StubHub Changes 2014 Advertised Policy, Now Adds Extra Fees Between Display and Checkout

As Consumerist noted at the time, StubHub emphasized an “all-in pricing” policy last year, where customers would not be hit with extra fees in between displayed price and checkout. They even underscored that “other sites” would do something like a bait-and-switch where a seat listed for $88 would actually cost $104.

As I recently discovered, StubHub has done an about-face on this policy. For example, look at what happens with this “$39” ticket to see the Cubs play the Cardinals at Wrigley Field this Friday:

When you click “checkout” the price magically jumps to $49.13!

StubHub is far from the only site that does this, and $10 may not sound like the biggest deal in the world, but this is a jump of over 25% on the ticket price. While there’s almost certainly something within StubHub’s terms of service that allowed for the change in policy here — and this may not ultimately impact the final cost of a ticket — it’s frustrating as a consumer that one of the most compelling reasons to buy tickets there has gone by the wayside.

A StubHub spokesman provided the following statement:

"We have many different types of users at StubHub. A significant number of users prefer to comparison shop while other users prefer to just see the out of pocket price when making purchasing decisions. After two weeks of testing at the end of August and closely listening to customer feedback, we decided to introduce an updated user experience that enables consumers to choose how they want to see pricing on the site. At StubHub, we believe that giving users more choice, and enabling them to shop how they want, is the best thing for our customers and for our business."

Nevertheless, the new version is the default, and it is on the user to change his preferences via a graphic on the bottom of the screen.