When Michael Rapino took over Live Nation, he promised a revolution in ticketing; and when he acquired Ticketmaster, one almost believed that it would happen. Along the way, a group of digital ticketing upstarts also promised to change the system. But it appears that in ticketing, old habits die hard.
Less than two years after Stubhub embraced the ‘all-in’ pricing structure, the ticket resale service has dropped price transparency, switching back to the industry standard of tacking fees on at the final steps of a sale.
The week, StubHub announced that it will resume listing lower prices at to customers on the initial search and adding fees of 15% to 17% to the price right before checkout. The company will still offer the option to display an all-in price, but it won’t be the default for the service.
When StubHub announced their price transparency plan, they said “On StubHub, you’ll see the final price right when you hit the site. Nothing more will be added to your cost. Not even delivery charges.” However, since that shift, the company has seen a major hit to their sales.
StubHub President Scott Cutler told the Wall Street Journal that while customers may say they seek greater price transparency, their purchasing habits dont’ reflect that desire.
The WSJ reported that StubHub lost approximately 20% of the market share for ticket resale during the period where they tried the new pricing model. The company declined to share revenue or operating income figures.
