Last week I was invited along to something that was billed as the Ultimate Jukebox quiz by StubHub UK. I was slightly concerned when I turned up with my friend Sarah to find the rest of the guests were all dedicated music bloggers, what chance did we have I wondered as the smallest team in the room?
The event had a great twist, instead of listening to snippets of music being played by a DJ, which is what I imagined was going to happen, the questions were posed and performed by an acoustic ensemble called The London Essentials who were hugely entertaining. They weren’t just a karaoke band, a term which does them no justice whatsoever. No, they were more akin to troubadours as they mingled with the crowd, joked and serenaded most of the girls and one lucky guy who had an a capella Michael Jackson number sung to him.
It was no great surprise that the largest team, with 5 full-time music bloggers, were triumphant on the night however Sarah and I came a very respectable second, helped, I feel, by my head full of useless trivia such as knowing what is written on Frank Sinatra’s headstone (other than his name!)
Our prize was a bottle of champagne which we drank there and then while the 5 winners had to decide how they were going to carve up their prize of 4 tickets to StubHub’s box at the O2. You might say that’s karma, I couldn’t possibly comment!
Now, if you are unfamiliar with StubHub they’re one of the biggest ticket marketplaces on the internet. They started in the US in 2000, were bought by eBay in 2007 and launched in the UK in 2011. Later on this year eBay UK will stop listing tickets and instead will re-direct buyers and sellers to StubHub, which is a bit like Ticketmaster’s Get Me In subsidiary. If you’re unfamiliar with either site they work by sellers listing their tickets at a fixed price and buyers deciding whether they’re at a price worth paying, no more auction and being out-bid at the last minute.
Well, actually there is more to it than that but I’ll talk more about StubHub and how it works in another post because they’re kindly sorting out a credit for me to use on their site so I can buy something and experience the way it works. However from what I have already seen when compared to Get Me In, for buyers, StubHub are cheaper.
For example, I looked on both sites and compared the cost of buying a pair of tickets to see The Killers at Wembley in June. Now, I’ve used tickets that were listed for £88 each but there were cheaper tickets available on both sites but for the purpose of this comparison I needed to find tickets that were the same price on both.
| Ticket Price | Processing Fee | Postage | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StubHub UK | £176.00 | £0.00 | £5.00 | £181.00 |
| Get Me In | £176.00 | £32.00 | £10.57 | £218.57 |
As you can see, buying those tickets from StubHub would save you £37.57, a noticeable chunk of change that would buy you a few drinks at the O2.
One of the things I like about StubHub is the ability to collect your tickets in person from a StubHub collection point for £2 instead of £5. They also offer the option to print PDF tickets which more and more people tend to opt for nowadays however don’t get me started on what I feel about being charged to print a PDF file!
Obviously most people’s concerns are around whether or not the tickets they buy are real or fake or what will happen if the event gets cancelled at short notice. In a bid to alleviate those concerns all tickets you buy are covered by StubHub’s FanProtect™ Guarantee so you’ll get your money back or replacement tickets for things like the event being cancelled or tickets not turning up.
Another nice thing StubHub do is donate a percentage of the fee they charge sellers to two charities, the Chicken Shed Theatre in London and the Musical Youth Foundation in Dublin. The latter I find very interesting as they create Instrumental Art in order to help raise funds. They have some amazing pieces which I’d quite like myself, so if you’re feeling generous I’m here!
