Informational · Ticket marketplace fees
StubHub fees, explained with real numbers: on a $200 ticket the seller nets ~$170 and the buyer pays ~$245.
Every line item of StubHub’s 2026 fee structure — the 15% seller commission, the variable buyer fee, the processing on top, the $10M FTC settlement that changed what buyers see first — and how full-service consignment changes the net math for a season ticket holder.
Related: is ticket consignment worth it — the real numbers. Worth knowing as you compare: what the Live Nation antitrust ruling means for sellers.
StubHub takes a 15% seller commission on every sale in the US as of 2026, charges buyers a variable service fee that typically runs 15-25% of the ticket price, and adds payment processing on top. That means on a $200 ticket the seller nets roughly $170 and the buyer pays closer to $245 — a 30%+ spread between what one side pays and the other receives.
This page walks through every line item, how the structure shifted from 2023 to 2026 (including the April 2026 $10M FTC settlement over hidden-fee disclosures), how StubHub compares to Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, and TickPick, and how full-service consignment changes the net math for a season ticket holder.
TL;DR
Figures on this page last verified June 2026.
- Seller commission: 15% flat on standard accounts in the US (can drop to 10% for high-volume sellers who move hundreds of thousands in inventory annually).
- Buyer fees: variable, typically 15-25% of the ticket price, sometimes higher on in-demand inventory.
- Payment processing: deducted from seller payouts on top of commission, typically 2.9-3% depending on payout method.
- 2026 regulatory shift: FTC Junk Fees Rule (May 2025) requires all-in pricing on the first displayed price. StubHub paid a $10M settlement in April 2026 for violating it.
- Consignment math: A 20% consignment commission on StubHub-equivalent gross often nets a seller more than a 15% self-listing fee once you factor pricing expertise, dispute losses, and multi-marketplace exposure.
How StubHub’s 15% seller fee actually works in 2026
StubHub’s standard US seller fee is 15% of the gross sale price. It’s deducted from the seller’s payout the moment the buyer’s funds clear. If you list a ticket at $300 and it sells at that number, StubHub withholds $45 and pays out $255 — before payment processing.
There’s no listing fee, no monthly fee, and no charge if your tickets don’t sell. The commission is only realized on a successful transaction. That’s been consistent for the last several years and did not change in the 2026 rule updates.
The high-volume seller discount
If you move enough inventory, StubHub will reduce the seller commission. Sellers routinely clearing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in gross sales can negotiate down to 10% in some cases. This is effectively a broker tier and isn’t advertised publicly — it requires reaching out to StubHub’s seller relations team and producing volume data.
For a season ticket holder with 41 NBA home games or 81 MLB games to move, you’re almost certainly not hitting that tier solo. Two to four full-season packages in premium locations will get you to the edge, but most individual STHs pay the 15% standard rate.
Payment processing on top of the 15%
StubHub also deducts payment processing from seller payouts. In 2026 this runs approximately 2.9-3% on ACH/direct deposit and slightly higher on PayPal. On a $300 ticket with the 15% seller fee, your actual net after processing is closer to $246 than $255. It’s not a huge number per ticket, but across an 81-game baseball season it’s real money.
What StubHub charges buyers in 2026
StubHub’s buyer-side fees are where most of the platform’s margin sits, and they’re where the pricing transparency fights have played out for the last three years. Buyers in 2026 typically pay a 15-25% service fee layered on top of the listed ticket price, plus a per-order delivery fee (usually around $5 for electronic, more for paper or overnight).
StubHub does not publish a fixed buyer fee percentage. The actual rate varies by event demand, price level, location, sport vs. concert, and whether the transaction is treated as a marketplace sale or an in-house resale. In practice, we see buyer fees on NFL and playoff inventory trend toward the top of the range (25%+), while lower-demand weeknight MLB and NHL tickets tend to settle in the 15-20% band.
The FTC all-in pricing rule and StubHub’s $10M settlement
In May 2025 the FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees — the so-called Junk Fees Rule — took effect. The rule requires ticketing platforms to display the total price, including all mandatory fees, in the first price displayed to a consumer. In April 2026 the FTC announced a $10 million settlement with StubHub over alleged violations of that rule. Per the FTC, StubHub had continued to display pre-fee prices in initial search results after the rule went into effect, particularly on high-demand NFL inventory around the May 14, 2025 schedule release.
As of the settlement, StubHub has adjusted its display. A ticket listed at $250 will now show the buyer’s landed cost (typically around $300-310 depending on fees and delivery) in the first-glance price. That shift matters for sellers too — it means your listing price is no longer the number the buyer sees first, and the anchor effect of a round-number list price has weakened.
2023-2026 fee history in one paragraph
The 15% standard seller rate has been stable since roughly 2022. What changed between 2023 and 2026 is buyer-side disclosure: StubHub paid $550,000 in a 2023 FTC settlement, shifted to “including estimated fees” toggles, faced a California class action over allegedly inaccurate estimated-fees displays, and finally moved to all-in pricing under regulatory pressure in late 2025 and early 2026. The seller side is largely unchanged; the buyer-side numbers are more visible, not necessarily lower.
StubHub vs. the rest of the 2026 marketplace landscape
Here’s how StubHub’s seller and buyer fees compare to the other major US secondary marketplaces in 2026. All figures are US standard rates; promotional rates and high-volume broker tiers are not shown.
| Marketplace | Seller fee | Buyer fee | All-in pricing | Payout timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StubHub | 15% | ~15-25% variable | Yes (post-May 2025 rule) | 5-8 business days |
| Vivid Seats | 10% | ~20-40% variable | Yes | 7-10 business days |
| SeatGeek | ~10% | 10-25% variable | Yes | 5-7 business days |
| TickPick | 10% (seller-side only) | $0 buyer fee | Yes by design | 5-7 business days |
| Ticketmaster Resale | ~15% effective | Varies, often 20%+ | Yes (AIP 2025) | 5-10 business days |
Two things jump out. First, Vivid Seats is the cheapest for sellers on paper (10%) but has among the highest buyer fees, which pushes down effective clear prices. Second, TickPick’s no-buyer-fee model means a listing priced at $250 is the number the buyer actually pays, which generally produces higher conversion at equivalent gross, offset by a smaller buyer base than StubHub.
For serious sellers, the answer isn’t picking one marketplace — it’s being listed simultaneously across all of them with inventory state synced, so a sale on any one platform pulls the listing everywhere else. That’s operational complexity most individual sellers don’t want to manage manually.
How the StubHub fee structure affects season ticket holders
A season ticket holder with a full-price NBA 200-level package is typically looking at 35-41 home games, each with its own pricing curve. Three structural issues hit STHs hardest on StubHub:
Payment timing
StubHub pays out 5-8 business days after the event. For a full season that means dozens of separate deposits with inconsistent arrival dates — hard to reconcile against your season-ticket invoice.
Buyer-side chargebacks
If a buyer disputes delivery, claims the barcode didn’t work, or triggers a late-game issue, StubHub will typically deduct the sale price back from your account and pass the dispute to you. One bad Friday-night transfer can erase multiple good sales.
No pricing guidance
StubHub gives you comps, but the algorithmic suggestion is typically the median of current listings — not what a premium ticket will actually clear at 72 hours out. STHs who list at the suggested price 30+ days pre-event typically leave 20-40% on the table for premium dates.
None of this means StubHub is a bad venue — it’s the largest US secondary marketplace by volume and has buyers who won’t shop anywhere else. It means StubHub alone isn’t a strategy. It’s one leg of a distribution footprint, and the seller fee is only part of the total cost of selling yourself.
How consignment pricing nets out against StubHub
A common question from STHs comparing consignment to self-listing: “If StubHub’s seller fee is 15% and your consignment commission is 20%, isn’t consignment more expensive?” On paper, yes — 5 percentage points more. In practice, that frame misses three things:
1. Multi-marketplace exposure lifts gross
A ticket listed on StubHub plus Vivid plus SeatGeek plus TickPick plus broker-to-broker networks typically clears 10-25% higher than the same ticket on StubHub alone. The wider the buyer pool, the thinner the bid-ask spread at the 72-hour mark.
2. Active repricing captures the demand curve
StubHub’s passive “set and forget” approach is the single biggest reason STHs underprice premium games. Active repricing on the 30/14/7/3/1-day curve, against matchup and injury signals, typically lifts net payout by 15-30% on high-demand dates.
3. Dispute absorption
Consigned tickets don’t chargeback to your account. If we sell a ticket and something goes wrong with delivery, the customer service and replacement inventory come out of our side of the ledger, not yours.
The practical math: on a standard $300 NBA lower-bowl ticket, a well-executed consignment listing often clears at $340-380 gross. After a 20% commission that’s a $272-304 net payout — comparable to or higher than the $246-255 you’d net self-listing at $300 on StubHub. On Tier-1 premium inventory (Finals, Super Bowl, Masters, Final Four), the spread widens further; on low-demand weeknight inventory the math gets closer, and we’ll tell you honestly when self-listing is the right call.
Want this math run on your actual seats?
Send the section, row, and games — we will show you the projected net both ways, StubHub self-list vs consigned, before you commit to anything.
How this applies to your tickets
If you’re a season ticket holder or premium seat partner deciding whether to keep self-listing on StubHub or move to consignment, here’s how we think about it:
Standard commission 20%, Tier-1 championships 15%
For Final Four, Masters, Super Bowl, and Conference/League championship inventory, our commission drops to 15% to match the risk-reward of that inventory.
First regular-season sale free for new season ticket holders
If this is your first listing with us, we take zero commission on ticket one. The goal is for you to see the net payout yourself against what you’d have netted on StubHub.
Friday payouts (PayPal or wire)
One deposit per week for every event that cleared the prior Sunday-Saturday. No waiting 5-8 days per sale.
Full dispute absorption
If a buyer charges back or a transfer fails, we replace the inventory or refund the buyer out of our side. Your payout doesn’t claw back.
None of that makes sense if your inventory is a handful of low-demand tickets a year; self-listing on StubHub is the right answer in that case. Consignment starts to dominate the math around the point where you’re moving $10K+ of annual gross and your time has opportunity cost.
FAQs about StubHub fees
Does StubHub charge a listing fee?
No. StubHub does not charge to list tickets. The 15% seller commission is only deducted when a ticket sells. If your ticket doesn’t sell, you owe nothing.
How does the StubHub buyer fee compare to the seller fee?
Buyer fees are typically higher in absolute terms. Sellers pay 15% in 2026. Buyers pay a variable service fee that typically runs 15-25% of the ticket price, plus a delivery fee. On a $200 ticket, the seller nets around $170 and the buyer pays around $245.
Did StubHub fees change in 2026?
The 15% seller rate was unchanged. Buyer-facing display changed significantly following the FTC’s Junk Fees Rule (effective May 2025) and the $10 million FTC settlement in April 2026. All-in pricing is now required on the first price displayed, which changes buyer behavior even if the underlying fee percentage hasn’t moved.
When does StubHub pay sellers?
Standard seller payout is 5-8 business days after the event date, via ACH/direct deposit or PayPal. Payment processing fees (typically 2.9-3%) are deducted on top of the 15% commission.
Can I negotiate lower StubHub seller fees?
High-volume sellers moving hundreds of thousands of dollars in gross annually can negotiate rates as low as 10%. For individual STHs with one or two season packages, you’ll generally pay the 15% standard rate.
How does StubHub’s 15% fee compare to a broker consignment?
Nominally higher than the 20% standard consignment commission. In practice, consignment captures multi-marketplace exposure, active repricing, and dispute absorption that typically more than offsets the extra 5 points — especially on premium inventory.
Related pages
Fees & comparisons
How ticket broker commission rates compare · Vivid Seats seller fees vs alternatives · The StubHub alternative
Getting started
How ticket consignment works · Start selling on STF · Is consignment worth it?
Ready to see what your tickets net without the marketplace guesswork?
Send us your inventory — season package, partial plan, suite, or premium singles. We’ll tell you within 24 hours what each date is actually worth across the full marketplace footprint, what we’d price it at, and what you’d net against self-listing on StubHub. First regular-season sale is commission-free for new season ticket holders.
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