‘Don’t buy from StubHub’: Fans pay $6,143 on StubHub for tickets to Boston FIFA World Cup game. Then game day comes
A World Cup fan spent $6,143 on StubHub tickets for her and friends to attend a match between Scotland and Haiti in Boston. Then just minutes before the match began, their tickets were refunded, leaving them unable to attend the game they’d been planning to see for months.
Now she’s warning others not to buy from StubHub.
Skylie (@skylietravels) recently posted a TikTok about the experience. She claims StubHub repeatedly confirmed that her tickets would be available up to four hours before the match, but ultimately pulled the rug on her and her group at the last minute.
She isn’t the only one claiming to have this experience during the World Cup.
What happened on the day of the World Cup game?
A text overlay in her video reads: “Don’t buy from StubHub. $6,000 to go to the World Cup to find out 45 minutes before start that the seller never transferred tickets.”
In her video, Skylie says, “It’s 8pm. The World Cup starts at 9pm. Me and my party of four paid over $6,000 for World Cup tickets to Scotland vs Haiti on StubHub.”
She claims she bought the tickets months ago and that StubHub assured her she’d get the tickets the day of the game.
Then gameday came.
“Today’s June 13th, 9am, no ticket. 10am, no ticket. 11am, no ticket. It’s now 8pm and we’ve been on the phone with StubHub and they keep insisting that we are getting our ticket, it’s just the person who we bought off of is transferring it over to us,” she says.
Ultimately, she claims the tickets were never delivered. Skylie said that just 45 minutes before the game began, Stubhub ended up refunding their money, leaving them with no way to buy tickets except perhaps from scalpers outside the venue — and likely at an extreme markup.
Did the ticket refund make them whole?
By then, the group was already out of significant funds.
“We have spent hundreds of dollars, parking, on merch, pre-gaming, getting to the stadium. And it’s such a disappointment,” she says. “We spent $6,143 dollars and here we are watching everyone enter the stadium while we have been waiting for our tickets all day.”
Skylie claims that “for three weeks” StubHub insisted their tickets would be transferred four hours before the game began.
But that’s not what happened.
“And now we’re missing the entire World Cup. StubHub, I have issues with you. We didn’t want the refund, we wanted our tickets. Our $6,143 tickets,” she says.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. Everyone is, we’re all so disappointed. I can’t even believe this and really just such a shame.”
Now she’s urging others not to buy from StubHub.
“You will not get into the event. And you will be sitting here watching everyone walk into the event while you sit on the grass. And just debate your life because this should’ve been us,” she says.
While she got a refund of the over $6,000 Skyle says they spent, that is a hollow relief.
“This is such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That we weren’t able to complete and see due to StubHub’s negligence,” she says.
StubHub responds
In a follow-up video, Skylie says that StubHub contacted her and offered 50% off tickets to the Scotland versus Morocco game. At the time she said they still hadn’t received their refund for the missed game, which occurred 72 hours previously.
She subsequently posted a video from the match. Skylie is clearly elated to attend, jumping up and down and beaming in her video. A text overlay reads, “Hosting the World Cup has genuinely been the best thing to happen to the US. Why have I had more fun this past week than living here my entire life.”
StubHub told The Big Lead that it realizes fans invest significant time and resources to attend World Cup matches and that it takes its responsibility “seriously.”
“Many of the issues fans are facing trace back to the event organizer’s technology infrastructure, newly-announced transfer restrictions, and a new app that was launched just a month ago ahead of such a major event,” a StubHub spokesperson said via email.
The spokesperson insisted its goal is to provide fans with “choice, flexibility, and access” to events—and noted that its FanProtect Guarantee exists to protect customers.
“Some organizers take anti-competitive actions and try to limit where tickets can be bought or sold,” they added.
Other World Cup fans have beef with StubHub
Skylie isn’t the only person claiming to have bought World Cup tickets through StubHub that were never delivered.
The CBC reports that “calls for investigations” have been made following similar cases.
One alleged buyer told the outlet he thought StubHub was “a f****** con.” The day before a match he thought he reserved tickets for, he said he received an email from the company telling him that “the seller cannot provide the tickets.”
Unlike Skylie, the man claimed he wasn’t immediately issued a refund. Instead, he said he was still trying to get refunded the $4,600 he paid for the tickets. The fan purportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
He told CBC, “StubHub allowed a scalper either to post tickets for resale, which they didn’t actually own … or allowed the reseller to renege because they found a different buyer.”
He also said he believes StubHub “didn’t do due diligence to ensure that the person listing tickets actually had physical possession of the tickets.”
“StubHub does not allow speculative tickets”
Jack Stern, a spokesman for StubHub, told CBC that it does not allow anyone to use its platform to sell tickets they don’t own.
“StubHub does not allow speculative tickets, period. Sellers who violate our rules face fines, stricter requirements and account suspension,” he said.
The Associated Press reports that another fan missed out on the World Cup after buying tickets on StubHub. In that case, they were reportedly unable to transfer the tickets to the FIFA app that would allow them to enter the stadium.
AP adds that “fans have flooded social media with complaints about tickets that never arrived.”
StubHub denied that the tickets were not owned by the seller, aka that they were speculative. The company reportedly held FIFA responsible in that instance, specifically its “poor technology infrastructure.” It purportedly claimed this made it impossible to transfer the tickets.
StubHub also reportedly called out organizers that ‘take anti-competitive actions’ that limit where fans can buy and sell tickets.”
FIFA told the AP the global soccer organization “sales through its official site are guaranteed to go through.”
The fan who spoke with the AP was ultimately refunded by StubHub, but left bitterly disappointed.
“I didn’t want a refund, I didn’t want my money back,” the woman reportedly said. “I wanted to go to the game.”
The Big Lead has reached out to FIFA and Skylie via email for further comment.
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