Live events like sports games and concerts are unique in that they unite people through a shared experience. Companies of all sizes often take advantage of this to show appreciation to employees and foster goodwill with clients.
But what happens when companies find themselves with leftover tickets at the end of the season? Can you sell season tickets? And what is the best place to sell season tickets?
Can You Sell Season Tickets?
It’s normal for companies to find themselves with leftover tickets at the end of the season. In fact, 47% of corporate tickets go unused. To amend this issue, many companies opt for a flex plan or series plan, enabling them to reserve premium seats without purchasing tickets to a whole season.
But even flex and series plans can’t eliminate unwanted tickets altogether. Seasons are long — there are 41 NBA home games and 80 MLB home games every year — and companies don’t always have enough opportunities to use all their season tickets, especially if the home team isn’t winning.
In these situations, the company may want to resell the tickets to recoup some of that financial loss.
So, can you sell season tickets? Yes — but it’s not always an easy process. For the person in charge of purchasing company tickets, the resale process can be daunting, time-consuming, and stressful. But it doesn’t have to be.
When it comes to reselling tickets, you have three options. Let’s explore each of them and identify the best place to sell season tickets for companies like yours.
Option 1: Friends and Family
If your company has leftover season tickets, you might decide to sell them off to friends and family. You can make a social media post or send a text asking if anyone wants to buy a ticket, then collect payment through Venmo or PayPal and avoid resale fees. For one or two tickets, this can be a simple process.
However, this way of reselling tickets often becomes burdensome, especially with more than a few tickets and tickets that aren’t in high demand.
You’re casting a small net to your personal network, which provides limited selling opportunities. It becomes your responsibility to be the “ticketing expert,” giving details on seats, pricing, parking, and perks — and if something goes wrong, you’re the point of contact. Plus, you take on the personal liability of transferring payment to your company after the sale.
With all this extra stress, you may not always get the best price for your tickets. In fact, you may eventually throw in the towel and give them away for free. This method results in wasted time and a lost opportunity to recoup the company’s investment.
Option 2: Ticket Broker Sites
Big ticket broker sites like Ticketmaster, StubHub, or Vivid Seats are another popular resale method. There, you can set a price, post the listing, and let buyers come to you. These sites get a lot of traffic, providing more selling opportunities, and the money transfer is fairly simple through the platform.
However, selling tickets this way can get messy. The ticket transfer process is complicated and can be especially time-consuming if repeated for multiple sales.
Ticket prices also fluctuate frequently on these platforms. Without monitoring your tickets closely, there’s no way to know whether you’re getting the best resale price — or whether you’re pricing your ticket too high so that it never gets sold.
Once again, this process can be a hassle for the company purchaser, who is constantly checking their email and the ticketing website to see if the tickets have sold and if they’ve been transferred successfully. And even after all that work, you’re left paying a broker fee, which can be anywhere from 8 to 20% of the resale price.
Option 3: Ticketing Partner
You can also resell season tickets through a ticketing partner. A ticketing partner is a turnkey service that lists your leftover tickets on all ticket broker sites — the best places to sell season tickets — reaching the maximum audience. A ticketing partner also handles pricing, ticket transfer, and payment.
With this resale method, you ensure a maximum return for your company’s tickets every time, without placing unnecessary stress or time constraints on your company’s ticket manager.
A ticketing partner will charge a fee similar to that of big broker sites, but they’ll also handle the entire process for you. When you realize you have unwanted tickets, you simply transfer them to the ticketing partner. The service posts them to the best place to sell season tickets and monitor price fluctuations, so you know your tickets have the highest chance of selling and always sell for the best price.
When someone purchases your tickets, your ticketing partner handles the ticket transfer and payment. You receive a monthly payout, meaning the payments for all your season tickets sold that month are kept in one place, which is less of a hassle for your accounting team.
The Best Place to Sell Season Tickets
So, in summary…
- Can you sell season tickets? Yes — with the right strategy.
- What is the best place to sell season tickets? All options have their pros and cons, but the avenue you choose ultimately depends on what you want out of the reselling experience.
Think a ticketing partner is the best option for your business? Ticketnology partners with companies like yours to help protect their investments while removing the burden of reselling unwanted tickets.
Each of our partners is assigned a personal account manager who handles all aspects of the resale process. We even help you find and assign live event tickets to delight your employees and clients. That means valuable time back on your calendar and better ROI for your company.
Don’t let unwanted season tickets go to waste. Learn how Ticketnology can make your job easier.
