The resale of student tickets has been a mainstay at Ohio State for years, and it’s not going away any time soon.
“The secondary ticket market is growing every year,” said Brett Scarbrough, senior director of ticketing at OSU.
Websites like StubHub.com and OSU’s TicketExchange allow students to resell tickets from the comfort of their home. To use the TicketExchange, season ticket holders can make an account, enter their ticket, set the price and wait for a sale. Tickets on StubHub can either be listed digitally, by scanning the ticket so it can be downloaded by the buyer, or physically where tickets are mailed to the purchaser. TicketExchange deals solely in digital tickets.
“About 50 percent of the tickets on our site are electronic,” said Joellen Ferrer, head of U.S. communications at StubHub.
The majority of ticket sales are more than a week out from the game, Ferrer said. Prices go down as the event gets closer, so buyers should purchase tickets sooner rather than later because they have a shelf life, Ferrer said.
There’s a misconception that StubHub is overpriced, but in actuality 50 percent of the tickets on the site go below face value, Ferrer said.
“I’ve never used StubHub or TicketExchange to sell tickets, because Facebook and Twitter are so much faster,” said Nate Moseley, a second-year in public affairs.
Moseley said he has been selling student tickets to sporting events since 2010.
“I post in Ohio State Facebook groups that I’m selling a ticket, and people usually respond quickly,” Moseley said.
Tony Brooks, a third-year in biochemistry, said he sells his tickets when he can’t go to the game.
“I always use Facebook,” Brooks said.
Brooks said he has been selling student tickets since his freshman year in 2009 and said compared to dedicated sites such as StubHub and TicketExchange, “Facebook is 10 times more effective.”
TicketExchange requires all tickets to be upgraded from a student ticket to a general admission ticket before selling. To upgrade, students must take their ticket to the box office where they pay the price difference between what they paid and general admission. Then the ticket may be used without a BuckID. The upgrade system only applies to football.
There is no means of selling student basketball tickets on TicketExchange.
“We prefer that the student that buys the ticket uses it,” Scarbrough said.
Student tickets can be sold on StubHub without an upgrade, Ferrer said. All student tickets are designated as such on the site.
The most money Moseley said he has ever made posting a ticket on Facebook is $250 for the Michigan game in 2010.
“That ticket sold to a stranger, so I felt less guilty pricing it so high,” Moseley said.
Moseley said when he sells tickets to friends, he sells them at face value.
But Moseley said he keeps some of his tickets.
“I cover the cost of the season, and then I try to go to the rest of the games,” Moseley said.
StubHub has the most traffic among competitors, Ferrer said. “Sellers have the most eyes looking at their tickets (on StubHub).”
The advantage of TicketExchange, Scarbrough said, is protecting students from “unscrupulous people selling fake tickets.”
“We hold all of our sellers accountable,” Ferrer said. On StubHub, sellers are not paid until the buyer gets the ticket, and if the buyer can’t get into a game then StubHub charges the seller for a replacement ticket, Ferrer said.
Brooks said he prefers Facebook because he can ask for bids and immediately interact with a buyer through messages and comments, instead of on dedicated sites where the buyer and seller are removed from one another.
For the Iowa football game in 2009, Brooks was offered $400 for two tickets. He turned down the offer to go to the game himself.
“I don’t sell my tickets unless I’m not going,” Brooks said. “I don’t sell to make a profit, I sell to make sure I break even on the matter and that my ticket doesn’t go to waste.”
