Seatgeek announced a new “Swaps” program, allowing for consumers to return tickets purchased through the marketplace for marketplace credit. Tickets eligible for the Swaps program can be returned up to 72 hours prior to the event, with the promo code valid for 12 months after the return.
“Consumers expect flexibility in every purchase they make these days, but until now our industry didn’t have a way to offer that,” said SeatGeek co-founder and CEO Jack Groetzinger. “SeatGeek Swaps changes the equation and is another step in creating more ease and delight in ticketing for fans.”
Traditionally, consumer options for tickets they purchased but can’t or won’t use have been limited. The rule of thumb is that if you bought tickets, you can list them for resale yourself to recoup your investment, unless the event is cancelled. Particularly in resale, the purchase terms are rigid – a marketplace can’t cancel a sale if the buyer doesn’t want to use the tickets any more than it could cancel a sale if the seller decided they could get more money elsewhere once a sale is agreed to.
Seatgeek Swaps looks to upend that system by having the marketplace itself take on the risk of not being able to sell the unused tickets once a consumer has requested a return. TicketNews confirmed with SeatGeek that in the event of a resale listing being returned through this program, the initial transaction would not be cancelled – SeatGeek will pay out the initial sale transaction, and attempt to recoup the refund voucher value by selling the tickets on to another consumer who will want to go before the event takes place.
The bet, in essence, is that SeatGeek will win more business by offering this flexibility to consumers than it loses in breakage when returned tickets don’t sell, or are sold for less than the initial transaction and voucher value. And, given that it is not issuing any cash refunds as part of the program, it hopes to tie consumers to its brand by allowing them to only spend that money in one place – SeatGeek.
The full press release announcing the program is below:
Announcing SeatGeek Swaps, The First Ticket Return Feature Offered by a Major Platform
Seatgeek Swaps allows customers to return their tickets to sports, concerts, or other live events when plans change
NEW YORK, NY (October 4, 2021) — SeatGeek, the innovative ticketing platform, today announced the launch of SeatGeek Swaps, the first ticket return feature offered by a major ticketer. SeatGeek Swaps allows customers to return their tickets to a sports, concert, or other live event all the way up to 72 hours prior to the event if they can no longer attend. The feature was introduced for select events throughout the past year and will now be rolled out to the majority of SeatGeek’s catalog throughout Fall 2021.
In the past, when customers bought a ticket they could no longer use, their options were either to eat the cost of the ticket, or to try to resell the ticket. If the ticket didn’t sell or sold for less than the original price, the customer was out of luck. In addition, customers often had to pay an additional fee to the marketplace where the ticket was sold. SeatGeek Swaps is designed to be ticket returns without the nonsense, creating an overall better ticket buying experience for fans.
“Consumers expect flexibility in every purchase they make these days, but until now our industry didn’t have a way to offer that,” said SeatGeek co-founder and CEO Jack Groetzinger. “SeatGeek Swaps changes the equation and is another step in creating more ease and delight in ticketing for fans.”
Historically, SeatGeek’s customer service team receives approximately 4,000 calls a month from customers asking about refunds or exchanges. A third-party conducted survey of over 2,000 recent ticket purchasers found:
- 30% of event-goers said they hesitated or stopped an event ticket purchase because of the uncertainty of their plans.
- 32% said they have purchased a ticket to an event they could no longer attend.
Now, customers can utilize SeatGeek Swaps to exchange their tickets up to 72 hours in advance if plans change. They will then receive 100% credit, inclusive of fees, in the form of a 12-month promo code to ‘swap’ their tickets out for another event.