Are Resale Tickets Safe? How to Buy Verified Tickets

A primary ticket is sold for the first time by the venue, team, promoter or their official box office. A resale ticket is one that someone has already bought and is now offering again, usually through a resale marketplace that lists tickets from many sellers.

Season-ticket holders who cannot attend every game, fans whose plans changed and professional ticket brokers all sell on resale marketplaces. The ticket you receive is generally the same kind of ticket the original buyer received; what changes is who you buy it from and the price.

Most popular events sell out at the primary box office, or sell their best sections quickly. Resale gives buyers a second chance at those events and gives sellers a way to pass on tickets they cannot use.

Because resale prices are set by sellers rather than the box office, they move with demand. A listing can be above or below the ticket's original face value.

Yes. Buying resale is legal for most events, and established marketplaces handle millions of orders. The risks come mainly from buying outside a marketplace — a stranger on social media, a screenshot of a barcode, a deal that asks for payment by bank transfer or gift card — where there is no one to turn to if the ticket does not work.

Some events and venues set their own rules on resale, such as restricting transfers or requiring the ticket to stay in the original buyer's name. Where an event has rules like that, they apply regardless of where you buy, so it is worth checking the event or venue's own information for unusual events.

OriginalTickets is an independent ticket discovery and resale affiliate. We do not own the tickets listed, and we are not a box office, venue, team, artist or production.

When you choose tickets, the purchase is completed with our ticket partner, TicketNetwork, which handles payment, ticket delivery, customer service, cancellations and refunds under its own Ticket Policies. You can read those policies before you buy.

Purchases completed with our ticket partner are covered by the partner's 100% buyer guarantee, which states two things: your tickets will arrive before the event, and they will be valid for entry.

That guarantee is the partner's, under the partner's Ticket Policies — read those for the exact terms. It is not a promise that every order can be cancelled or refunded for any reason. Whether a change of plans, a postponement or a cancellation leads to a refund or credit is decided by the provider's terms and, where relevant, the event organiser.

Most tickets today are delivered electronically: a mobile ticket transferred into a team or venue app, a ticket you download, or occasionally a physical ticket that is shipped. The delivery method for a listing is shown before you complete your order.

Resale tickets are not always delivered the moment you buy. Sellers often transfer them closer to the event, depending on the event and listing. The delivery details for your order come from the provider, so keep an eye on the email address you used at checkout.

Most resale problems are mismatches the buyer could have caught: the wrong date, the wrong city, or seats that were not together. A few minutes on the details saves most of them.

Seat prices on OriginalTickets are shown as an all-in figure that already includes the provider's mandatory fees. Taxes and shipping for physical tickets are not included in that figure and, where they apply, are shown at checkout. Our guide to all-in ticket prices explains this in more detail.

A price far below every comparable listing for the same section is worth a second look at the details, not a reason to rush.

Checkout shows the final details of your order: the event, seats, quantity, delivery method and total. Read that page carefully before you pay — it is the version of the order that counts.

If something on the order page does not match what you expected, stop and check before you confirm rather than after.

For questions about an order you have placed — delivery, a refund or a credit — contact the ticket provider that fulfilled it, using the details in its Ticket Policies and your order confirmation.

For questions about this site, email info@originaltickets.com or use our Help Center.