Jeremy Wright and his wife, Sarah, were among dozens of angry ticket buyers who took to social media after last-minute cancellations on StubHub left them without tickets they had purchased for the World Cup soccer game between the Netherlands and Japan.

The Wrights had driven from Austin to Dallas and joined other fans in their hotel lobby to celebrate the occasion, but their excitement turned to bitter disappointment after an email from StubHub just five hours prior to kickoff informed them that their tickets could not be delivered.

StubHub’s Response

StubHub offered the Wrights complimentary seats to a semi-final game, but many other fans were not as fortunate. The company has created a dedicated World Cup support team and expanded its capacity to source replacement tickets for affected customers.

The issue is attributed to a practice known as ‘speculative ticketing’, where sellers list tickets they do not actually possess, hoping to buy them at a lower price later and make a profit. However, with prices for World Cup tickets increasing as the tournament approached, many speculative sellers were unable to fulfill their orders without incurring a loss.

FIFA, the world soccer governing body, has urged fans to only use its official resale platform, which charges a 30% commission on ticket sales. However, some fans have turned to third-party platforms like StubHub due to the high fees and convoluted process on FIFA’s platform.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.