Tickets On The Aftermarket

Anybody here ever use stubhub for tixs? Were you satisfied with the service?

Anybody here ever use stubhub for tixs? Were you satisfied with the service?

Stubhub is great but you pay for it. Stubhub skims 30% off the transaction (15% from the seller and another 15% from the buyer).

Redskins Tickets On The After-Market

I’ve been buying Redskins tickets on the aftermarket for quite a few years now. And although I’ve never been schooled in the inner-workings of the ticket industry, I’ve spent many hours perusing the internet looking for the perfect seat at the perfect price – which further motivated me to try and figure out how the aftermarket ticket industry works. And while I’ve learned there is no “best place” to buy Redskins tickets, I’ve learned there are definitely good places and bad places. I’ve also discovered patterns, trends, and strategies which would greatly aid a buyer of tickets to see the Redskins play at FedExField.

Although I’ve posted some details here and there for several years, I’ve wanted to create a post – a one-stop source of information - where extremeskins members could learn and benefit when buying tickets. One problem though, is if everybody who reads these tips embraced some of the strategies here, fewer people (myself included) would benefit as greatly, due to increased demand at the same place at the same time. It’s a catch-22.

However, I’ve decided to do it anyway.

So if you’re really interested, grab a cup of coffee, scoot up a chair, and get ready to take some notes, because if you like to buy Redskins tickets on the internet, this info is going to save you some money.

Before we get into it, I’d first like to touch on what exactly the initial cost is of a Redskins game ticket. Keep in mind, we’re discussing initial cost, not market value.

Many people assume the cost of a ticket is its face value. This is not really accurate. That’s because these tickets are normally unavailable to purchase as singles from the Redskins. They may only be purchased as a season ticket package. The season ticket holder is forced to pay full face value for all ten games, including the two preseason games which show the same face value as the eight regular season games – and it’s the pre-season games that really skew the cost of the regular season tickets. The aftermarket value for the preseason games is considerably less than the face value -- I'd say roughly between one-fifth and one half is typical, depending on location and timing. Therefore, I think it's reasonable to assess the true cost of regular game tickets to a season ticket holder as more than the face value because of the dramatically decreased market value of the preseason game tickets. In my opinion, the true cost (or cost to a season ticket holder), in general, of a regular season ticket is about 10-20% more than the face value as printed on the ticket. Obviously, one could make an argument that certain games are worth more, and other games are worth less, and that's fine. My point is, the initial cost of a single game ticket is more than face value. The face value printed on the ticket is misleading. Therefore, when you are considering the purchase of a ticket, maybe you shouldn't be afraid to pay a little more than face value for a regular season game ticket, because paying a little extra will more accurately reflect its true cost to the original account holder.

But what about a Redskins ticket’s true value or market value?

A ticket’s value on the aftermarket is whatever somebody will pay. Its value is based on the economic concept of supply and demand, which really has little to do with the price printed on the ticket, although that does serve as sort of a psychological guideline to both sellers and buyers. The fact that a ticket’s market value is not necessarily the same as its true cost can be good or bad, depending on the knowledge of the consumer. We’ll touch on this more at the end of this piece.

Here are my favorite sites to buy Redskins tickets:

The ExtremeSkins Classifieds Forum

Since one of the benefits of membership of this board is use of the site’s free Classified’s Forum, selling tickets to fellow members at greatly inflated prices is frowned upon by the membership. However, tickets offered at face value and even up to 20% over face value are accepted and are common. Sellers can afford to sell for less on this site because they have no selling costs, compared to other sites such as eBay and Stubhub. The really good deals such as lower level tickets at face or division games at face are snatched up quickly, so check often!

In general, eBay will be the cheapest place outside of the ES Classifieds to buy your Redskins tickets. EBay has done a lot in recent years to foil the scoundrels and thieves, and it’s now a pretty secure place to purchase tickets if you just take some precautions.

Know that if you pay by paypal, you’re covered by paypal's "Buyer Protection" - provided you file a claim as necessary with paypal within 45 days of the end of a listing.

Searching for tickets for seats in a specific location of the stadium can be cumbersome, but if you’re not particular, simply type in the key words and you’ll find dozens of listings. The cheapest will almost always be found in an Auction listing as opposed to the Buy It Now listing.

If you’re looking for seats in a specific section, I recommend the advanced search feature and clicking the box "Search Titles and Descriptions". For example, to find seats in Section 101 for the Dallas game, go to advanced search and type in the box: “Redskins Cowboys tickets 101” without the quotes. Be careful that the search results show the right venue.

If you’re going to bid on tickets in an auction, which is what I would normally recommend, the cheapest way to acquire your tickets is by sniping them. Sniping is a technique in which you “watch” your auction through its term and you wait until the last 5-10 seconds before it closes. Then you place your first bid. Your bid must be placed before the final second. The idea with this strategy is, the bidder you’re competing against never has a chance to bid against you because the auction has closed. You therefore win the auction.

Obviously, the first thing you want to do is identify the listing you’re interested in. Next you want to decide – what is the MOST you would be willing to pay for these particular tickets? .

The amount you come up with will probably be a round number. But instead of using round numbers, I always go above the round number in hopes of out-smarting the guy I’m bidding against. Let’s say you determine a certain pair of tickets is worth $250. In this example, I might decide to bid something like $263.87 so that I bid above the obvious round number. Let’s call that number X.

Keep an eye on the listing. A seven day listing is most common. When it eventually reaches its final minute, be ready to bid. There are a couple steps involved with entering a bid, so I like to watch the listing in two browser windows: one window on the auction’s main page, and the second window with my bid already typed in, confirmed, and ready to enter (it’s a two-step process). It should take less than a second to click in your bid entry.

It is important your entry is the value of X. For example, if the current bid is at $50 with one minute to go in the auction and X as you’ve already determined is $263.87, don’t bid $60 or $100. Many people make this mistake and they lose the auction. Bid X. Bid the amount you’ve already determined is fair. Remember, there could very well be others sniping your listing, as well as you.

As the auction moves to within one minute of its term, use the F5 key every few seconds to refresh the first page of the listing so you can see the time left. When you’re at about the five second mark, enter your bid.

In this example, if you’re lucky, you’ll win the tickets for $60. Or maybe it’ll be $100 or even $255. But whatever the final price is, it will be within the range you’ve already determined is fair. More than likely, you will have won the auction without unnecessarily bumping up the price.

But what if the auction ends at an inconvenient time?

It doesn’t matter. That’s because, in those cases, you’re going to use a sniping site, such as esnipe.com, to bid for you.

To esnipe, first register with the site. You tell it your member name and your ebay password, and set it up in advance to bid on the auction you’re interested in. It’ll do all the work for you while you’re doing whatever it is you need to do (working, commuting, sleeping, whatever). Works like a charm. If you win, it’ll cost you 1% of the winning bid (which is paid in advance in $15 increments to esnipe). If you don’t win, there is no charge.

When you eventually have a chance to log back onto eBay, you can check to see if you won the auction and you can then pay the seller.

Auctions which end at inconvenient times, such as rush hour or the middle of the night, have an extra potential of ending low for obvious reasons – not many bidders!. Take advantage of this to find extra value. The 1% fee you have to pay esnipe generally pays for itself many times over.

Another trick is to set up a number of “Favorite Searches.” Let’s say you’re looking for green parking. Use keywords: redskins green parking. Set it up to email you. You’ll automatically get emails sent to you once a day whenever a seller puts up a new listing with all three of those words in the thread title. Occasionally, a noob seller who doesn’t understand the market value of an item will place an item with a low Buy It Now price. If you have these emails sent to you automatically and you’re a little lucky, you can pick up the listed item at a great price. You can set up ten, fifteen, twenty Favorite Searches at once if you want, and you'll find yourself constantly updated via email with new ticket listings specifically targeting areas you're interested with hardly any effort on your part.

craigslist

Craigslist.com is another fine source for buying tickets for those who are in the local area. This is largely unregulated, so it’s a good idea to use caution when buying. The idea is, a potential buyer will peruse the craigslist site which caters to the local area and read ads placed by sellers for free. These sellers may be fans and they may also include brokers. I don’t have a lot of experience using craigslist, but it’s my understanding that most of the communication involves a phone call, even if it starts out as an email. Most of the transactions are completed with a face-to-face meeting of buyer and seller. The potential for fraud is high, so use caution, particularly if the seller wants to do business by mail. As a buyer, it would be wise to acquire the seller's name and contact info in case their are problems with the tickets (e.g. the ticket's scan is refused at the gate).

Ticket Brokers

If eBay is cheaper, why would you buy from a broker? The answer is, because a broker will most likely have more nicely located and easier to find seats. If seat location is important to you, you should keep brokers on your radar.

Ticket brokers are ticket dealers licensed by the state to operate a legitimate business in the event ticket industry. The price of tickets sold by ticket brokers is based on supply and demand, and has little to do with face value. Usually, event tickets are sold above face value, but sometimes they’re sold below face value too.

If you search the internet for Redskins tickets, you’ll find dozens and dozens of legitimate licensed ticket brokers selling them. There are probably over a hundred of them. Click on any one of these sites and you’ll see a long list of Redskins tickets available for convenient purchase. For example, if you searched, you might find a site called acmetickets.com (I am making this site up for illustration). If you click on acmetickets.com and perused the Redskins tickets area, you'd find dozens and dozens of Redskins tickets available for each and every game. If you purchased tickets, the purchase would probably be confirmed and you’d eventually receive an envelope with an acmetickets return address. And inside you’d find acmetickets paperwork and your tickets. As far as you can tell, acmetickets acquired your tickets, stocked your tickets, sold your tickets, and shipped your tickets.

But the truth is, acmetickets.com doesn’t have any redskins tickets. Instead, they have event ticket software which connects them to the TicketNetwork Direct. The TicketNetwork Direct is a network that collects data (ticket listings) from all the sites that physically stock tickets, then broadcasts them back to those sites, in bulk, all those listings. The ticket sites then broadcast the data as a whole, creating the illusion that they physically stock hundreds, even thousands of tickets. But they actually have significantly less than the number shown. They might even have none.

The truth is, in this example, AcmeTickets is a middleman site. The tickets you see on the site are mirrored from the ticket network, with minor changes in price. Acmetickets makes money three ways: by hiking the price of the tickets, by charging a service fee for the tickets, and by charging an exorbitant rate to ship the tickets.

The site that actually stocks the tickets will ship the tickets to you, but the shipping label is printed with ticket network software and will show an acmetickets return address, creating the illusion that it had stocked and shipped the tickets.

As an educated ticket buyer, you will usually want to skip the middleman and purchase directly from the source – which would be the ticket broker who actually physically stocks the tickets in-hand. If you do that, you will almost always find that the ticket is cheaper, the service fee is cheaper, and the shipping rate is cheaper. The trick is finding him.

Fortunately, I’ve already nailed down every broker site that physically stocks more than just a few Redskins tickets. When perusing the inventory of these sites, it’s important to understand that the tickets these sites have in hand are almost always listed at the top, and either have an icon next to them or are distinguished another way (e.g. the listings are at the top with wider rows, a slightly different color, or they are separated some other way). Those are the tickets in-house. The rest of the tickets you see in the lower portions of the listings are mirrored from the ticket network, they are not in-house, and they should therefore be avoided.

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Ascticket aka Main Street Tickets is my favorite ticket broker. They’re located in Gaithersburg, MD, and hold the largest inventory of Redskins tickets of any broker. They’re also a good place to get parking passes.

Starting in 2012, this company has dramatically changed the way they do business. It is no longer possible to purchase "hard tickets" from this company. It is also not possible to peruse ASCticket's inventory via their site, because their site shows all the tickets available in the network at once, with no indication as to what tickets are in-house and what tickets originate from other sites/companies. Furthermore, all sales are through "TicketFast", which means, if you buy tickets, you will only be able to acquire a pdf printout with a scan. It doesn't matter if you have the tickets emailed to you, shipped to you, or if you pick them up in person.

I called and asked about the inability to see what they had in-house, and I was told the only way I can find out what they actually have is to call and speak with a sales person. This seems odd to me, but nonetheless, this is what I was told.

However, there is still one way to find out what they have in stock and what they don't have in stock: eBay. For example, you go to ascticket.com and find a pair of tickets you're interested in. The listing looks just like every other listing. How do you check to see if it is in-house? Go to eBay.com. Do a general search for the game tickets, maximize the pages per screen, then sort by section, and check each page. It's inconvenient, but this is the only way I know of that allows you to see what they have in stock without calling them directly.

The advantage of buying in-house used to be that the tickets were slightly cheaper, and the 3% fee was waived if you paid cash. But now, the fee on the site is 15%, not 3%, regardless of whether you buy a ticket in-house or from the network, and you have no way of knowing whether you are buying in-house or not anyway, unless you call.

Let's take an example. You see a pair of tickets listed on ascticket's site for $150 per ticket. You check eBay, and see that ascticket is selling the same pair for $330.

If you buy on the ascticket site, the charge is $300 plus 15% service fee, plus $5 shipping for a total of $350.

If you buy on eBay, the charge for the same tickets is $330 with free shipping.

So what do you do? You buy them on eBay, right? Wrong!

What you do is you call them, and ask about seats they have in that particular section and row. When they tell you they have the tickets that you want, ask them how much. The amount they quote you should be roughly 10% less than the listed eBay price, which means they should quote you about $300. When it comes to the fee, tell them you're accustomed to paying 3% for in-house tickets. They should accept that.

In previous years, there has been a 3% service fee which is very low for the industry, but I'm not sure how this carried forward into 2012.

If you have your scan shipped the old fashioned way, Fedex Two Day shipping had gone up from $7 to $15 since 2009, but if your purchase is under $150, you can have your item shipped for free via USPS First Class Mail. This knowledge is particularly handy if you're buying a parking pass.

If you are having the item mailed to you (e.g. a parking pass), the package will be dropped at your address unless you request to sign for it. You can also walk into their storefront, peruse their inventory with one of two networked computers available for customers, and buy directly with no shipping fee. If you pay cash, there is no service fee. Address: 408 Main St., Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Phone 301 897-0300.

Stagefronttickets.com is in Laurel, MD, and is Ascticket’s main competitor. They are my second favorite ticket broker. Asc and Stagefront monitor each other’s site to assure their prices are competitive with the other. They have the second largest inventory of Redskins tickets. They’re also a good place to get parking passes and tailgate passes. There is a 5% service fee. Fedex Two Day shipping is now $15 in 2010, up from $9. Like MST above, www.stagefront.com lists their entire inventory on eBay, so check both sites for the best price. Stagefront ships by FedEx for $15. You can also walk into their storefront and buy directly with no shipping fee. If you pay cash, there is no service fee. Address: 14502 Greenview Dr. (Rt 197), Ste. 200, Laurel, MD 20708. Phone 301 953-1163.

Both businesses above are very well-managed, competent ticket brokers with excellent reputations.

EveryTicket.com shows an address in northern Virginia and a phone number shows an 703 Virginia area code. However, they are not in Northern Virgina, they are located in Miami, Florida. They have the third largest inventory of Redskins tickets, but it’s not nearly as large as either of the other two sites above. Their prices are close to the two sites above, but their service fee is a whopping 20%, and the FedEx Two Day shipping fee is $18 (but free if you spend more than $299). They used to be fairly well managed but have gone downhill over the past five years. They've had a fair number of complaints over the years regarding switching ("upgrading") tickets and parking pass colors (e.g. you buy green, you get orange instead). They sometimes have tickets actively listed on both their own site and on eBay that have already been sold. :doh: Their feedback rating is poor. Their competence is becoming more and more suspect considering their site's Redskins link for games does not show 2010 games but instead still shows 2009 games and some of their links don't work at all. Sometimes they are slow to ship. If you call during weekday mornings, you may be asked to call back or you may be put on a long hold. If you are tempted to purchase from them, I would do it with a phone call, and I would confirm that the tickets you are buying are in-hand and ready to ship. Proceed with caution. If you take adequate precautions and order verbally over the phone, your order should be fine. However, I suspect everyticket.com isn't going to be in business long. They may ship 2 day fedex for $12 and overnight for $15 if you ask (they did for me). Check their eBay listings for better prices! Phone: 1-800-928-7328.

Other Brokers

These other sites also stock a smaller number of Redskins tickets and passes. Most of these sites also sell on eBay, so check there as well. Most of these sites are located in the mid-Atlantic region, so consider picking up in person. Their service and shipping fees vary greatly, so keep that in mind as you peruse their sites:

Chefkotix.com - 9 Westminster Shopping Center, Ste. 135, Westminster, Maryland 21157*

Denverticket.com - 6955 North Broadway, Denver, CO 80221

Downtowntickets.com - 9748 Stephen Decatur Hwy, Ocean City, Maryland

Dreamtix.com - 1281 S Buchanan St., Arlington VA 22204

Encoretickets.com - Atlanta, GA

Encoretix.com - 6917 Arlington Rd. , Suite 301, Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Greatatlantictravel.com - 1065 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23451*

Greatseatsusa.com - 9010 Autoville Drive, College Park MD 20740

Ticketalley.com - Chicago area

Ticketsnationwide.com - 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 707, Silver Spring, MD 20910

*ships FedEx, but with Direct Signature Required (DSR) which means the package will not be dropped.

In addition, these sites may just have just a few Redskins tickets/passes in stock:

First15.com

Neco.com - 1430 Broadway 7th Floor New York, NY 10018

Remember – if you buy from a broker, be sure the tickets you see listed and are tempted to buy are the tickets he has in-hand.

If your favorite ticket broker is not listed above, it’s a middleman site, and you’ve been paying too much for Redskins tickets.

There are a few other primarily middleman sites which sell some Redskins tickets for fans (e.g. ticketsnow, ticketliquidators, ticketexchangebyticketmaster, razorgator, etc.). However, their fees or prices for buying tickets in-house are so high, there's almost always a disadvantage to buying from them directly.

Stubhub.com was launched in 2000 and has grown dramatically since then. It was acquired by eBay in 2007. The site’s motto is “Where Fans Buy and Sell Tickets.”

It’s a catchy phrase, but unfortunately, although it’s technically accurate, it’s a little misleading. This is because, although Stubhub does allow season ticket holders to sell their tickets on the site to fellow fans, it also mirrors the ticket network listings onto its site, just like all the other ticket brokers. And because of this, the vast majority of tickets found on stubhub are not tickets sold by fans, but rather, they are tickets sold by licensed ticket brokers. This is why the prices seem to be so expensive: the prices you see, for the most part, are broker prices. When season ticket holders list their tickets on Stubhub, they compare the price to the ticket prices already listed, which unbeknownst to them are actually broker prices. So the prices tend to stay high, sometimes even higher than genuine broker prices due to Stubhub's 10% "service" fee. Again, this is a higher fee than the two local broker service fees mentioned above.

Here is an illustration of Stubhub's relationship with the ticket network. Early in the day of April 14th, 2009, a site which broadcasts the TicketNetwork Direct listings only, nofeestickets.com, showed exactly six listings with a total of 26 tickets for the Redskins vs Steelers pre-season game. These 26 tickets were included in the Stubhub map too, but paled in comparison to the rest of the listings on Stubhub. Since the total number of tickets sold on Stubhub for this game was 205, we can conclude that the tickets listed by actual Stubhub sellers (i.e. fans, not brokers) was 189 at this time by subtracting the network tickets from the total.

On the evening of April 14th, 2009, the NFL schedule was officially released by the league. Shortly afterwards, the site that showed the network listings, nofeestickets.com, jumped into the four-figures. However, stubhub's site hadn't yet been updated.

In anticipation of Stubhub updating its site and adding the network listings to its site, the Stubhub image of the FedExField ticket map shown below was captured during the evening of April 14th:

And as expected, on April 15th, the listings on the Stubhub map suddenly showed listings that numbered well into the hundreds, and the number of tickets were in the four-figures, as shown in this captured image that morning:

The enormous increase in listings, which occurred at some point during the night, is because Stubhub updated their map to include the current network ticket listings.

As you can see, the number of listings instantly jumped considerably because of the additional network tickets which reflect broker listings. We've already determined that the number of tickets being offered by actual Stubhub sellers was less than 200. Since 1,525 tickets are now showing a scant 12 hours later, we can conclude that roughly 1,325 of those are network/broker listings. If you do the math in this example, that's less than 15% of Stubhub tickets being offered on Stubhub are sold by actual Stubhub sellers. More than 85% of the tickets shown in this real life example are licensed broker listings being mirrored from the ticket network. This is why almost all tickets shown on the Stubhub site are so expensive.

Of course, as the year progresses, more fans will list tickets onto the site and these percentages will change a little. But still, the vast majority of tickets listed on the Stubhub site during the regular season will be from brokers.

So how did Stubhub get so popular?

The answer is: great marketing and the best interactive stadium map in the industry.

Unfortunately, unlike the broker sites listed above, Stubhub does not provide a handy icon next to a listing so that a buyer can easily identify which are actually listed by Stubhub sellers and which are mirrored from the ticket network. 2010 note: If you see a "P" next to a listing, which is a new feature, you can be reasonably certain the listing is a fan listing, not a broker listing, because brokers don't include parking with their listings. At least not yet.

So, it’s wise to first use Stubhub as a search tool to see what's available on the internet as a whole (excluding eBay) by using Stubhub’s powerful interactive stadium map. You have the advantage of seeing virtually all the Redskins tickets held by every broker at once, as well as the tickets sold by Stubhub sellers. But if you want to save money, my advice is - only use Stubhub to buy after you’ve done your homework - meaning only use it if you're in love with a specific pair of tickets and you have determined in advance that the listing is from a Stubhub seller. You do that by checking a strictly middleman site for the tickets you’re interested in. My favorite middleman site is nofeestickets.com because nofeestickets.com is the cheapest middleman site I know of overall.

Nofeestickets.com is strictly a middleman site - meaning they do not physically stock any tickets – they only show tickets from other sites. But we can use this knowledge to our advantage.

If you see the same tickets listed on Stubhub and Nofeestickets, then you know for sure that they are on the TicketNetwork Direct, and they are not being sold by a Stubhub seller. We know this because Stubhub does not broadcast their own listings onto the network. I would therefore recommend you don't buy those particular tickets from Stubhub.

So where do you buy them?

First, try to figure out who actually stocks them. Start with mainstreettickets.com, stagefront.com, and everyticket.com in that order. Check the sites. Look for the little yellow icons. If you don’t see them listed at the top, check the other known Redskins ticket sites already listed above. If you see the tickets listed on one of these sites with the adjacent icon or listed at the top, then normally, that is where you should buy them. Chances are, you will find them on one of the known Redskins ticket sites.

If after checking these sites you still can't figure out who has them, then you know for sure that some obscure site stocks them, and it’s not Stubhub. You could be tempted to search with google.com to try to find the actual site that stocks them, but this will probably be futile since they'll potentially pop up on a hundred or more networked sites. So at this point, compare the two prices shown on the two sites - stubhub.com and nofeestickets.com. Remember, Stubhub will add 10% to the price you see, nofeestickets won't add anything. Nofeestickets.com does not charge an obvious service fee (hence, the name of the site), so the price you see is the price you pay. The nofeestickets shipping fee is $15, the stubhub fee is $13 2-day or $17 overnight. The prices are generally marked up about 15% from the price listed with the actual site that holds the tickets. This could vary though. Compare prices between Stubhub and Nofeestickets including all fees and shipping, and buy from the site that provides the best deal. My experience is, low priced tickets will usually be cheaper on nofeestickets, and high priced tickets will usually be cheaper on stubhub.

A nice benefit of buying from nofeestickets.com is the receipt that will be provided to you via email will list the broker's name and phone number who actually stocks the tickets (2010 note: Brokers may now be listing generic ticket sites linked to the network in place of their own site). So, for example, if you want to buy four or more high-priced tickets listed together, you can instead buy two tickets from nofeestickets.com. When you get the receipt by email, you can then go to the site listed and buy the remaining tickets. This should save you some money – roughly ten percent.

If the Stubhub tickets you are interested in are NOT found on the Nofeestickets.com site, then the tickets are almost certainly genuine Stubhub tickets being sold by a Stubhub seller. We know this because, although Stubhub accepts the ticket network listings onto their site, they don’t broadcast their own listings onto the network. So if you really want the tickets, you'll have to buy them from Stubhub.

However, once you have determined the tickets are actual Stubhub tickets being sold by a Stubhub seller and you’re ready to buy from Stubhub, know the following:

One of Stubhub's big draws is the Stubhub FanProtect guarantee. This title is a little misleading.

The guarantee states:

We guarantee...

* your tickets will be authentic, and delivered in time for your event

On the next page, the guarantee further states:

Your tickets will be as good as or better than the ones you ordered.

As you probably know, the word "guarantee", defined, means promise, or assurance. But the fact is, there is no promise or assurance, which makes their guarantee a sham.

The truth is, your tickets will be delivered in time for your event most of the time, but sometimes your tickets won't be delivered in time for your event. And in this case, sometimes Stubhub will be able to provide you with replacement tickets that are as good or better than the ones you originally purchased. But sometimes Stubhub will be unable to provide you with replacement tickets that are as good or better than the ones you originally purchased, or they will be able to at a significant additional cost to you. And if your original ticket purchase included a parking pass or some other pass, your replacement tickets will not include a parking pass or some other pass, unless you are willing to get on the phone and fight with them. And even then, Stubhub is not obligated to provide a pass even if it was included in your original ticket purchase. And regardless of whether Stubhub is able to find you appropriate replacement tickets or not, a large block of your time is going to be spent on the phone on hold or in negotiation or trying to call over and over while hearing a seemingly never-ending busy signal after each dial. Or you can attempt to resolve your issue by email, but they take up to eight hours to respond.

That's the truth.

Regarding the busy signal - I want to emphasize that being unable to make phone contact with Stubhub after you have purchased is routine. It's been going on for years and, as far as I can tell, it will never end. I'm not sure if they do this on purpose or not, but I think it's possible they purposely understaff their offices. Stubhub, for whatever reason, simply will not hire an adequate number of people to answer their phones - particularly for people who have already purchased. When time is short, this can be very stressful and aggravating.

Because of these things, there is a lot of anger directed at Stubhub, and although some of it is misplaced, most of it is not. If you google "stubhub sucks", you'll see some of this anger. It's so bad that the company bought the internet domains for both stubhubsucks.com and stubhub-sucks.com.

You also should know that Stubhub guarantees the section and row, but not the seat. That means, if you buy seats on the 50 yard line aisle, and after your receive them you realize they're actually on the 40 yard line aisle, too bad for you. There is no guarantee, because Stubhub only guarantees the section and row, not the seat. Also, if the listing includes parking or tailgate passes and you don’t receive them, too bad for you. The guarantee covers only the game tickets and game tickets only. You can fight with them if you want, but it will be time consuming, and they'll probably just give you a discount code for future use which won't really solve your problem.

In addition, if you order tickets and the seller delays in confirming the purchase or declares to Stubhub that he no longer has the tickets, Stubhub will begin looking to replace the tickets you purchased with tickets they claim are equal or better. However, your card has not yet been charged.

What's interesting is, if you read the language of their guarantee, you will learn that it is Stubhub who decides if the replacement tickets they provide for you are equal or better tickets. Not you. That means that the tickets they provide you that they claim are better seats could actually be worse seats. For that reason, you need to make sure you know the stadium. That's important.

If Stubhub cannot eventually find equal or better seats, your card won't be charged or you will get a refund. That is not a ticket guarantee - that is a refund. A refund is nice, but it doesn't get you into the stadium and it will have wasted two days of your precious time with kickoff approaching. This has happened to me personally. It's also happened to this guy.

The irony is, after digesting this post, you will be just as capable of finding replacement tickets as Stubhub is, so they're not really doing you any favors.

The fact is, you can cancel the order on the spot if your seller doesn't confirm the order, although Stubhub will not volunteer this option to you.

When sellers don't confirm, this is not necessarily directly Stubhub's fault, because they are dealing with sellers whom they have no direct control over. My point is, Stubhub is a middle man site, and problems like this will happen occasionally. If you deal with a legitimate ticket broker who actually physically stocks tickets, this kind of thing is much less likely to happen.

When purchasing from Stubhub, what can you do to combat these kinds of problems in advance?

Once you purchase, you're at the mercy of the system for up to 48 hours while you wait for the seller to confirm, but it’s important you understand that you are only obligated to the specific purchase and you are only obligated for 48 hours. Although this is written in the site somewhere, Stubhub will not necessarily verbally volunteer this info because it's not profitable for them to do so.

If the seller is a flake and doesn't confirm the purchase, you have to sit around and wait for 48 hours and there's very little you can do about it. That means other ticket deals may be coming and going and you can't freely take advantage of them because you're stuck with Stubhub while the seller takes his sweet time to confirm. Or not.

However, if the seller indicates to Stubhub that he no longer has the tickets and cannot confirm the sale, and Stubhub notifies you of same, you can pretty much continue your own search for tickets and dismiss Stubhub, even if it’s within the 48 hour period. This is because you are not obligated to accept Stubhub’s replacement tickets, even if they claim they are better (the exception is if Stubhub can locate other tickets in your section and row at a price they can purchase which is close to the price you paid).

If the seller indicates he cannot confirm the sale, Stubhub will try to find you better seats, but they might actually be worse seats, so it's important to know the stadium. The employees are trained to speak to you with authority, but the truth is they almost certainly don’t know any more about the stadium than what they can see on the map. They will explain things to you in a confident matter-of-fact tone, but the things they are saying could be complete nonsense. Just make sure you know the stadium. And know you can refuse their offer for better seats and get a refund, even if they claim they have better seats to offer you. You have that right.

If the seller does not confirm in 48 hours, know you can call stubhub during the 49th hour and have the sale canceled, and you'll get a refund. You have that right as well. Remember - if the sale wasn't confirmed, Stubhub has not charged your card yet anyway at this point. So don't feel forced to accept their offer.

Another really irritating issue is a delayed delivery date. If the seller confirms and indicates to Stubhub that he chooses to ship your tickets the week before the game, there is nothing you can do about it. So for example, if you want to buy tickets for the Redskins Eagles game on Dec 21, and you want those tickets to be a gift for your girlfriend on Dec 6th, and you purchase these tickets on Nov 2nd - five weeks in advance of her birthday and seven weeks in advance of the game, and the seller decides to ship them Dec 16th, you're out of luck. You will receive an email from Stubhub indicating your tickets will be shipped Dec 16th, 5 days before the game. Your girlfriend will have to get an IOU. You don't like that? Too bad. And you have no recourse. A Stubhub seller can legitimately do this and it’s within Stubhub’s seller guidelines. 2010 Note: During checkout, there is now an indication available to the buyer of the intended ship date. This is helpful, but it's not a guarantee that the tix will be shipped by the assigned date, and a buyer has no leverage regardless of whether the seller decides to ship by his promised shipping date.

To try to avoid this mess, best thing to do is call Stubhub before you buy, explain that this situation has happened to you or somebody you know before, and ask them to call the seller to confirm the tickets are in-hand and ready to ship immediately before you purchase. This gives you the added advantage of alerting the seller that his tickets are about to be purchased so that he can then confirm the purchase soon thereafter without wasting your precious time with kickoff looming. It also allows the seller to indicate that he no longer has the tickets, which should be communicated to you verbally by the Stubhub representative. For this reason, I strongly recommend a verbal purchase over the phone every time rather than an internet purchase. Repeat: Place your order by phone, and insist the seller is called to confirm tickets are in-hand before you purchase.

2010 Update: Apparently, Stubhub employees have been instructed by management NOT to call sellers. This is a new policy. The agent I spoke with indicated the policy change as of about June, 2010. This means a buyer is even more at the mercy of the Stubhub system. Again, any legitimate question regarding seat numbers or shipping or anything else a buyer may have regarding tickets stocked by a professional broker or even an eBay seller can almost certainly be answered with a phone call or an email. Stubhub is the only ticket seller I know of who outright refuses to answer legitimate questions a buyer may have of a specific listing. In my opinion, this new policy is pretty outrageous and greatly diminishes the value of Stubhub as a ticket source.

If you do decide to buy on Stubhub, use a discount code if you can find one. You can google for them. Most are $10 off, $20 off is rare. But know the code won't make up for the premium price you are paying for network listings. The best place for discount codes I know is slickdeals.net which is a forum not unlike the extremeskins forum, except with inferior moderation. You can give the discount code to Stubhub verbally over the phone and get your discount. It does not matter how you learned about the code and they will not ask you. If you have a legitimate current discount code, Stubhub is obligated to honor it.

2009 Note: Stubhub has greatly cut back on the distribution of discount codes prior to the 2009 season. However, it appears stubhub prices relative to the actual price asked by the original ticket broker were reduced slightly in 2009.

Regarding other ticket sites and the ticket network, here is an example of how it all ties together. I’m using a real example I posted during the 2008 season. Obviously you can’t go to the websites to confirm these prices, but know this example is real:

The following is taken from tickets listed for the Eagles @ Redskins game Dec 21, 2008.

Here is what Stubhub had available.

They had two tickets in Section 141, Row 3.

http://www.stubhub.com/washington-redskins-tickets/?ticket_id=160391147

Here's the text:

35 YD LINE ONLY 3 ROWS BEHIND REDSKIN BENCH

The price says $337 each. Let's say you want those seats.

After you go through checkout, 10% is added to the price. Plus you have to pay $12 for 2 day Fedex shipping. So you're really paying $753 total.

If you purchased these, and if the seller confirms the purchase (which usually happens, but not always), the package would arrive with the Stubhub return address and the Stubhub documentation inside.

But wait. Don't buy yet. Let's look around a little. Let's take a look at www.ticketsnow.com.

Hey look! They have seats there too! In the same section and row! And they're only $343 each! You save money, right?

Wait a minute. Look at the text:

35 YD LINE ONLY 3 ROWS BEHIND REDSKIN BENCH

Sound familiar? If you go through checkout, you find they charge a whopping 15%. Plus $15 fedex shipping. Bottom line: $804. Interestingly, if you bought these, your envelope would have a TicketsNow return address and Ticketsnow documentation inside.

Okay, to heck with that. Let's check www.greatseats.com.

Hey look, 2 seats in 141 row 3 for only $337.25 each. Here's the text:

35 YD LINE ONLY 3 ROWS BEHIND REDSKIN BENCH

During Checkout, you see they charge 20%! And they want $20 for 2 day fedex. The bottom line price is $829. What a deal! If you bought these, the envelope will have a GreatSeats return address and GreatSeats documentation inside.

The truth is, all these listings are broadcast. They are relayed from one site onto the ticket network, and then broadcast on all ticket network sites around the world. The fact is, none of these sites have these tickets. These are all middleman sites. Each site manipulates the price and adds a fee. Generally, sites with lower prices have higher fees, and vice versa. Stubhub does have SOME tickets that are sold by Stubhub sellers, but the vast majority are network tickets.

So who does have these tickets? Who actually stocks them? To find the answer, simply check the known Redskins ticket sites already mentioned above, one by one, until you find the tickets.

As I mentioned above, there is one site that stocks more Redskins tickets than any other.

www.mainstreettickets.com with www.stagefront.com a fairly close second and www.everyticket.com a distant third.

And there are over half a dozen other sites which I’ve already mentioned.

If you check, you'll see that mainstreettickets.com has these same tickets too, with the same text description. But the difference is, there's a little yellow icon next to the listing. The tickets are $320 each. That's still a lot of money, but its less than any of the listings above. And his fee is only 3%. His 2 day Fedex is only $7 (his rate went up to $15 in 2009). Your bottom line price is only $666. Compare that with the prices above you almost paid. It's cheaper at asc because he actually has these particular tickets in hand. There is no middleman fee.

The other nice thing is, both MST and stagefront are local. MST is in Gaithersburg, Stagefront is in Laurel. If time is short, you can pick up your tickets in person for no shipping fee. If you pay cash, there is no service fee.

Ticketsnow.com, unfortunately, is where the “TICKETS” link on nfl.com will bring you (2010 update: Ticketsnow was acquired by Ticketmaster in 2008, and the TICKETS link at nfl.com will now take you to ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com). If you register with them and tell it your email, every time you check the site afterwards, it checks your IP, compares it with its database, and then spams your email inbox. And this happens every time you visit, even if you don't log onto the site. This is because it had secretly recorded your IP and linked it to your email when you registered. It's a middleman site and their marketing techniques are very aggressive. I consider it a spam site (2010 note: They may have stopped doing this since being acquired by ticketmaster). Unfortunately, there are a number of other ticket sites that do this as well.

Starting at about noon (2010 note: now 3PM) on the Wednesday before the game, Stubhub will stop showing their own listings unless their Stubhub sellers have arranged to continue selling through something called "Last Minute Services." However, they will continue showing some network listings because of arrangements they have with them. Tickets purchased after Wednesday afternoon can be picked up at the Stubhub window at the stadium. The Stubhub window is just to the left of Gate D at FedExField. The fee for this service is $15.

Electronic Delivery - Some listings are shown on Stubhub to be available only by electronic delivery. The problem is, Redskins tickets from sellers other than ticketmaster are not available by electronic delivery, although ticketmaster (not to be confused with ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com) can deliver them electronically. So either the seller is ticketmaster, or the seller made an error. I would call and confirm that the seller is not displaying the delivery method incorrectly before purchasing.

Advantages Of Using Stubhub

The good news with Stubhub is there are a few things about the Stubhub site that a knowledgeable consumer can use to find hidden value, and these advantages are unavailable at other broker sites:

1) Check the loge listings by using the interactive map. Because the Loge section numbers overlap the Club level section numbers, some listings of Club tickets will, in error and apparently unbeknownst to the sellers, appear in the Loge area of the map and not in the Club area where they belong. Because of this, these tickets will frequently be overlooked by Club seat buyers - and as time passes, the prices may very well drop. A wise buyer will look for these between Loge sections 318 and 342, which is found in the lower left portion of the map as it’s displayed on your screen. But how do we know which listings shown in the Loge area are Loge and which are Club? Look at the row number. Since we know there are only six rows in the West Loge, any Loge ticket listed higher than row 6 is almost certainly a Club ticket categorized incorrectly. Listings that include Orange Parking can also be assumed to be Club tickets. These incorrectly listed tickets are probably placed by Stubhub sellers, but it’s possible they could be mirrored from the ticket network as well, so check the known Redskins ticket sites before purchase.

2) Look in the Miscellaneous area of the list of ticket listings. Sometimes listings will not be categorized properly due to seller error, and they’ll end up listed in the Misc. area which is way at the bottom of all the listings; that is, on the last page. Most buyers will not see these. You can find deals here if you look often enough. For example, the new Standing Room Only (SRO) area in the Club is shown on the map, but and you can sometimes find these in this misc. area cheaper - listed as General Admission (GA) or SRO or something else. You can find deals on parking and tailgate passes too, but know passes are not guaranteed by Stubhub. But again, check the known Redskins ticket sites before buying passes on Stubhub.

3) Look for package deals. Some ticket listings may include parking passes or AAA Ultimate Fan Club passes (i.e. Tailgate Club passes), which are not apparent unless you read the attached detailed note. This adds value. Also, if it’s a package deal, you can be confident the listing was placed by a Stubhub seller since brokers don’t list package deals. 2010 Note: Listings with parking now include a "P" next to the listing in the global list if the seller clicked the parking box when listing, which is very handy. Since brokers don't include parking, we can be fairly confident that these listings with the "P" are from Stubhub sellers.

4) Check often. If you are searching for tickets in a specific area, and you are looking for a bargain, check several times a day. Stubhub sellers could add a listing at any time, while brokers will very rarely add listings. You'll quickly memorize the lowest prices on the Stubhub map. An inexperienced seller could place a new listing and mistakenly place it at an absurdly low price. The listing will stand out and you can then grab it - but if you don't check often you'll miss it and somebody else will get it!

5) Beat the buyer who beat you. Let's say you are monitoring a pair of broker tickets on eBay or on a broker site, you're waiting for a price drop a few days before kickoff, and suddenly the listing vanishes or otherwise informs you that the tickets are no longer available. You lose, right? Not necessarily. Since broker listings are also found on stubhub, you can jump onto the stubhub site, and if you're quick, buy those tickets if they're still listed. If you purchase those tickets before the broker has a chance to confirm the sale to his customer, guess what? You get the tickets! This trick works especially well during off-hours. A pdf scan of your stubhub purchase is generally made available to you within ten minutes of your purchase.

6) StubHub is on site. If you have an issue such as your ticket scan being refused at the gate, you can try to resolve the problem at the StubHub window which is located to the left of Gate D. Be sure to bring your receipt and a valid I.D. to the game.

7) Last Minute Services. When they say last minute, they mean last minute. You can literally buy a ticket for a so-called sold-out Redskins game early on Sunday morning, and that hard ticket will be waiting for you at the Stubhub window at FedExfield a few hours later, or a pdf will be emailed to you within minutes. How cool is that?

If you’ve read this far, you’re about learn the single most valuable item of information regarding buying Redskins tickets on the aftermarket: Market Timing. You probably already know that when buying commodities or goods such as stocks or houses, while it’s important to seek high quality and not overpay for an individual item, the most important thing about the purchase regarding value is what the respective market does afterwards. This very much out-weighs any decisions we make regarding specific purchases. And while the stock and housing market movements may be difficult to predict, the Redskins ticket market movement is extremely predictable. For every game but the Cowboys game, the market value of all Redskins tickets is headed south. It doesn’t matter if the Redskins are winning or losing or if the playoffs are on the horizon, or if the game is a division game, or not. The value of game tickets is going to drop – and prices will drop even further and faster during the holiday season or if inclement weather is forecast. This is not speculation, it’s a fact, and it's been proven game after game after game, year after year after year. And as wise consumers, we can use this knowledge to our advantage by waiting until the last minute before buying. Specifically, for a Sunday game, an educated buyer will choose to buy late Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday of the week prior. He might even buy on Friday or Saturday if he has the fortitude - but it's important to monitor the various sites as time progresses to be sure there is adequate supply. Tickets can be shipped overnight or picked up at the Stubhub window on game day near Gate D, or other arrangements can be made. In fact, I've even picked up tickets from other brokers at the Stubhub window. I'm not sure how that works, but it's not important. My point is, significant money can be saved and/or significantly better seating can be found within a buyer’s budget using this strategy.

TicketsNow, Ticketmaster, and Ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com

Ticketmaster is a company that sells tickets to fans at face value as a service to venues or artists. Ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com is a site started by ticketmaster so that ticketmaster could get a slice of the event ticket aftermarket industry. Ticketsnow.com was another, more successful aftermarket ticket seller which was acquired by ticketmaster in 2008, and is now basically a sister site to ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com. Ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com is the site that you will be taken to if you click on "tickets" at nfl.com. Both TicketsNow and Ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com are primarily middleman sites. However, season ticket holders will occasionally list tickets on either of these two sites, and they are invisible to the Ticket Network Direct, although you will see see them on the stubhub map. So if time is short and you are hunting for specific seats, you can sometimes look at either of these two sites to find seats here at good deals, but the unique tickets to be found here are very small in number. Compare the listings to the TicketNetworkDirect before you buy. An advantage of buying tickets here is you may have the option of acquiring your tickets by download, a method which is not yet available by other sites selling Redskins tickets. This would be handy if time is short. Otherwise, in general you should only buy if they are controlled tickets since you can find them elsewhere cheaper. Be advised, Ticketmaster and TicketsNow have recently been investigated by the FTC for deceptive sales tactics. My understanding is, fans who attempted to purchase tickets from various venues or artists at face from ticketmaster were given a message that ticketmaster was sold out, and were then directed to TicketsNow. My understanding is, ticketmaster was not actually sold out. My understanding is, ticketmaster pretended to be sold out so that they could sell them via TicketsNow as aftermarket tickets. But those tickets sold to the public were actually not aftermarket tickets, but were tickets allotted to ticketmaster by the venue for the purpose of selling at face value. My understanding is, TicketsNow then offered these venue-originating tickets at 2-4 times face value, which eventually prompted the FTC investigation. Compounding the deception, TicketsNow also sold many other tickets and charged customers months in advance of the events, but never actually possessed or even had a right to the tickets they sold. In other words, the tickets were sold speculatively, because Ticketmaster/TicketsNow was willing to take a risk that they would be able to find the same or better tickets on the aftermarket for less than the public had paid months earlier by taking advantage of market timing. But their gamble backfired due to huge demand. For example, many consumers hoping to go to a Springsteen concert at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC in May 2009 paid for tickets in February that never materialized. Ticketmaster kept the sales proceeds from their customers for more than three months without a reasonable basis for believing it could fulfill the orders, the FTC complaint alleged. And even after it became clear to consumers that Ticketmaster sold phantom tickets without letting consumers know that the tickets did and would not materialize, the company held onto their customers' money, sometimes for months, when the company knew those fans weren’t going to see Springsteen. My suspicion is, this practice of selling event tickets speculatively has probably been going on for a while, but ticketmaster hasn't been caught until recently. The alarming thing is, these examples cited above are not the result of some rogue employee acting on his own; these issues were apparently the result of a top-down management decision.

Tiqiq.com

Tiqiq is a middleman site, and like most middleman sites, it doesn't stock tickets. The idea behind Tiqiq.com is the implication that they conveniently show you everything available from all the major sites at once, shows you what those sites are, and allows you to purchase specific tickets directly from those sites with a simple click. It makes money by embedding a code in the url identifying tiqiq as a referrer when you click on tickets to purchase. A percentage of the sales price is paid to Tiqiq as a referral fee, and it costs the consumer nothing. It does a good job of displaying all tickets on the TicketsDirect network and also the eBay listings that are available with Buy It Now, which is pretty cool. However, it won't show you what's available from specific Stubhub sellers rather than those mirrored from the network. I suspect this is because Stubhub is unwilling to part with potential revenue of their specific listings. Tiqiq doesn't show you eBay auctions either. Tiqiq will show network listings, but will not provide links directly from specific local brokers such as mainstreettickets.com, stagefronttickets.com, etc. Instead, you get taken to a generic network site with higher prices and higher fees. Those prices, of course can be beaten by going to the legitimate brokers who stock the tickets. The site isn't perfect but it is evolving and it is a unique concept and can be a useful tool. It refreshes much faster than Stubhub, for example, which is handy when you are monitoring the changing prices of various blocks of network and eBay tickets at once. However, from what I can tell, it seems to only update its listings every few hours.

Player/Sponsor Give-backs

The Redskins frequently have so-called "Player give-backs" or “Team give-backs” or "Sponsor give-backs" available to season ticket holders and/or wait list fans the week before most games. These are usually announced 4-6 days before the game. They are sold at face. In years past, these have included a hefty service fee, but not in 2008. If you are a season ticket holder, you may be sent an email. Otherwise, you may want to call the ticket office and ask. 2010 note: The Cowboys game in Sept. 2010 had "player and sponsor give-backs" which were announced three weeks before the game. This was unprecedented. Tickets were sold at face. They included a $25 service fee and a $3 per item Ticketmaster "convenience fee." The team only made these available to random season ticket holders though, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Incredibly, they were also made available to fans who had canceled their season tickets and had closed their accounts. The team later made these tickets available to wait list fans. Oddly, many long-time loyal season ticket holders were completely excluded from this offer for reasons unknown. There is now also a new "ticketsfast" option that allows buyers to download their tickets, meaning they download and print a bar code which will be scanned at the FedExField gate. There is no service fee, but there is a ticketsfast fee of $5 and a pdf fee of another $5, and of course, the $3 per item "convenience fee." All of these fees are ticketmaster fees.

Beware of seats with impeded views. See the Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About FedExField thread and read the section about "Other Obstructed Seats", because seats such as the obstructed seats outlined below are routinely sold by the team via ticketmaster, and there is no indication on the invoice or the tickets to warn a buyer of the obstructed view. All four of the seats in the below invoice have unfavorable views due to the railing and glass, and I've personally seen seats such as the ones below repeatedly being offered for sale from the team via ticketmaster:

Buying Tickets In The Lot

Regarding buying tickets in the lot, I really don’t have any experience, so I've asked our resident lot ticket buying expert, RFKFedEx, to write up something for the site, and he was kind enough to submit the following:

Where: The sidewalks along Morgan Blvd. and Redskins Rd.

When: A half hour before kickoff or anytime after.

Prices: $20 for uppers, $50-75 for lowers, and $75-100 for clubs.

Thousands of tickets are available in the parking lots before most games.

Print yourself a seating chart. It's a lot easier to bargain when you know where the seats are located.

Patience is virtue. The longer one waits to deal, the better the bargains become. I usually purchase about a half hour before kickoff, allowing ample time to make it to my seat for the start of the game.

Upper level seats average around $20 a ticket, lowers $50-75, while clubs can often be had in the $75-100 range. Prices can be higher or lower depending on how close to midfield you wish to sit.

*The Dallas game will always be about 35% more than any other opponent.

Pairs of seats are plentiful, but four together are a hard find. Never pay more than face value for a 400 level seat, unless it's Dallas.

The best places to find ticket hustlers are on the sidewalks along Morgan Blvd. between lots A and H, also on Redskins Rd. between lots D and E.

The hustlers pace these sidewalks asking if you "need tickets" or "have extras". If you ask them what they have, they may ask you to walk with them. This is perfectly normal. Hustlers don't like to stand in one place because ticket reselling on FedExField grounds is contrary to stadium rules.

Don't be intimidated. The key to successfully dealing with a hustler is the ability to say "NO" until you're comfortable with the price. Never buy on the first price they offer. If you can't get the price you want, walk away. The hustler usually follows you with a lower price, or another hustler will approach eager to fulfill your needs. Notice how these guys have fistfuls of tickets, meaning it's a buyer's market.

Once you have a deal, ask if you can inspect the tickets before you hand over the cash. If the hustler won't let you see the tickets, walk away. There's always another hustler nearby who will let you see his tickets. Use common sense.

Most of the hustlers are not out to rip you off. Notice I don't use the word 'scalpers' because it's a misnomer. Scalpers sell tickets at above face value when the market commands such. Scalping at FedEx is rarely possible because the tickets are overly plentiful and usually selling for well below cost.

Hope this helps. <end RFKFedEx's comments>

Added by member Chipwich - If you want the best deals, 5 minutes before game time are the massive sell offs by the hustlers, the tickets are on the verge of becoming trash. I have been offered club seats at $15 per on a game day as I approached the entrance. <end Chipwich's comment>

If you have any questions or comments about what you’ve read above, please do not hesitate to PM me or RFKFedEx or Chipwich.

After-Market Ticket Purchase Warnings

Season Tickets- Purchasing season tickets on a site such as eBay can be risky. You might think your payment is covered through eBay's Buyer Protection, but the problem is, the Redskins don't print and mail out season tickets until late July or early August. So if you purchase before then (e.g. March) and you don't receive your tickets, chances are the 45-day window for filing a claim with eBay or Paypal will have closed. You should take appropriate precautions before making season ticket purchases.

Hijacked eBay accounts- An eBay auction from a reputable seller with a long history of good feedback does not guarantee an honest deal. Some hijackers have software that randomly attempts log-ins to known ebay accounts by using common passwords (e.g. abcd1234). Once they gain access to an account, they will use the account to sell a product or event tickets to an unwary buyer. The listing will appear to be totally legitimate since the seller may very well have excellent feedback over a period of years and the listing includes Paypal Buyer Protection. The tip-off that something is not up to snuff is when the seller wants to be paid by cash money wired by Western Union or a money order, even after they advertise in the listing that they accept paypal. The problem is so rampant that eBay won't allow a seller to list a product that has the words "Western Union" anywhere in the listing. Because of this, hijackers will ask you to email them for details. In their responding email, they will insist on a Western Union payment. Avoid these sellers.

Scammers- Always check specific feedback details of a seller before bidding a large amount. A scammer will set up a legitimate eBay account in advance, and then make a dozen or so very small purchases in a short amount of time to provide him with an "excellent" feedback rating. Then, armed with an excellent 100% feedback rating, he'll sell you season tickets for several thousand dollars. He'll even accept paypal. Everything will appear legit since he has good feedback and he does, in fact, accept paypal. After you win and pay him with paypal and patiently wait for the shipment, he'll transfer your cash out of his paypal account and vanish. Because he's a new seller with low feedback, your paypal payment will not be covered by Paypal's Buyer Protection. Other than the $225 maximum eBay refund guarantee, you'll be left empty handed without recourse, even if you used your credit card to make the paypal payment.

If you have any reservations at all, offer to meet the seller in person and offer cash. A scammer will always have some reason why he won't be able to meet you. Otherwise, look for this in the upper right area of the eBay listing:

Even if your item is more than the maximum amount covered, the fact that paypal insures a large amount of the payment is evidence that the seller is legit, and not a hijacker or scammer.

Counterfeit tickets - Counterfeit tickets have suddenly surfaced and have been a problem during the latter half of the 2008 season, and they've also shown up in the 2010 season opener vs the Cowboys (see the third comment here). They are being sold in the lot before the game - probably by one particular unscrupulous individual posing as a scalper. These tickets look legitimate, even to some of the more seasoned fans. Be wary of tickets you buy in the lot - especially tickets for seats between the 30s in the lower level or club level.

Scanned Ticket Issues - As of 2009, ticket stubs are no longer torn - instead the bar codes on all tickets are scanned at the gate. This presents a series of new problems for after-market buyers: 1) if a legitimate ticket is copied and reproduced as a counterfeit, the counterfeit ticket's bar code can be scanned to gain entry when the gates open, rendering the legitimate ticket worthless. 2) if a season ticket holder allows the team to finance his season tickets, then stops paying mid-season, the bar code of the tickets he has in hand will be "turned off" by the team. An unscrupulous seller could still sell the tickets to an unwary buyer. 3) a season ticket holder sells his ticket as an eTicket PDF over the internet rendering his hard ticket worthless. An unscrupulous seller can then sell the (hard) tickets again to an unwary buyer. Because of these things, it would be wise to purchase your tickets from a reputable source such as somebody you personally know and trust or a licensed ticket broker. If you buy on eBay, be sure the game is within the 45 day claim window. If you buy on Stubhub, be sure to bring your receipt to the game, as Stubhub may be able to help you if you are denied entry. The Stubhub window is to the left of Gate D.

Disclaimer: I believe the information in this post is true and accurate at the time of writing; however, I give no assurance or warranty regarding the accuracy, timeliness, or applicability of any of the content. The above photos were copied from various open internet sites including this site.

Stubhub is great but you pay for it. Stubhub skims 30% off the transaction (15% from the seller and another 15% from the buyer).

The buyer pays ten percent.

Thanks for the correction. The seller definitely pays 15% though!

Thanks for the info. Went ahead and bought 2 tix for the Monday night game V Steelers. A little pricey, but since I only get to one game a year, it'll be fine.

HTTR:cheers:

I just bought 4 tickets for the 12/21 Eagles vs Skins

Section 422 Row 18 Seat 7 8 9 10 + Blue Parking for $400.00

Yea it's a bit high, but pretty much everywhere I been looking Craigslist ETC.

It has been 95-110 dollars per Upper Level Ticket. (Unless you buy here where fans sells for Face Value or a little higher)

Also my current Eagles tickets are same section same row, seat 13/14 so It sorta works out for me.

i personally hate stubhub, way too expensive.

i personally hate stubhub, way too expensive.

Where would you buy tickets from online? I am currently looking for two tickets to the Eagles game.

I would wait until December.

I would agree with Mark...ascticket.com is great. I used them for the Browns' game. $95 for club level seats. Stubby Hubby was at least $15 more.

If I cant get tickets I will use stubhub,

I was going to sell some the other day on it but decided not to.

Hmm...

Where do I start? I could write a book on stubhub. I'll try to be brief...

MOST of the listings you see are not stubhub listings. They are broadcast from other broker sites and stubhub is acting as the middleman, but it's invisible to the buyer. The prices are inflated. The fee is 10%. The shipping is a bit high at $12 or $17.

It's best to use stubhub as a tool to see what's available, but only use it to buy as a last resort - meaning only use it if you're in love with a pair of tix and you have determined the seller is a stubhub seller. You do that by checking other middleman sites. If the same tix are NOT on another middleman site, the tix are actual stubhub tix being sold by a stubhub seller.

If you see the same tix on two sites, don't buy them on stubhub. Try to figure out who actually stocks them. Start with ascticket.com, stagefront.com, and everyticket.com in that order. Look for the little yellow icons. If you can't figure out who has them, buy them from somebody else, even if it's another middleman site, because you'll probably save money.

If you buy on stubhub, use a discount code. You can google for them. Most are $10 off, $20 off is rare. But know the code won't make up for the premium price you are paying.

Some others to add would be vividseats.com, ninjatickets.com, razorgator.com... Can't think of anymore.

Anybody here ever use stubhub for tixs? Were you satisfied with the service?

Highly recommend Stubhub, I have used them for years and I think they're great. Sec 141 for the cowpuke game, my girl and I are flying back again, Go 'Skins!! :point2sky

Its ok, one thing they are guaranteed

Wow this was a great read. I'll have to keep the ticket hustlers in mind for some games this year. definitely sounds like if you time things right you can get a great deal.

Check out TiqIq. It compares prices from different sites.

http://www.tiqiq.com/Tiqiq/SingleEvent.aspx?BrandID=mi&EventID=90618318&PublisherID=22065

Check the first listing in the above link. $88 right? But the bottom line price is $119.28 shipped.

No feestickets.com is $117 for the same ticket shipped.

So how smart is tiqiq?

Wow Mark,

What helpful info! You deserve much thanks and praise from all of us for this great education!

When are you going to turn this research into a course in Sports Economics, Professor?

I've noticed a drop in auction style listings on ebay this year. It is full of broker ads. Maybe it is due to the high fees ebay and paypal charge. The final value fee is 9% and paypal will add on an additional 2.9%.

Thus, a pair of lowers that goes for $220 would have to bring $250 on ebay just to break even.

I have used Stubhub one time, it was for the Steelers pre-season game in 2009. Got two clubs in Section 337 with purple parking for $99 shipped. Sold the parking pass at our hotel for $30, took that $ and it paid for the metro passes and part of our dinner before the game. So my experience with them is great.

Hustlers I have dealt with on both the buying and selling end but just for college games. Virginia Tech and Tennessee. Just like Mark said it all depends on the game. At the Tech Arkansas State a few years ago I was very lucky to get $20 per ticket because by kickoff the hustlers couldn't even give them away. Similar situation for TN against Vanderbilt, it was Thanksgiving break and the students were gone, I sold my two extra tickets for $15 each 4 hours before kickoff, 30 minutes before the game started we were walking in the stadium and there were literally hundreds of tickets in the trash because the hustlers had given up.

My best results from both NFL and college was here on ES.com and Virginia Tech's and Tennessee message boards, I live 30 minutes from Blacksburg and have gotten some smoking last minute deals from late sellers. In 2002 when LSU came to Blacksburg I had 50 yard line big donor seats that I bought from a last minute seller online, two tickets, and a parking pass at the stadium, $30 total. Good luck on trying to get tickets, I am hoping this same success works for us when I try to get Steelers tickets for Aug 12

You cant really do the "sniping" technique on ebay anymore, well you can, but you really risk losing the auction especially if you "sniping"in the last 5-10 seconds. They have that new feature where when you put in a bid, you put in the maximum amount you want to bid, but if no one bids behind you, then you wont pay that max amount, but instead pay like a dollar over the price you outbid originally.

Do we have the prices for 2013? BTW, my nephew canceled his UL sideline seats a few years ago. My brother said the team offered him the chance to buy some $60 seats (was not sure if this was w/ or w/o tax) for 2013. Where would these seats be?