Two markets, one seat
Buying an event ticket means buying from one of two markets. The primary market is the first sale: the team, venue, promoter or artist sells seats at face value (the price the event organizer sets), almost always through a contracted ticketing company. The secondary market, also called resale, is everything after that: fans and professional brokers relist tickets they already bought, and the price floats with demand, above or below face value.
The two markets are tightly linked. A show that sells out at the box office in minutes moves almost entirely to resale, and a game with soft demand can see resale listings undercut face value in the final days. Since May 12, 2025, a federal rule has also changed what either kind of seller must show you: the total price, including mandatory fees, whenever a price appears. The rest of this guide explains each step, and the guides in this section go deeper on each one.
The primary sale: onsales, presales and holds
A primary sale usually starts with an announced onsale (the date and time tickets go on sale to the general public). For high-demand concerts, a large share of seats is gone before that moment. Presales let fan-club members, credit card holders, venue newsletter subscribers or artist mailing lists buy first, and holds keep seats back for the artist, promoter, teams, sponsors and production needs.
The scale is larger than most buyers assume. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2018 that 10 to 30 percent of tickets for major concerts are typically offered through presales, and sometimes as many as about 65 percent. A New York study GAO cited found an average of 38 percent of tickets allotted to presales and about 16 percent held back. Those figures predate the recent growth of presales, so treat them as a floor rather than a current measure.
What this means for you
- Register early. Presale codes and fan registrations often close days before the onsale.
- Expect fewer seats at the public onsale than the venue capacity suggests.
- Watch for released holds. Seats held for production or the artist are sometimes released close to the event, which is why good seats can appear late.
Some primary sellers also use dynamic pricing (prices that rise or fall with demand during the sale), so face value itself is no longer a fixed number for many events.
The resale market and why prices move
Resale exists because demand for a popular event outruns the number of seats sold at face value, and because plans change. A season ticket holder who cannot make a Tuesday game, a fan who bought four seats and needs two, and a full-time broker who buys inventory to resell all list on the same marketplaces. The marketplace holds the buyer's payment, confirms the transfer and, on reputable platforms, guarantees the order.
Resale is legal in most of the United States, but several states regulate it, and some events restrict or block transfers entirely. The guide Are Resale Tickets Legit? covers the legal picture and the warning signs of a bad listing.
Resale prices follow demand rather than a set schedule. A 2012 study of secondary-market Major League Baseball tickets by economist Andrew Sweeting found that sellers cut prices dramatically, by 40 percent or more, as game day approached. That is a historical pattern from regular-season baseball; high-demand concerts and championship games often move the other way. The guide When Do Ticket Prices Drop? explains which events tend to soften late and which rarely do.
What the price includes: fees and the all-in rule
Ticket fees are the charges added on top of the base ticket price: service fees, order processing fees, facility fees and, for physical tickets, delivery charges. They have long been a large share of the bill. GAO's 2018 review found that primary ticketing companies charged total fees averaging 27 percent of face value and secondary sellers averaged 31 percent of the listed price, with wide ranges in both. That is an older baseline, measured before current federal rules.
The Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (16 CFR Part 464) took effect May 12, 2025. It requires any business that offers, displays or advertises a price for live-event tickets to disclose the total price clearly and conspicuously, and more prominently than other pricing information. The total price may leave out only government charges such as taxes, shipping charges for physical goods, and optional add-ons, and those must be disclosed before you pay. The rule does not cap fees; it makes them visible. The final rule as published in the Federal Register sets out the exact wording, and Ticket Fees Explained walks through what it means at checkout.
How tickets are delivered
Most tickets to major venues are now mobile tickets: a ticket held in the ticketing company's app or mobile wallet and scanned from your phone at the gate. When you buy resale, the seller transfers the ticket from their account to yours, and you accept it with the email address or phone number on your order. Paper tickets and printable PDFs still exist for some smaller venues and events, and will call (picking tickets up at the box office with ID) survives at some venues.
Delivery timing matters. Some primary sellers delay transfers until close to the event to limit resale, so a resale order may show a delivery date days or even hours before the event. That is normal. The guide How Mobile Ticket Transfer Works covers accepting a transfer, what to do if it does not arrive, and why a screenshot of a ticket is not a ticket.
Buying safely
Ticket fraud overlaps heavily with online shopping fraud in general. Consumers reported 12.5 billion dollars in fraud losses to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network in 2024, and online shopping ranked second among fraud categories with 383,441 reports, 76 percent of which involved a loss, according to the FTC's 2024 Consumer Sentinel Data Book. The Data Book does not break out event tickets, but the pattern in ticket scams is familiar: a seller you cannot verify, a payment you cannot reverse and pressure to act fast.
Three habits prevent most problems. Buy through a marketplace that guarantees the order, rather than from a stranger on social media. Pay by credit card, which carries federal billing-dispute rights. And confirm the site address before you enter payment details, since look-alike sites and ads are common. Orders on GoodSeats are backed by a 100% guarantee. The guide How to Avoid Ticket Scams lists the common schemes and what to do if one reaches you.
A practical order of operations
- Decide what matters most: the seat location, the date or the total cost. Each pushes you toward a different strategy.
- Check the primary sale first for a new tour or a season onsale, and register for presales early.
- Compare resale totals, not base prices. Under the FTC rule the total price should appear up front; compare the same quantity across sites.
- Read the listing details: section, row, any obstructed or limited-view note, the delivery method and the expected delivery date.
- Time the purchase to the event type. Regular-season games and midweek shows often soften late; sellouts and championships rarely do.
- Accept the transfer as soon as it arrives and confirm the tickets appear in your own app before event day.
Choosing the right seat is its own subject, covered in the seating guides, but the buying decisions above decide whether you get that seat at a fair total price. GAO's 2018 report on the ticket market, Event Ticket Sales: Market Characteristics and Consumer Protection Issues, remains a useful background read on how the industry fits together.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between primary and resale tickets?
Primary tickets are sold for the first time by the team, venue or promoter at face value through their ticketing company. Resale tickets are relisted by fans or brokers who already bought them, and the price follows demand.
Are resale tickets real tickets?
Yes. A resale ticket is the original ticket, transferred from the seller's account to yours. The risk lies in the seller and platform, which is why a marketplace guarantee and a credit card payment matter.
Do ticket sites have to show fees up front?
Yes. Since May 12, 2025, the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees requires sellers of live-event tickets to show the total price, including mandatory fees, whenever they display a price. Taxes, shipping for physical tickets and optional add-ons may be shown separately before payment.
Why are so few tickets available at the public onsale?
Presales and holds take a large share of seats first. GAO reported in 2018 that 10 to 30 percent of major concert tickets typically went to presales, and sometimes far more, with additional seats held for artists, promoters and sponsors.
Is it better to buy tickets early or late?
It depends on demand. Lower-demand games and shows often get cheaper close to the date, while sellouts, rivalry games and championships usually do not. Buying early is the safer choice when the specific seat or date matters most.
Sources
- Federal Register: Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 CFR Part 464 (Jan. 10, 2025) [dossier GS-012]
- FTC: Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, Frequently Asked Questions
- GAO-18-347: Event Ticket Sales (2018) [dossier GS-005, GS-007]
- FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 [dossier GS-013]
- Sweeting, Dynamic Pricing Behavior in Perishable Goods Markets (JPE, 2012) [dossier GS-048]
- Wikipedia: Better Online Tickets Sales Act
- Wikipedia: Ticket resale