StubHub asks scalpers to self-police first US ticket resale cap

As the first cap in the U.S. on ticket resale prices becomes law, StubHub is asking scalpers to self-police their compliance. What could go wrong?

Last week StubHub launched its $800 million IPO at $23.50 a share. A week later the stock is trading at $16.65 and falling. Now the ticket reseller faces a new challenge. How the company is responding could spook investors further.

StubHub asks scalpers to self-police first U.S. ticket resale cap

Maine Public Law Chapter 354 of 2025 became law on September 24th. It caps the resale price of event tickets at 10% above the original total price paid including taxes and fees.

StubHub says they “do not have visibility into the original purchase price of a ticket.” So it is asking resellers to make sure their listings do not exceed this legal threshold. Hoping to put liability on the reseller, StubHub added “a confirmation requirement” on their website and app before a ticket can be listed.

Beyond the resale cap, the new law requires:

• full price disclosure, including all taxes & fees – no surprises.
• disclosure of the section number or seat of the tickets being sold
• speculative tickets are banned: “you must only list tickets you have in your possession or that have been allocated to you”

StubHub’s existing policies already bans speculative or “ghost” tickets. But the failure of resellers to comply with the rules has been well documented.

“Ghost tickets” are flooding StubHub and SeatGeek,” read last week’s Business Insider headline. “Unsuspecting World Cup fans and concertgoers are buying nonexistent tickets on StubHub and SeatGeek.”

While Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is going after Ticketmaster and reseller Key for deceptive ticketing, this will be up to the State of Maine to police. StubHub is not going out of its way to help

With other states and some in the federal government eyeing a ticket resale cap, how Maine finds and responds to violations will be closely watched.

Bruce Houghton is Founder & Editor of Hypebot, Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of Skyline Artists.

“StubHub asks scalpers to self-police first U.S. ticket resale cap” first appeared on Hypebot.com.