StubHub To Leave The UK?

Secondary ticketing agency StubHub International is threatening to pull out of the UK market if a proposed price cap on resale tickets goes ahead.

The issue:

• The UK government has been looking at implementing a cap of up to 30% on resale prices to prevent scalpers from putting huge mark-ups on tickets to sport and music events.

• StubHub argue this could force legitimate resellers away from their service to social media platforms and other means, where the threat of being scammed is greater.

• Research by Virgin Media O2 claimed scalpers cost music fans an extra £145 million per year.

The threat:

• As per The Ticketing Business, in an interview with The Financial Times StubHub Chief Executive Bob Kupbens said that “even at 30%, we feel very strongly that would make it very challenging for us to operate” in the UK.

• He cited the costs of building “the fraud protections” and having live customer service staff as being prohibitive.

What’s next?

• In January the UK government announced a public consultation around the ticket resale market, of which the price cap was one of the major features.

• It is currently considering the responses and next steps.