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  A refund if the event is canceled for good.

• TicketNetworkpays us a commission

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  Advertises a 100% money-back guarantee: legitimate tickets, the seats ordered or comparable ones, delivered in time. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  A refund of the order, excluding delivery fees, if the event is canceled for good.

• Ticket Squeezepays us a commission

  Buyer protection (its own pages)

  Its guarantee page promises delivery before the event, verified listings and a full refund including fees for a canceled event; its terms route refunds through the seller and exclude shipping. Check both. Terms

  If the event is canceled

  Refund via the seller who filled the order; its own pages differ on whether fees come back.

StubHub is an established resale marketplace, not a scam site, and its tickets come with a written guarantee: under FanProtect, tickets are to arrive in time and be honored at entry, or StubHub provides comparable replacements or a full refund. Travel and hotel costs aren’t covered.

Three things to know before buying there, from its own pages and the FTC:

• For a canceled event, StubHub may give a refund to your payment method or StubHub credit, and its own posts describe the credit option differently. Check which applies to your order.
• In April 2026 StubHub agreed to refund $10 million over fees missing from its first price screens in May 2025 (FTC). That was a case about how prices were shown, not about fake tickets.
• Prices are set by the sellers and can sit far above face value; compare the total with other sites for the same seats.

The real risk is a lookalike: the FTC warns that fake ticket sites buy ads in search results. Type the address yourself rather than clicking an ad.

Vivid Seats is also an established resale marketplace with a written guarantee: its 100% Buyer Guarantee promises a secure payment, delivery before the event, valid tickets and the order you paid for (identical, comparable or better seats), or your money back.

• For a canceled event with no new date it chooses between a refund and a credit for a future purchase, and it may ask you to return the tickets within two weeks of its notice.
• For a postponed event whose tickets stay valid there is generally no refund.
• Its prices include fees from the first screen (since May 12, 2025); sales tax is added at checkout.

Neither StubHub nor Vivid Seats pays TixInfo, and we don’t show their prices; the comparison of what each big site promises is in the best ticket resale sites, compared.

Official resale happens inside the event’s official seller: Ticketmaster’s fan-to-fan resale and Face Value Exchange, AXS Official Resale. On Ticketmaster, a resale ticket is voided and reissued to the buyer with a new barcode, which removes most doubt about whether it is real. Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange, for tours whose artists opt in, lets fans resell only at what they paid.

Other marketplaces (StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, TickPick, Gametime and the partners we compare) list tickets from many sellers, often for events the official exchange doesn’t cover, and back them with their own guarantee. For events that restrict resale to the official exchange, the official route is the only one that is sure to work.

Many US events now use mobile tickets with a moving barcode that refreshes every few seconds, so a screenshot will not scan. The organizer can hold the barcode back until close to the event, typically within three days, and a transferred ticket gets a new barcode while the sender’s copy stops working.

On Ticketmaster, a transfer is accepted by the recipient by text or email and issues a new barcode that only they can use; the sender’s copy stops working, and the sender can cancel only until it is accepted. That is why a seller who offers a screenshot, a PDF for an app-only event, or “I’ll send it later by email” outside a marketplace is a warning sign. On a marketplace, the listing tells you the delivery method and the date by which tickets will arrive.

1. Before the event: check the order page and your email (including spam) for the transfer; if the promised delivery date has passed, contact the marketplace’s support with your order number.
2. At the door: if a ticket is refused, ask the venue staff for the reason in writing or a photo of the error screen, and contact the marketplace the same day. Several sites’ terms ask for venue proof and have short claim windows.
3. Afterwards: follow the marketplace’s claim process first. If you paid by credit card and the seller doesn’t fix it, your card issuer’s dispute process is the next step.
4. Report fraud by sellers outside a marketplace to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

1. 1Buy on a marketplace whose terms promise replacement tickets or a refund, and read what they cover.
2. 2Type the site’s address yourself or come from a site you trust; be wary of paid search results and social-media links.
3. 3Check the event date, venue and city against the official event page.
4. 4Read the delivery method and date; be wary of tickets that will be “acquired” later.
5. 5Check whether the event restricts resale or names the buyer on the ticket.
6. 6Pay by credit card on the marketplace, never by bank transfer, gift card or “friends and family” payments.
7. 7Keep the confirmation and order number until you are inside.

Comparing prices across protected marketplaces is the next step: the best ticket resale sites, compared, or search for your event to see our partners’ prices side by side.