SAN JOSE (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The recent acquisition of online ticket secondary marketplace StubHub by eBay for $310m has prompted some financial analysts to issue a 'buy' recommendation for the online auction site.
eBay has made strong moves in recent months to expand its hold on online auctions by moving into both online retail, acquiring shopping sites such as Half.com and Shopping.com as well as escrow site Paypal.com and even branching into voip services like Skype.com. The acquisition of StubHub should serve to solidify eBay' position in the burgeoning electronic secondary ticket marketplace.
StubHub has demonstrated itself to be both a popular and versatile market platform. It offers features such as declining price, in which a price will gradually lower in predetermined amounts the longer it remains unsold, tickets can be listed for free with StubHub only taking a percentage from sold tickets and an easy-to-use automated management system for people with tickets to sell.
The acquisition is not without risk for eBay. Both Live Nation and Ticketmaster are also looking into this growing market. Furthermore, not everyone is a fan of the ticket resale trade. StubHub has been involved in a legal skirmish with NFL's New England Patriots over allegations that StubHub has become a haven for counterfeit tickets and the New York Yankees have pulled season tickets from ticket holders who have resold them on StubHub. Furthermore, a number of secondary ticket brokers have started to establish regional ticket resale sights such as actickets.com which specializes in tickets for Atlantic City events. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
