How to buy resale tickets without overpaying

A primary ticket is sold by the event’s official seller (often Ticketmaster or AXS for US arenas) at the price the organizer set, during a presale or the general sale. A resale ticket is one somebody already bought and is now listing at a price they choose, on a marketplace like StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek or the partners we compare.

Resale prices can be well above face value for a hot show and below it for a slow one. Some organizers also run an official resale or a face-value exchange, where fans resell at the original price inside the official seller. Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange, for tours whose artists opt in, lets fans resell only at what they paid.

We record the cheapest fees-included price of every event we follow, every day until the show. Following the same 1,570 events from 30 days out to show day, the cheapest ticket moved a median −18% (a median −7% already a week out). By category:

• Concerts: −17% (724 events)
• Sports: −21% (524 games)
• Comedy: −20% (233 shows)
• Theater, final two weeks only: +5% (676 performances)

A median hides a lot of spread. Comparing show day with a week before, 38% of events were at least 10% cheaper on the day, 29% at least 10% dearer and 33% within 10%. And the lowest price of an event’s final three weeks fell in its last two days for 39% of events, but two to three weeks out for 21%.

Resale sites add service, fulfillment or processing fees, and some still advertise a sticker price that grows at checkout. Since May 12, 2025, the FTC’s fee rule has required anyone advertising live-event tickets in the US, resale platforms included, to show the total price with every mandatory fee up front and more prominently than other figures. Taxes, shipping and optional add-ons may be left out of that first number, but must be shown before you pay. The rule does not cap or ban any fee. Comparing one site’s total against another site’s sticker price is an easy way to “find a deal” that isn’t one.

Among the partners we compare, HelloTickets and TicketNetwork list US prices with fees included. Ticket Squeeze’s feed lists sticker prices: for the same event and day, its own site asked a median 7.6% more (2,139 events, measured Oct 14, 2026). Our event pages label which is which and estimate the total where fees are missing.

The details, fee by fee, are in ticket resale fees explained.

There isn’t one site that is always lowest: inventory and fees differ by event. In our daily checks of events where at least two of our partners quoted a fees-included price, the one lowest most often (HelloTickets) was lowest for 74% of the 4,997 events it quoted, which still leaves a large share where another site came out ahead. That is the case for comparing on the day you buy.

How the big US resale sites differ on guarantees, fees and who is in which comparison is laid out in the best ticket resale sites, compared; the head-to-head shares are on which ticket site is cheapest.

Most resale trouble comes from three places: sellers outside a marketplace (social media, classifieds, DMs), listings for tickets the seller does not hold yet, and tickets that can’t legally or technically be transferred. A marketplace with written buyer protection, paid for by credit card, covers most of the first two; the third depends on the event. Many US events use mobile tickets with a moving barcode, which organizers may release only around three days before the show; screenshots don’t scan.

What each big marketplace’s terms actually promise, and what to do if tickets don’t arrive, is in are resale tickets safe? A buyer’s checklist.

“Sold out” usually means the primary sale is over, not that no tickets exist. Organizers sometimes release held-back seats, fans resell through official exchanges, and the resale market keeps trading until showtime. The legitimate routes, in the order worth trying, are in how to get tickets to a sold-out concert.

1. 1Compare the same section and number of tickets across sites, on the total with every fee included.
2. 2Check the date, venue and city on the listing against the official event page (similar names catch people out).
3. 3Read the marketplace’s guarantee or refund terms: what happens if tickets don’t arrive or the event is postponed.
4. 4Pay by credit card on the marketplace itself, never by bank transfer, gift card or “friends and family” payments.
5. 5Check how and when delivery happens (mobile transfer, app, will-call) and whether the event restricts transfers.
6. 6Keep the confirmation email and order number until you are inside.

Our price records stop where your decision starts: see every partner’s price for your event, and outside rules on the FTC’s page.