Guest Post by Roots77

My life is a series of comedies—well, tragedies, really—always played out at my expense. Never funny, always designed to keep me humble and jaded toward a system that constantly turns its back on people. I’d like to say these corporations do it for profit, but the truth feels darker: the motive is evil, and the profit is merely the byproduct.

I try not to let money dictate my life. I value it only for its utility, not for what it can buy. But systems like StubHub—cold, automated, and predatory—find ways to inflict damage even when the “value” in question is something as subjective and sacred as the arts.

Let me start from the beginning, because this is mostly me venting.

In September 2025, I bought tickets for a musician I’d been dying to see. Something I’d looked forward to for years. I was ready to pay what it took to make it happen. I entered the presale process only to confirm what I already knew: the system is rigged. There were no real tickets available through Ticketmaster, not for presale and not for the general public. Those tickets had already been swallowed up by third-party bots—StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid, and the rest of them.

Knowing it was all a scam, I went straight to StubHub during the presale process, and of course—tickets were already listed for resale. Not wanting to miss out or get “robbed” any further (since Ticketmaster takes its cut with inflated fees and StubHub resells at double with more fees—likely with Ticketmaster’s blessing), I bought them.

The tickets were purchased, my card was charged, and StubHub proudly displayed them in my app. I was happy—for a while.

The show was Saturday, November 1st. About an hour before it started, I opened the app to pull up my barcode—anticipating trouble, as always—and there it was: “Oops, sorry, tickets unavailable.”

I went to will call at the venue, but Ticketmaster couldn’t help me—they had no obligation since I purchased through StubHub. StubHub’s so-called “Fan Guarantee” promised me either comparable tickets or a refund. And since it was a sold-out show, let’s be honest—they weren’t about to offer me anything “comparable” at their own expense. So I got the refund.

Let’s be honest about what really happened here: I made a legitimate point-of-sale transaction. StubHub was supposed to act as a fiduciary—someone holding my purchase in trust and good faith. Instead, they resold my tickets. I’d been monitoring prices from the moment I bought them up until a week or two before the show. They had doubled. Why honor my tickets when they could flip them again for a bigger profit and simply refund me?

That’s the scam. The buyer gets manipulated by both the platform and the middlemen. And I haven’t even touched the sell-side scam—that’s another can of worms entirely.

This situation hit me deeply because I gave in to their system. I paid what they demanded. I played by their rules. And still, they took something from me that can’t be measured in dollars and cents.

StubHub will keep doing this. Legally. Protected by fine print, a board of directors (HUB just went public, by the way), and the convenient “third-party” loophole that lets them shrug and say, “It wasn’t us.”

I wonder if any of the TBP readers have gone through this kind of abuse? Any suggestions? Because I’m not someone who lets things like this go. The more I dig, the more I see this isn’t an accident—it’s their business model.

Buyer beware.