CheapSeatsTickets Cheaper Than Ticketmaster: How to Navigate New Deception in the Secondary Market

Purchasing tickets on the secondary market has gotten infinitely more complicated since Ticketmaster entered the resale game. Years ago, when Ticketmaster was busy trying to prevent the resale of tickets, you were assured that if you purchased your ticket through Ticketmaster, it was a face value ticket. But that is no longer the case and Ticketmaster clearly took the position “if you can’t beat ’em join ’em” but worse! Ticketmaster now sells tickets under the moniker “Verified Reseller” which seems somewhat obvious if you aren’t already predisposed to the idea they sell primary seats at face value.

As an example, we took a look at The Eagles 2022 Hotel California tour. Navigate to the Eagles official website and you’ll find all the tour dates and links to Ticketmaster for tickets. We clicked on the Savannah, GA event scheduled for February 19, 2022 and immediately found tons and tons of available tickets. But on closer inspection it becomes clear the event is actually sold out and the only tickets available are tickets on the secondary market at prices that often far exceed prices on the original secondary market like CheapSeatsTickets. Navigate to the “Filters” box and uncheck the “Verified Reseller” button and you will quickly discover the event is actually sold out.

Does that mean the tickets on Ticketmaster aren’t any good? No. But it does mean that you need to compare apples to apples and we did exactly that. We looked at several different seats and found that Ticketmaster tickets were as high as 35% higher than our exact or similar seats. We found seats in FLOOR D Row 4. Ticketmaster has them priced at $679 per ticket with a $312.34 service fee and a $2.95 processing fee for a total of $1,673.29. CheapSeatsTickets has the same seats in FLOOR D Row 4 with a ticket price of $482, a service fee of $250.64 plus delivery and taxes for a total of $1,273.57. We’re talking about a $400 difference for the exact same seats!

CST also has more inventory in more locations at lower prices. Our lowest priced pair of tickets will cost you $454 all in per ticket. Ticketmaster’s lowest priced ticket will cost you $489 and that’s in the upper level – ours is in the lower level.

So don’t be fooled by the branding as the original or official seller. And new security measures placed on tickets by most venues mean you will have legit tickets as long as you buy from an established reputable reseller. Remember, CST has been handling tickets in the secondary market for 17 years and we were able to refund every cancelled event through Covid. We stand by our tickets and offer the best service in the biz.