StubHub Raises Its Minimum Listing Price To Be In Accordance With MLB Contract

StubHub, as part of its recent push to remove all-in ticket pricing as a default setting, has raised its minimum listing price to $6 per ticket, a move that keeps the company in accordance with its MLB contract as the league’s official ticket resale marketplace. The new $6 minimum, before fees are imposed, applies to all forms of tickets sold on the eBay-owned StubHub. But that level also is the minimum threshold placed in StubHub’s five-year renewal with MLB signed in late '12 that goes through the '17 season. The $6 minimum had been a prominent issue in those renewal talks as league officials, in part hearing concerns from individual teams about damage to primary markets, sought to find ways to remove ticket listings falling to $1 and below. “It was important to get rid of the $1 tickets on there,” said MLB President of Business & Media Bob Bowman. “The all-in pricing was a way to help us achieve that. Now it’s being done through the minimum listing price. But the goal and the outcome are the same.” StubHub users can still opt into all-in ticket pricing, with all purchasing fees listed up front. But that is no longer the default setting, as the company seeks to better compete with rival resale outlets that do not use all-in pricing. StubHub Head of Corporate Communications Smita Saran said of the new $6 minimum listing price, “As a technology-enabled platform business, having a minimum listing price allows us to cover the operating cost associated with transactions.”