What a ticket really costs, and who has the cheaper seat

The short version

When our tickets aren't the cheapest, we show you whose are.

That is the promise this paper backs up. AgentLive.Events is a ticket marketplace built for agents and made for fans. Your agent searches concerts, sports and shows, compares all-in prices, and tells you the truth about price, even when the truth is someone else.

We price from wholesale, so we are often cheaper. Often is not always. To find out how often, we compared the exact same seats, ticket for ticket, against the big resale marketplaces: SeatGeek and Vivid Seats seat for seat, and StubHub on a Same row (proxy) match (see By marketplace). A matched listing is one of our listings paired with one marketplace listing for the same event, section, row and seat numbers. The table below covers SeatGeek and Vivid Seats. Here is what we found (AgentLive.Events Pricing Study (Oct 26 to 27, 2026); 23,892 matched listings across 96 events):

About the same means the two all-in prices were within 2% or $2 per ticket of each other, whichever is larger.

The median difference was $7 per ticket in our favour (95% range $6 to $9). That $7 is the median across all matched listings, including the ones where we were pricier, and prices are stored in whole dollars (same source and sample).

By marketplace

Same-seat results for SeatGeek and Vivid Seats; StubHub on a Same row (proxy) match, shown separately. Oct 26 to 27, 2026. About the same uses the 2% or $2 band above (AgentLive.Events Pricing Study (Oct 26 to 27, 2026)):

Same row (proxy), not comparable to the same-seat rows above

StubHub note. StubHub does not show seat numbers, so it could not be matched seat for seat. Its row is Same row (proxy): our cheapest listing in that row against their listing in that row, so the seats are different. Its premium estimate "likely reads low" (AgentLive.Events Pricing Study (Oct 26 to 27, 2026)). It is not comparable to the same-seat rows and is not in the combined SeatGeek and Vivid Seats figure. Its higher pricier share is partly a property of the match method, not only of StubHub. Vivid Seats has the widest ranges of the three, so its ranges are shown with its figures.

Per-marketplace estimated premiums bundle the seller's price with marketplace fees; they are not marketplace fees alone (AgentLive.Events Pricing Study (Oct 26 to 27, 2026)). The three medians overlap and sit within 1.2 points of each other (same source).

On the same seats, roughly one matched listing in six was pricier with us (SeatGeek and Vivid Seats). On the StubHub Same row (proxy) match it was about one in four. We put that number in the first table on purpose. It is the reason the transparency promise matters: those are the seats where your agent should point you somewhere else, and it does.

Why we lead with transparency, not price

Most fans have learned the same lesson the hard way: the price you see first is not the price you pay. The only way to know you got a fair deal is to check every site yourself.

An agent can do that checking for you. But an agent is only as useful as the tool it trusts. A tool that always claims to be cheapest will eventually be caught being wrong, and then nothing it says counts. So we built the opposite. When our price is the cheapest, the agent shows ours. When it isn't, the agent links you out to the best available alternative price.

Price is real, and this paper measures it. But price is the supporting proof. Transparency is the promise.

Where our prices come from

We are priced from wholesale. We connect agents to wholesale ticket inventory and add a small markup on top, so there is less between the fan and the seat. We hold no inventory and never touch the money. Approval happens in Link, as you set it up, and the tickets go straight to the fan's own account.

Our supplier describes its catalogue as 150,000+ events (the supplier's own figure). We do not publish a catalogue count of our own because we have not measured one.

Our goal is simple: make tickets as cheap as we can for fans, and pass savings through as we grow.

What SeatGeek, Vivid Seats and StubHub charge

Resale prices bundle two things: what the seller lists the ticket for, and what the marketplace adds or takes in fees. Our study measured the total a fan would pay. It did not split that total into seller price and marketplace fees (AgentLive.Events Pricing Study (Oct 26 to 27, 2026)).

What we can say:

• Estimated all-in premium over wholesale. On the same seats, SeatGeek's and Vivid Seats' all-in prices sat a median of about 12% above wholesale (median 12.2%; 95% range 11.6% to 13.2%; 23,892 matched listings across 96 events; Oct 26 to 27, 2026). This is an estimate of the total price difference over wholesale. It is not a measure of marketplace fees, which we did not separate from seller pricing. It varies widely by event. By marketplace, same seat: SeatGeek 11.9% (11.3% to 13.0%; 12,957 matched listings / 87 events) and Vivid Seats 12.7% (11.7% to 13.9%; 10,935 / 80).
• StubHub, same-row estimate. On a Same row (proxy) match (different seats), StubHub's all-in prices sat a median of 13.1% above wholesale (12.0% to 14.2%; 15,268 matched listings / 95 events). This is a separate estimate that likely reads low, since SeatGeek and Vivid Seats read a few points lower on same-row than on same-seat matches in an earlier check. It is not part of the 12.2% figure.
• Published fees. Vivid Seats publishes a seller fee of 10% of the total sale, deducted after the sale, with free listing, on its own help page (https://support.vividseats.com/support/solutions/articles/1000212791-will-i-be-charged-for-listing-tickets-on-your-site-; accessed Oct 20, 2026). SeatGeek publishes 10% of list price for MLB resale only and no general seller fee; StubHub says there is no set seller percentage (same source). None of the three publishes a buyer-fee percentage; buyer fees vary and are shown at checkout.
• Company-reported take. For context, StubHub reported revenue equal to 19% of gross merchandise sales for fiscal 2025 in its annual report (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1337634/000162828026014844/stub-20251231.htm). That is the company's own figure, not our measurement. It reflects all fees as a share of total buyer spend, which is a different measure from the price difference over wholesale reported above.

We do not claim any marketplace charges a particular fee on any particular order. Fees vary, and the honest comparison is the all-in price on the same seat, which is what the rest of this paper uses.

What these numbers do not show

We would rather you trust these numbers than be impressed by them, so here is what they do not show.

• One snapshot. The headline is a single capture over Oct 26 to 27, 2026. It is not a trend. Prices move, and a later snapshot could differ.
• No weekly series yet. There is no weekly same-seat study after this snapshot. Until one exists, the date stays next to every figure.
• Events, not matched listings, are the real sample. Matched listings within one event move together, so 96 events is the effective sample size, not 23,892.
• Same seats only. Seats that exist on only one side cannot be compared seat for seat. The figures say nothing about events or seats we do not carry.
• Not every marketplace at seat level. StubHub has no seat numbers, so it is not in the same-seat result. Any figure that folds in a Same row (proxy) match for it needs that caveat and is not used as the headline.
• Fees not split out. We measured all-in prices. We did not measure how much of a marketplace price is the seller's list price and how much is marketplace fees. The combined premium over wholesale above is an estimated price gap, not observed marketplace fees alone.
• No forecast. Nothing here predicts how marketplaces would reprice in response to us.
• How many events we carry is not measured here. This paper makes no claim about how many events or which major events we carry.

What this means for a fan

Ask your agent for the seats you want. It will show you the all-in price, tell you whether a seller is cheaper, and give you the link if one is. In our snapshot, that happened on roughly one same-seat matched listing in six. On most of the rest, we were cheaper or about the same.

You approve in Link, as you set it up, and the tickets are yours, backed by the seller's guarantee.

Built for agents. Made for fans.

How we did this

AgentLive.Events Pricing Study (Oct 26 to 27, 2026). We compared all-in prices for a pair of tickets, shown per ticket, fees included on both sides.

How listings were matched. A matched listing is one of our listings paired with one marketplace listing. For SeatGeek and Vivid Seats that means the same event, section, row and seat numbers (Same seat). That is the headline. StubHub does not show seat numbers, so it cannot be matched seat for seat. For StubHub we use Same row (proxy): our cheapest listing in a row against a StubHub listing in that row. The seats differ, so this result is kept apart from the same-seat figures. Its estimated premium over wholesale likely reads low: in an earlier check, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats read a few points lower on same-row matches than on same-seat matches.

About the same. A matched listing counts as about the same when the two all-in prices are within 2% or $2 per ticket of each other, whichever is larger. Below that, we are cheaper. Above it, we are pricier.

Dates. Prices were captured from Oct 26 to 27, 2026, Pacific time. This is one two-day snapshot, not a trend.

95% ranges. Matched listings within one event move together, so every 95% range comes from resampling whole events (2,000 resamples). The effective sample is the number of events, not the number of matched listings.

Small-group rule. In the by-section file, any section with fewer than 5 matched listings for an event, marketplace and match type is combined into an Other sections row. That row shows counts and shares only. In the by-event file, the median difference is left blank when a row has fewer than 5 matched listings.

What the files can and cannot rebuild. Counts, shares and their 95% ranges can be rebuilt from the count columns by resampling events. Medians, price ratios and premiums over wholesale were computed from the underlying matches and cannot be rebuilt from the published files.

What we left out. Before comparing, we set aside our own listings priced at 2.5 times or more the median for their section (2.7% of our listings; 0.6% of same-seat matched listings). StubHub cannot appear in the same-seat result. There is no file of individual matched listings, no seat-level data, and the by-section file has no prices or price differences.

Download the data

Download the data (by section, CSV)

Download the data (by event, CSV)

Each file is aggregated: the by-section file has counts and shares only; the by-event file adds a median difference only where a row has 5 or more matched listings. Columns cover the event, marketplace, match type, matched-listing counts and shares (AgentLive cheaper, about the same, AgentLive pricier), and capture dates. Full column notes are in the data readme.

Sources

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