Stubhub sent out this email on Dec 1st:
Hi,
As you may already be aware, the State of New York passed legislation requiring all New York licensed Ticket Resellers to provide their business license number in order to sell tickets for events located within the state of New York. StubHub is required to obtain and display on its website the license numbers of New York ticket resellers when they are selling events located within the state of New York.
If you are a licensed Ticket Reseller in the State of New York:
- Starting on December 17, 2018, you’ll need to login to your StubHub account and enter your business license number under Settings > License as soon as possible
- All ticket resellers licensed in New York must enter their business license number by January 1, 2019 in order to be in compliance with the new regulation
If you are not a licensed Ticket Reseller in the State of New York:
- If you are not a broker reselling tickets for events in the State of New York, no action is required
- If you are a broker, and selling to events located in New York, you are required to register and obtain a NY ticket reseller license with the state of New York. Further information regarding this requirement can be found on their website: https://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/ticketresell/ticket.html
New York ticket broker reseller license numbers will be displayed to buyers during the purchase process as required by New York law starting on January 1, 2019.
The text of the new regulation can be found by accessing the following link: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/s8501/amendment/b
We appreciate your cooperation.
Let’s try to digest some of that.
- First off, the license is $5,000 per year, not to mention the $25,000 bond. This reminds me NY taxi licenses…
- Secondly, Ticketmaster hasn’t sent out this email. My guess is that selling tickets back on Ticketmaster is more for “personal reselling” since you can’t just resell ANY tickets. I don’t forsee Ticketmaster emailing out the same thing, but they just might.
- Third, what is a “broker?” Does someone reselling 10 NY events a year considered a “broker?” Here’s what the state of NY says:
-
Would individuals who sell tickets on ebay or any other internet company have to have a ticket reseller license?
Individuals who sell tickets on ebay or any other internet website are not required to be licensed as a ticket reseller if they have purchased the ticket solely for their own use or the use of their invitees, employees and agents or if they have purchased tickets on behalf of others and resell such tickets to others at or less than the established price.
I’m no lawyer, but it sounds like it comes down to intent. If you bought the tickets for personal use and you can’t go, then it seems you can resell it w/o a license. If you bought tickets knowing that you are going to flip, then you could be considered a “broker” and need a license. However, it seems that all NY state events will require the license starting January 1, 2019, so you may not even be able to LIST the items w/o a license (or if you do, you could get in trouble.)
Conclusion
What do I plan to do? I’m still mulling it over, but most likely I’ll get lazy and not do it and just stop trying to resell NY events.