Introduction
Well, it was bound to happen. After over a thousand ticket sales, I finally got the dreaded email from Stubhub, “Your buyer claims the tickets were already scanned and was denied entry.” Here’s the full email:
Dear Vinh,
We’re getting in touch with you because your buyer let us know that they were unable to gain entry with the tickets they bought for the event. I have reviewed the information provided to us by the buyer and we do need your help to determine what may have happened and if the buyer did in fact have an issue. We have included the details of the claim and any supporting documentation from the buyer (if applicable) is attached to this email.
Order # xxxxxxxxxxx Event and Date yyyyyyyyyyy Section, Row, and Seat Numbers that were invalid zzzzzzzzzzzz Venue’s reason for denying entry The buyer was told the tickets scanned as already used. Approximate time the venue scanned the tickets Around 7 pm Additional Comments (if applicable)
Please reply within 2 business days directly to this email
Review the details of the claim and let us know if you have any idea as to what caused the issue at the event. If you are unsure, please obtain documentation regarding the usage of these tickets as outlined below:
- Scan report: You can contact the venue and ask if they can provide you with a scan report. Make sure it includes ALL scans, so that we can attempt to determine exactly what happened. (We prefer scan reports because they include a lot of valuable information to help us confirm the claim is valid and identify the cause of the issue by reviewing the barcode information, successful and unsuccessful scans, the gate and time that the tickets were entered, and more.)
- Written documentation: If the venue states that they cannot or will not give you a scan report, ask if they can send you an email with written documentation about the how these tickets were used. Make sure to include the barcodes of the tickets you provided to your buyer in your email so that the information directly corresponds to the tickets at hand.
- Venue conference call: If written documentation can’t be supplied, we can also have a conference call with someone at the venue. If this is the most effective way to handle your claim, please give me a call at my phone number during my office hours, which can both be found at the bottom of this email.
- In addition to the above required documentation / information please supply your original purchase receipt for the tickets.
This information will help us determine what happened and who’s responsible. If we find in your favor, we will pay you in full, and reverse any additional liability in the claim. If we find in favor of the buyer, the payment method in your account will be charged to recoup the amount you received for the original sale and any other applicable charges within User Agreement. We can reevaluate these charges and reopen our investigation when you provide the requested documentation. We will review documentation up to 30 days after the claim has been escalated to you.
The potential charges related to this claim are:
Recoup original payment $333.00 Additional charges* $370.00 Total potential charges $703.00 *IMPORTANT: Our ability to correctly identify the root cause of this issue depends on your support and participation in this investigation. By acknowledging this claim and making a bona fide effort to investigate the claim and provide documentation, you will only be charged the recoupment amount and the Invalid Ticket Charge. The additional charge of 55% of the original ticket cost will only be assessed if you don’t play this vital role and participate in the investigation. Put differently, your participation means your charges will be reduced by an amount equal to 55% of the original ticket cost.
For more information on your responsibilities as a seller and our FanProtect™ Guarantee, click the links below.
http://www.stubhub.com/legal/?section=ua
http://www.stubhub.com/legal/?section=sp
http://www.stubhub.com/legal/?section=fpWe value your business. Thanks for helping us keep StubHub a convenient and safe place to buy and sell tickets.
Calling up the venue
I called up the venue and asked for the full scan report. This was a stadium mind you, so I was surprised they even picked up the phone to be honest. Luckily they partner with Stubhub so I felt good about not having to make up an excuse. I told them I resold the tickets on Stubhub and the buyer claimed it was already scanned and that I needed the FULL scan report. The person asked for the last 4 of the credit card used. He wouldn’t give me the full scan report, but did say the tickets were scanned at X time and Y time. I felt I lost at that point and didn’t bother to ask for the full scan report.
Stubhub’s response
I then told Stubhub their response and tried to plead my case that I didn’t sell these on any other sites. I forgot to point out that the 2nd scan was around 5:21PM and nowhere close to the 7:00PM that the buyer claimed. From SH’s point of view, they don’t know if *I* resold it multiple times or if the buyer did. Thus, I lost the case and was scammed out of my sale. Stubhub took back the money that I sold the tickets for and hit me with a 50% penalty of the sold price for “cooperating with them.” So my net loss was the cost of the tickets and the 50% fee of the initial sale price of $166.50 instead of the $703 total potential charges . This totally sucks because it’s really a he said she said thing, and Stubhub is very buyer friendly. There’s really nothing I could do in this situation. Like in reselling goods, there’s always going to be some “leakage” (aka the buyer returns you a damaged item or an item is lost in shipping. This would be an example of “leakage” in ticket flipping. As much as this pissed me off, in the grand scheme of things, if I’m only scammed 0.1% of the time, I can live with that. Lastly, I’m kind of glad we’re moving to more mobile tickets these days; you can’t run this scam if you’ve transferred tickets successfully.