StubHub Lawsuit Alleges Ticket Seller Fails to Deliver on Customer Protection Guarantees

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that StubHub Holdings Inc. has misleadingly touted its “FanProtect Guarantee,” given that the ticket seller “routinely” provides inferior tickets while refusing to offer refunds, even when better or comparable tickets are available on the platform.

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The 30-page StubHub lawsuit claims that the secondary ticketing platform has failed to honor the terms of its “FanProtect Guarantee,” StubHub’s assurance that it will find comparable tickets to those originally ordered should they become unavailable at the time of the event, or offer a full refund. This guarantee is reiterated to consumers during checkout, where the defendant imposes “fees specifically tied to the security promised by the FanProtect Guarantee, marking it as peace of mind and protection for consumers,” the complaint states.

In practice, the case summarizes, StubHub has “constructed a business process that allows it to super-size its profit when sellers are unable to provide the tickets that buyers have purchased.”

The plaintiff is a Washington resident who, in August 2024, purchased three tickets for approximately $14,000 to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour set to take place on December 6, 2024 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

On the day of the concert, the lawsuit shares, StubHub informed the plaintiff that her tickets were unavailable but, pursuant to the FanProtect Guarantee, presented her with two options: three tickets in a much worse section worth around $3,600 total, or three tickets in a listening-only section that had no view of the stage. She was given no option for a full refund, the filing says.

At that point, the plaintiff discovered on her own that there were other seats still available for sale on StubHub that were in a similar section to her original ones, the complaint relays. The consumer requested these tickets while talking to a customer service representative, but StubHub refused, the suit claims.

Because this was the last show of the tour and the plaintiff was already on her way to the venue, she felt like she had “no meaningful choice” but to take the tickets in the inferior section, the complaint shares. Furthermore, the plaintiff did not receive a refund for the approximately $10,400 she was owed, and StubHub instead “pocketed the difference,” the suit alleges.

StubHub’s conduct contradicts its promises to fulfill “comparable tickets or a full refund” as they display numerous times across their website, the complaint contends. The class action lawsuit was filed amid thousands of other complaints that, according to the Better Business Bureau, accuse StubHub of “fail[ing] to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints.”

As recently as 2024, StubHub faced similar class action lawsuits over the alleged understatement of "junk fees" on the site and for apparently knowingly facilitating the sale of fraudulent tickets. Across the suits, the sentiment is similar: had the plaintiffs known about StubHub’s actions, they would not have elected to use its services to buy tickets.

The StubHub class action lawsuit looks to cover anyone who has purchased one or more tickets to an event through StubHub in the United States within the applicable statute of limitations period. 

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